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

As an arm of OM Arts, “Heart Sounds International exists to help ignite culturally relevant and Biblically appropriate worship, especially in places where Christ-followers are persecuted, restricted or unknown.”

Heart Sounds seeks to help people around the world create worship music with their own cultural and linguistic distinctions. Volunteer professional recording engineers traveling with their equipment have helped produce worship music in over 33 countries including Yemen, Kosovo, Mongolia, Algeria and Tajikistan. Sometimes they will install a studio in the country and train nationals in audio production. Many songs have aired on Christian radio reaching millions of people. A lot of prayer and planning goes into each project, and OM missionaries in the home office and on the field make all the accommodating arrangements. Many recordings are done in secret, and each time the volunteers enter a closed country with their equipment, they pray earnestly for smooth passage. All work is doing in partnership with local house or established churches.

Research has shown that churches that are emerging in closed countries grow more rapidly when they have contextualized worship music.

For more information about how you can get involved, contact

Heart Sounds International

or OM Arts International or you can phone: 1-800-899-0432

Recently in the Czech Republic, artists who were involved in a short term missions trip with Artslink, a ministry of OM Arts International, were chalk drawing on a main pedestrian street. A gang of intimidating young men, led by Roman, came along. He broke away from the group and asked, “Are you artists?” They nodded. He began to share his newfound passion for art, discovered in prison, and wanted to meet the artists again to show us his work. Through this connection and new friendship, they shared Christ with him

.

The use of visual, performing and technical arts can be an extraordinary way to share the Gospel. Jesus did it through story telling and miracles. Jesus was an artist and God is the greatest artist there is. So, why not use the arts to share the Gospel. People love to be entertained and Christian artists can tell people about Jesus either through their art, or by attracting a crowd and then sharing the Gospel verbally with people. There are a few mission organizations that are involve in “arts in missions” ministries. Click on OM Arts for more information on one such mission. For those in the US, you can click here to see specific international short and long term opportunities of arts in missions.