Visual Evangelization

The following text is from a document I created for my patrons...

What is Visual Evangelization?

Short answer: Visual Evangelization is the use of imagery to communicate various spiritual themes and/or truths to the viewer to help initiate a contemplation of the things of God in order to promote conversion or a deeper walk with the Lord.

Long Answer: Father God designed us to be visual learners and throughout art history, artists have used shapes, forms, symbols and colors to communicate with their audience/viewers. Regardless if it was for inspirational, educational, or recreational purposes, artists have used visual communications to teach, inform, or entertain their audience. Visual communication is a powerful tool in the hand of an artist. They can inspire greatness or promote malevolence to a viewer by how they visualize their thoughts on various subjects. When the Gospel is considered, there are many ways to represent spiritual truths. Some artists are more literal in the interpretation of scripture and will illustrate various stories from the bible. Some artists will work in a more realistic style. Some artists will work in a predominately abstract style. The variance is as diverse as the number of Christian artists who have consecrated the works of their hands to the Lord.

As a Christian, I understand that we have a part and God has a part in evangelizing. If we are diligent in doing our part, He will do His part. As a result, I always start the creative process with prayer to seek a theme to express. During the execution of a piece, I constantly pray that the works of my hands would bring glorification to the Lord, and that the Holy Spirit would guide the viewer into deep contemplation about what has been put before them.

How can patrons assist in the visual evangelization process?

A lot of Christians long to be able to share their faith effectively, but often they don’t know how to go about it, get confused, scared, feel unprepared, etc. This is where religious art can be used as a conversation starter/springboard for evangelism. Many patrons hang their fine art purchases in their home and this is a great place to evangelize to unbelieving friends, co-workers, and family members, as this is a non-threatening environment. It's also good to note that in a relaxed, private home setting, people are at ease and are more likely to engage in deeper intellectual and theological discussions.

Getting Equipped

In addition to using the painting synopsis that has been provided for you, I highly encourage using the evangelization concepts taught by The Way of The Master: http://www.wayofthemaster.com/. Their website has several educational audio and video clips that can be reviewed for free. They also have materials/studies available on how to evangelize effectively. Two books in particular, The School of Biblical Evangelism Textbook and The Way of The Master by Ray Comfort and Kirk Cameron, have superb information about leading people to Christ through the “good person” test, which is an appeal to the conscience through the exposition of the Ten Commandments followed by the Grace of God through Christ Jesus' work on the cross. The patron, once fully equipped with knowledge, prayer and relying on the Holy Spirit can then move forward to shine a light in the lives of others. The Holy Spirit will be able to do what the art and you can’t do, which is bring about revelation of a spiritual truth, or cause a hunger & thirst for truth to start growing.

(Please note that NuArt and The Way of The Master are not related ministries/companies, but both have a zeal for sharing the faith.)

Start Reaching Out To Others

If Father God has put an unbeliever on your heart to reach out to, you may want to extend a dinner invitation to them. Try to plan 1-2 weeks out so that you have enough time for spiritual and logistical preparations.

An Illustration...

On April 10th, you invite John and Jane over for dinner on April 21st. You check with them to see if they have any food allergies or preferences. You start praying for John and Jane daily, for their hearts to be ready, for your spiritual preparation, for the conversations to flow well during the evening, spiritual protection, etc. You also gather a few resource items to offer John and Jane at the end of the evening as they are leaving AFTER you have invited them to join you at church. (Resource items could be thought provoking Christian Tracks (http://www.thewayofthemaster.com/), some brochures and literature about your church, a small bible, devotional book, etc.)

When your guest(s) arrive, you decide to save the spiritual discussions for later in the evening and start with a prayer at the beginning of the great meal you have prepared. You and your guests have table talk about the common ground you share (work, family, or any other type of relationship you have with them). Your goal to keep the conversation light is working well. After dinner, when you move into the family room or wherever the NuArt painting is on display, you start turning the conversation to spiritual things by opening up dialogue on the meaning of the painting by the artist, as given in the synopsis, and ask them what they see in it? You listen to them and note that every viewer will see something a little different. Next, you talk about what the painting imagery means to you personally, why you purchased it when you did, and then proceed to deeper into other spiritual matters, such as the “good person” test as outlined by The Way of the Master.

After your goal to communicate, inform and give direction to John and Jane has been completed for the evening, you give them a few resource items as they are leaving after you have invited them to join you at church and you continue to pray for them for the next week or however long the Spirit leads you. What you have just done is an act of hospitality (the meal), charity (love for them as shown in the concern of their eternal future) and friendship (as you gently expressed your faith by taking care not to bring offense to them). You have sown precious seeds into your guests’ lives and sometimes it takes a little while for the seeds to sprout and grow.

After your Evangelism Evening is over, you may want to take some time to review the evening for future enhancement. Were questions asked that you didn’t have answers for? If you do research and get the info that was requested back to your guests, it would be a great show of attention to detail and concern that you have for them. Did the spiritual conversation go smoothly? If not, what made the discussion tense? Is there anything extra you can do for future preparations on evangelism evenings that you plan?

