During the Reformation, the church frowned on artists and destroyed much of the art found in churches. Today, artists often are not included in worship. These creative types, who may have different artistic skills than are commonly used in worship, need alternative ways to engage in church and encounter God.

God—Creator of the universe— designed all of us to be creative. Some of us just need help getting started. Help your students engage God through experiences that go beyond auditory learning, preaching and singing.

Encourage students to look for God’s hand in all creation. There are several ways to bring art into your worship gathering and youth ministry. Try one or two with your community and be amazed at the creativity of God and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

Art and Lectio
Use lectio divina (divine listening) of Scripture reading (no more than 12 verses, three times with different voices), then have participants respond in clay, drawing and/or journaling about what God has said to them as they listened.

Display the art so others can continue to worship and be inspired by the creations. Allow those who wish to share about their creation.

Art Walk
Teach people how to use their local art museums as worship spaces, or conduct an art walk “in house” through a slideshow of paintings. Utilize lectio Scripture reading prior to the walk or slideshow. Instruct participants to respond through journaling and facilitate a post-walk discussion.

Twice a month, we go to the Cincinnati Art Museum and take people on an art prayer walk. We read a passage of Scripture out loud, then each person goes on a journey through the museum, wherever God takes him or her. We bring our journals for writing or sketching, and at the end of an hour we meet for lunch or coffee to discuss what we learned.

We are blessed to have a great art museum that is open free of charge. If you don’t have a local art museum, you might try an art gallery or similar venue. You also can download photographs from various art museums around the world and use them as “prompts” to inspire prayer and worship.

Collage Making
Utilize a scriptural theme or specific verse and create prayer collages from old magazine photos. Send them home as reminders to pray.

Artist Response
Provide participants with a theme or Scripture ahead of time and have them create a piece of art, write a poem or prayer, or create a piece of music as a prayer response to the passage/theme. Invite them to bring this to the gathering to share; have artists create during a worship gathering; or have them paint or create during the sermon, teaching or any other part of the worship service.

To help students who may not feel artistic, place art supplies around the room and invite them to use these supplies during the teaching or singing time.

Another way is to create a corporate response by having a group of artists create an art piece together or by creating individual pieces focused on a single concept or making use of one medium.

Taking It to the Streets
The best gift you can give your students is the willingness to step outside the box and invite the artists in your group to use their gifts to glorify God. My friend and creative mentor, Archie Honrado, and I are also thinking about ways to take art to the streets to tell God’s story beyond the church walls to people who might never enter a worship service. Try it with us. You just might discover a new way to engage God for yourself.