Missions Trips

Visual, performing and technical arts engage viewers and gives them a way to relate to the subject being presented. Jesus used the arts when he presented the message that the kingdom of God was near. The cross today is used as visual art to remind us of what our Savior did for us by dying, shedding his blood and redeeming us from eternal condemnation.  Today the arts are used in many ways to present the Gospel and often we are not even aware of it. If you attend church, the arts are used every Sunday in some form. There is singing, presentation of scriptural truths by a church leader, and often there is something visual on a large screen.

Many years ago I attended mass with a Catholic friend at a small church in the Catskills, NY.  The priest was a visiting missionary who was working in Brazil amongst street children. The day was warm, the church was full, and everyone was getting a bit dozy. The priest was in his robes and presenting his ministry and peoples’ attention span was getting shorter. All of a sudden, the priest did something that caused the audience to rub their eyes. Did we really see what we think we just saw? Did the priest really just do a back flip? No, surely not. He spoke for a few more minutes and then jumped up and spun around. Now he had everyone’s attention. We listened now to his presentation attentively. Then he did a somersault, spoke some more, then another back flip (which confirmed that we did see what we thought we had seen). This priest had no tools to make a fancy presentation, he invoked the arts to engage the audience. When he was finished, the offering plates were passed, and by the time a plate reached me in the 3rd row, it was already overflowing with donations. People were pulling whatever they had out of their wallets and purses. When the mass concluded, the congregation couldn’t wait to meet the priest. It was a church service and a missions presentation that I will never forget.

If arts ministry in missions interests you, you can contact OM Arts International, a ministry of Operation Mobilization.    email: info@arts.om.org