Outreach and the Artist: Sharing the Gospel with the Arts

by Con Campbell

Whether you are an artist whose talents are an untapped source of energy for your church or a ministry leader wanting to involve artists and the creative arts in your outreach efforts, Outreach and the Artist will renew your vision. Musician and biblical scholar Con Campbell offers encouragement, wisdom, and practical tips for evangelism with , through , and to the Evangelism with the Arts. While the abilities of Christian artists may serve the church internally, artists within the church usually have enormous untapped potential for outreach. Evangelism through the Arts. People’s natural love for various artistic mediums provides a connection-point to exploring life’s big questions with unbelievers in non-threatening and engaging ways. Evangelism to the Arts. Christian artists are uniquely positioned to make an impact in artistic networks, which often have no Christian witness or presence and tend to be shut off from conventional methods of outreach. Spreading the gospel is a task worth every God-given resource we have, and artists and their creative gifts are no exception.

Genres: Christian Living, Christian

128 pages, Paperback

First published April 23, 2013

About the author

also published under Constantine R. Campbell

Reviews

[Matthew Hodge · Rating 5 out of 5]

There aren't many books on the topic of being a Christian and an artist, so I appreciated this one. While I wouldn't call myself an artist personally, it is the universe in which I have worked professionally for the last 15 years and more or less given my life to.

So hearing Con's story (he was a successful jazz musician before going into the ministry) and his insights into the spiritual needs of the arts community was both insightful and encouraging.

[Peter Yock · Rating 5 out of 5]

I revisited this book this month after reading it when it first came out. It's much better than I remembered. As someone who regularly does ministry to musicians in churches and professional-musicians-in-training at the Conservatorium of music, I now feel like I want to put this book in everyone's hands. It's easy to read, gospel-centred, and hugely helpful on the issues of idolatry and artist involvement in church communities. It has some very valuable stuff to say about outreach, but for me the most helpful stuff was just the gospel-centred dealing with the unique challenges of being an artist and a Christian at the same time. The book has a lot of Con's autobiographical story in there which is helpful. The artist profiles are also extremely valuable. Highly recommended.

[Rodney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Connecting Arts and Christianity

While I do not relate fully to being an artist, musician, or other type of creative—I do understand the pull that each have in the lives of those who are gifted in them. I bought the book thinking it would be a guide a “how to” of putting on an art based ministry. Or at the least a guide on how to connect with artists who can make this happen.

Instead, what I found the book to be was an inside look at an artist’s journey and choosing to be first a Christian. I was on the fence early in the book, but the last few chapters helped me to understand the relevance to many people’s lives.

[Stephen Ring · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another recommended reading text for the EVAN 5013 course, showing how to blend artist's gifts as a tool to evangelism, or rather pre-evangelism. God as the ultimate Creator created all art, and therefore art can be used to glorify and provide a witness to God. Con Campbell, a jazz musician blends his personal experiences, interviews with fellow artists in music, art and literature in which they share their journeys.

[Ineta Lopez · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved how importance of the arts in church life is expressed in this book. God is creator who created creative people :) Nowadays very often churches don't evaluate importance of the arts enough.
What I also find interesting it's insights of what struggles in faith life Christian artists who act in secular world fields might face.
Very valuable to read for artisan people or who leads the ones.

[Emma Wingerd]

Just okay

[Matt B. · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Outreach and the Artist" is an excellent primer on the important intersection of the arts (as a whole) and the Christian faith. Author Con Cambell, as both an accomplished jazz musician and minister of the gospel, speaks from the heart of both communities and allows us to catch a glimpse of the importance and necessity to recognize our place in outreach and the lives of the creatives in our churches and towns.

The book is not so much a "how to" as it is a "why to", helping the reader to understand the differences between outreach through the arts, by the arts and to the arts. Con does not attempt to instruct on how to handle each method for each different type of art form, but provides a good overview of each perspective and how we might be able to recognize ministry opportunities in them. He does a good job of highlighting the pros and cons of each perspective, while maintaining a level of readability and story telling that keeps the reader engaged.

I would recommend this book to anyone that is a creative or artist, that seeks to find that proper balance between faith and the arts. This book will help you understand the struggle and provide you with the proper set of spectacles to see things clearly.

[Bob Allen · Rating 5 out of 5]

"God is the ultimate Artist." — the first sentence of the "Conclusion" summarizes why Christian artists occupy a natural position from which to share the Gospel, why the arts should be seen as a legitimate avenue for sharing the Gospel, and why artists need the Gospel. Campbell does an excellent job as an apologist for all three positions. I appreciated the discussion of the subtle difference between "the message and the medium" and "the medium and the message" — the message is primary and art is the channel versus the art contains the message. Campbell argues that both are valid approaches but that art as the message is too subtle to be the only way the Gospel is shared. Some formatting issues in the Kindle version that I got from the publisher (divided words).

[Matthew Weston · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very helpful reflection on what role the arts (visual arts, music, dramatic arts) could have in the mission of the church. The last few chapters on evangelism to the arts (or rather those involved) are particularly good, but some of the earlier chapters are only relevant if you've a good supply of professional artists in your church already!

[Eugenia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good in showing the specific struggles that professional artists go through as a Christian, but I feel that the book is written for a context quite different from the local scene here. A good read but doesn't quite resonate - by no fault of the author.

[Jeremy Hilden · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well-written, concise and full of insight into the artist's world.

[Eudora · Rating 3 out of 5]

Helped T get this book - she'd wanted to read it after it was introduced/recommended to us by L at young adults bible study a few weeks before.

Then I'd asked if I could read it (because hey why not), before I passed it to her -  thats' how I ended up reading it, although I'd felt it's not as 5-star as it was made to sound. But that doesn't mean it's a bad book, rather I think it's just that it's more 3.5-star than 5-star, heheh. I thought it was good that such a book that bridges these two topics was written, and glad that disclaimers were made for the inadequacies/biasedness that the book might face, but after awhile, it got a little annoying - if these disclaimers need to be made so much, couldn't this part of the book be framed differently/use different examples/analogies? 

Thankfully those faded away after the first section, haha.

Also didn't like it that it was too specific to one area (jazz music), would have loved to read how it was possible for .. theatre, for instance. But thankful and glad that it also attempted to (& quite fairly) address the issues of counterfeit idolatry, acknowledging that the arts have the potential to become misplaced priorities/idols, but that they are not inherently evil - rather, they are part of the creative nature of a creative God. I thought that was quite well-balanced. Also felt the artist profiles were quite an interesting touch to the book, with one after every chapter.

However, this book is written by an Australian jazz artiste-turned-pastor, and hence most of the people profiled are Australian/and might not be known outside Aussie heh - but reading the range of opinions/experiences is interesting .. It's also a quick read (less than 150 pages) that can be finished in a few hours - I bought it on Friday afternoon and started reading it in the evening, was already half done by Saturday morning and promptly finished on Saturday night (owing to day activities!)

With that said, I do think it's worth a leisure check-it-out kind of thing, plus it doesn't quite harm to when it's a topic less talked about, and such a quick read too heh. :-)

#September2013