Profess Creatives

“I felt too creative for the Christians, and too Christian for the creatives.”

In church, there were limited avenues for me to grow my technical skills as an artist. As such, I fell into the belief that God wasn’t as interested in my art as with more pressing spiritual matters.

I couldn’t imagine my art could ever have a place in the church so I chose to concentrate my artistic efforts in the academic art space. I didn’t feel I could express my creative side in the church without being labeled as “not Christian enough.”

On the other hand, my creative confidence thrived in the academic art space. However, when I started desiring to focus on more Christian themes in my art, I became fearful of being ostracized because of my faith. As a result, in general, I didn’t explicitly share my faith with other artists. I didn’t feel I could fully express my Christianity in the academic art space without being labeled as “too Christian.”

I always felt like I had to pick one side at a given time: Christian at church, creative in the academic art space. Still, I felt emotionally distant from the two spaces where I longed to contribute both my spiritual and creative gifts.

My warped paradigm of the relationship between spirituality with art convinced me that secular creatives made more exceptional art than Christians.

I started dabbling in new age practices, including the law of attraction manifestation in the name of creating more “spiritually, enlightened art.” God quickly revealed that this was pride and I repented from idolizing my creative gift. 

Regardless, God used these spiritual detours in my life to teach me an important lesson that would set the pace for my creative career: my identity is firstly rooted in Christ and everything I do, including art, must be done to glorify his name. This revelation completely transformed my approach towards making art as a Christian.

God didn’t desire my Christian spirituality and creativity to be separate but that they would have a dialectic relationship. He desired that my spiritual maturity through obedience to Christ would inform my approach to creating art. 

I submit to Jesus (not my art) and he informs my artistry. That is what it means to be a prophetic artist 

“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.” Colossians 3:23-24 (NIV)

Let’s have a chat about our journeys as Christian artists in the comments below.