EMQ » Jan – March 2025 » Volume 61 Issue 1
Local Arts Engagement
Summary: Engaging with local arts opens doors to encourage cultures to use their own resources in the world of the church and mission. The Creating Local Arts Together (CLAT) approach offers a practical method for anyone to engage with the arts in their own culture or across cultures.
By Laura Roberts
The richness of the arts draws people together, communicates important values and truths, allows for vibrant expression, and displays cultural identity. When the church integrates arts into its global mission, they connect the power of the arts to God’s kingdom at work on earth. Anyone can be involved in advocating for artists and encouraging the creation of local music, dance, storytelling, drama, visual arts and more. This role is not only reserved for artists or experts.
The ethnodoxology movement desires to see all people in every culture use their own local artistic expressions for the worship of God and the life and mission of the church.[i] Local arts engagement opens doors to learning deeply about culture as arts advocates encourage cultures to use their own resources in the work of church and mission.
How does a cross-cultural worker, church planter, Bible translator, artist, pastor, church, or community member become an arts advocate and spark new arts for mission? They can begin by learning through a series of conversations which culminate in encouraging new artistic creations. Brian Schrag’s Creating Local Arts Together (CLAT) provides a practical method for anyone to engage with local arts either within their own culture or across cultures.[ii]
