Synopsis
People communicate by speaking words in over seven thousand languages around the world. They also sing, dance, paint, preach, dramatize, and design communication that enlivens heart, soul, mind, and strength. God gave every community unique gifts of artistic expression to enable its members to proclaim the Truth and to bring healing, hope, and joy to others in the fallen world in which we live.
Community Arts for God's Purposes highlights the CLAT (Creating Local Arts Together) method, a seven-step process that inspires artistic creativity and collaboration with local musicians, dancers, storytellers, actors, and visual artists. In this manual, the arts are treated as special kinds of communication systems, connected to specific times, places, and social contexts. As local communities use the creative gifts developed in their particular culture to worship God and extend his kingdom, a beautiful example of the Lord's complex artistry emerges.
This book helps communities draw on examples and insights from over two thousand years of church history to understand and improve the present. It motivates people by painting a vivid picture of a better future: the kingdom of Heaven. Contributors also apply expertise from multiple academic disciplines, such as ethnomusicology, performance studies, anthropology, biblical studies, and missiology.
Experiment with this manual. Adapt it to your setting. Let it be an aid in creating astounding bits of artistry on earth that you'll recognize in Heaven.
About the Author
Brian has degrees in Cognitive Science (ScB), Intercultural Studies (MA), and Ethnomusicology (PhD). He worked as a linguist, translator, and ethnomusicologist in DR Congo and Cameroon in the 1990s and 2000s, was SIL International's Ethnomusicology & Arts Coordinator from 2006-2019, and founded the Center for Excellence in World Arts at Dallas International University in 2012. Brian's core life project is promoting arts-energized, communication-focused appreciative inquiry for futures more like Heaven. His current spheres of engagement are expressive arts therapies, Christian mission, and transformational development in communities. He and his wife, Barb, live in Dallas, TX.
Julisa Rowe has degrees in drama (BA), intercultural ministries (MA), and ethnodramatology (DMiss). She is an international consultant, trainer, performer, and director, serving as the Kenya director for ACT International, a missions organization for artists. Julisa has performed, sung, and directed professionally and for community and church events worldwide for over thirty years. She has written several peer-reviewed articles on ethnodramatology and a book on dramatic reading. Julisa currently lives and works in Kenya.
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