At a Glance
Is there such a thing as Christian art? Or are there just Christians who make great art that represents something of the nature of God? There are no Christian bagels, surgeries, or financial portfolios, so why do we expect artists in our churches to create sculptures or plays that are “Christian?” Only humans can be Christians. Let’s bring freedom to the artistic gift in ourselves and others, glorifying God through any art that speaks to the beauty, hope, joy, meaning, or grandeur of God and His character.
Today, we sit down with three professional artists who embody this and who use the beauty of their art to speak prophetically to their cultures. Join us and learn how you can use this language to spread hope in despair, splendor in ugliness, and ultimately disciple your nation with God’s beauty.
Jeremiah Enna
Jeremiah Enna is a native of Kansas City, growing up performing around the country with a bunch of friends in a little group called Crackerjack Theatre. He moved to Los Angeles when he was 19 to work with youth organizations teaching healthy communication and goal setting skills. After a time in Sweden and travels to Israel, he and his wife, Mona, returned to Kansas City in 1995 to start The Culture House. The Culture House is a dual division, multi-disciplinary arts organization inspired by the ever revealing discovery of how God has made the world, our place in it and how the arts are a gift that we may steward and thrive. Read more about Jeremiah on The Culture House website.
Mona Störling-Enna
Mona grew up in Kokkola, Finland a few hours from the Arctic Circle. Daughter to a painter and an accountant, Mona grew up painting and walking in the woods catching glimpses of the Northern Lights. She began her ballet training at the Ostrobothnian ballet academy, subsidizing her training in Helsinki and Paris, France during the summers at the Paris Opera. Her pastor, Johan Candelin challenged her to ‘dance for God’ when she was a young teenager and thus began a journey of exploring the connection between her gift in dance and relationship to God.
Mrs. Storling-Enna is the Founder and Artistic Director for Storling Dance Theater where she has created such noteworthy productions as The Prodigal Daughter, Butterfly, Suspended Grace and the acclaimed Underground (choreographed together with Tobin James). Underground has become an annual tradition in Kansas City, premiering in 2008. Read more about Mona on The Culture House website.
Héctor Ramírez
Héctor Ramírez is an actor and theater director. A formerly committed communist, he became a Christian and worked with YWAM for about 11 years in missions in various countries around the world, mainly on the European continent. He has been the director and founder of the Ars Performing Arts Centre in Madrid, Spain for 12 years. He and his wife, Lillie, founded The Ars Vitalis Foundation. With their son, Danny, they have been implementing an arts ministry that aims at reaching and connecting a postmodern, post-Christian society with the gospel message. Hector has been featured numerous times at the blog DarrowMillerandFriends.com.
What You'll Hear
Using the link above, you can read the transcript or listen along while highlighted text follows the podcast audio.
“Art speaks to feelings, emotions, and imagination, that’s what art is. So this is why God can use music and dance and theater to open doors that cannot be opened in any other way.”
Héctor Ramírez (39:50)
Quotes
Go Deeper
A Call For Balladeers: Pursuing Art and Beauty for the Discipling of Nations
DARROW L. MILLER
Through a biblical lens, Darrow Miller examines what it means to be a Christian artist and the role of beauty in the world. As the First Artist, God created the universe to be beautiful, and set a precedent for all mankind: to create art, not for religious obligation, but simply for the sake of beauty itself.
With scrutiny and honesty, A Call for Balladeers takes a hard look at the faulty perspective toward art and beauty held by many Christians today and uses the Bible to make a case for why the Church should be concerned with the arts. Miller provides a hopeful, liberating outlook for Christians who find themselves caught in a dilemma between their artistic endeavors and their desire to minister to their community.
There is no divide between art, beauty, and the Christian faith. God uses the arts and artists to advance His kingdom of truth, goodness, and beauty on earth as it is in heaven. A Call for Balladeers will help Christians think biblically about art, teach them about historical and modern-day balladeers, and encourage artists to use their God-given talents to minister prophetically, bringing transformation to their communities and nations.
