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The participants of the Lausanne Regional Consultation shared an amazing testimonies and ministry experience that they have gained by serving the Lord in their countries. Along with it, they prepared a presentation on the topic of “The Role of Visual Arts (artistic expressions) in Ministry and World Evangelism.” Here are a few thesis statements of those presentations.
“Possessing creative ability that God has given to a mankind, we can use various means for informing others about the good news, including Visual Arts. It’s no secret that Rembrandt’s painting “The Return of the Prodigal Son,” inspired famous contemporary theologian Henry Nuvvena to write a book “The Prodigal Son”. It has gained popularity not only among believers but unbelievers, by becoming for them a source of the good news and understanding the necessity of worshipping the one and only God. We should notice that it all started with a simple picture, which for years had been hanging in the museum. Loving church community has a lot of talented people like singers, people who have good acting skills, artists, etc. The Church should not suppress these talents in people, but rather to figure out the gifts and mobilize them in church for the ministry. We often face a situation where artists and talented people can’t find their place in the church and leaving it to follow personal ambitions. They could have been a treasure tools for the evangelism. “
Vasiliy Rusin, Ukraine
“Music and Visual Arts – is one of gifts from God to bring the Gospel to the people.”
Sergei Barth, Ukraine
“For me, visual arts is a creation. People who are engage in visual arts – are creators, just like our Father in heaven. “
Vladimir Kim, Uzbekistan
“Since the ancient times, music was an additional means of communication that is being understood by all people. When the church doesn’t have a music ministry, it limits itself to some extent. It does not use the opportunity to own and use this universal language. “
Alexander Orlov, Moldova
“Arts itself means a creation of something. Creation is an essential feature, a property that is inherited in God. He is the God Creator who created us by His wisdom in His own image and likeness, so we can create a marvelous things … The music in evangelism evokes the human spirit, encourages, and comforts it in a beneficial way. ”
Olga Bogushevich, Belarus
“The Arts in the Christian world should not consist of monotony, painted by one color, or played with a single note. The more threads, the tighter the rope; the more beautiful will look the bedspread woven from these colored threads. The more colors in the picture, the more impression it leaves.”
Vahid Tagiyev, Azerbaijan
“Every masterpiece like movie, painting, music, dancing, without the knowledge of beauty, which the Lord has put in man, has no value. I know that the Lord has sent me to this seminar, so I can receive the revelation that He prepared for me for this very time through communication.”
Oleg Son, Kazakhstan
Indeed, the creative potential of people, and especially, in the area of music is one of the most powerful tools for communicating the love and beauty of God. Simultaneously, it is an effective way to deliver His Word to people. Music can reach the most distant strings of the human soul, which verbal message sometimes cannot. Christians are called to become His fragrance in every place they are, and imitate the creative nature of God (2 Cor. 2:14).