Remember, experience is a great teacher and we learn as we seek wisdom, pray and go. Be salty, so others will thirst for what you have and shine your light into the darkness!


Matt 28: 16-20 - The Great Commission

Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

(Image used for this post is Perseverance)

Christian Art & Artists

If you are a Christian artist, I hope that this personal experience will encourage you to persevere with your talents no matter what.

Setting the scene....
When I was a baby in Christ (summer of 1997) I took an advanced drawing class up at school (Drawing III). At the time, I was so new to Christianity and every aspect of my life (thinking, believing and behavior) was changing at almost break-neck speed...as a result, all of these changes were starting to show up in my artwork. The Drawing III studio class was a 6 hour Saturday class that I took in addition to a full school schedule and working full time. Due to time constraints, I was only able to work on my artwork during the weekly 6 hour studio class time, which proved a lot to me as time went by.

At the onset of the semester, my instructor, Yvonne, separated me from the rest of the class and I worked in an empty studio across the hall from everybody else. After 3 weeks, she started the habit/routine of coming in to look at my work in the morning and berate me: "that is immature work" or "that looks like something a high school student would do" or "I can't stand those colors, they're not working" or "you need to change this, it looks horrible" etc. At the end of the class period, she would come back into the little studio and say that she liked what I was doing, everything looks great, etc., great progress.

Things started to get very confusing for me, because after I packed away my supplies after class each Saturday, I would not work on the artwork until the next class time. (My schedule was FULL and there was no time to work on art outside of the class.) Yvonne would approve and praise a drawing at the end of class one day and then be totally disgusted with it the next week, when nothing had changed since the last time she had seen it. (????) After 2 months of this going on every Saturday, it started to wear me down. I did not recognize what was going on...spiritually speaking. Since I was feeling so confused, I decided to connect with one of my previous professors, Dr. Donna Adams, and get her opinion of my new body of work. I told her that for the first time I felt focused in my work and that it was the best I had ever done, but I was getting a lot of push back from Yvonne and needed another opinion. I was actually feeling so torn that I was contemplating just giving up art altogether.

I met with my old instructor on a Sunday afternoon and was very nervous... Maybe the work was crappy? Am I wasting my time? Donna arrived at the school and I started showing her the new artworks. Her mouth kinda gaped open and I thought to myself, yep, it's crappy....... Well, that wasn't what she was thinking...and what she said to me has been permanently etched into my mind: "You have a beautiful visual voice and I've been waiting a long time for you to have something important to say with it and now you do. Never stop expressing these kinds of things. Right now, as a student, your job is to learn and keep your GPA up, so I would advise you to do whatever it takes to get your A in Yvonne's class, but keep on working on these types of themes outside of class. Get your grade, but follow this passion and continue to express it. Every musician has a listener, every writer has reader, and every artist has a viewer. You've just got to find your audience and speak directly to them." A life changing moment for me.

After our meeting I decided to act on Donna's counsel and the next weekend, I skipped the Saturday class so that I could stay at home and create another body of work to appease Yvonne. I spent a little over $250.00 and created 10 new paintings in 2 days. I absolutely hated the paintings, but I was trying to do what Yvonne wanted me to do. The next Saturday, I took all of the paintings up to school and set them up in my studio space and told Yvonne that I had created 10 new paintings based off her previous direction and wanted her to come and see them and critique them. She told me that she would right after she got the rest of the class started on their project. I went back to the studio across the hall and waited for an hour, but she didn't come over. I decided to go back to the classroom and she said that she would be right over. I waited another hour, but she still didn't show. I went back to the classroom and she said that she would come over at the lunch hour. So...I went back to the studio and waited. I was very nervous... Would she like it? Would I get an A for the semester? Another hour passed and I decided to go back over to the classroom to see if she was even there. As I was walking towards the classroom, she met me in the hall and had a melt down... She got a very nasty tone with me and said "I don't need to see the paintings. I know they aren't any good. I've decided to give you a C for the semester. Religion doesn't belong in art, nobody wants to see God in art, it doesn't sell, galleries won't show Christian art, nobody cares about God being represented through art."

WOW!!!! The truth Finally came out! Now all of the tension and rudeness was explained. It wasn't me or the artwork that she didn't like...it was the religious theme. It took her 3 months to boil over and when she did, I assure you it wasn't pretty. What I think was so crazy was that we still had 3 six hour classes left in the semester and she had already determined my final grade before reviewing the entire body of work for the semester. I didn't return to her class after that day, but I did get my C. I was more proud of that C than all of the A's I have received in my art studies over the years combined, because of the spiritual principles that were taught to me during the course of that semester. What a blessing in preparation.

Dear Christian Artist, as you continue to express your faith through art, some people you know and love may try to discourage you with negative remarks. Some people that you respect in the art field may try to deter you. IF you feel that God has put it upon your heart to visually communicate the things of His nature, please do it. Follow Him in that leading. IF and when opposition/persecution comes, stand strong in your faith, pray for guidance and for the truth of the situation to be revealed so that you can learn from it. You have a very beautiful visual voice and now you have something very important to say with it. Speak loudly.

***Painting Image is a closeup of Contemplation***