GCTS Art Objectives
An Austrian nobleman was expected to follow the family career in government leadership. Visiting an art gallery, he was utterly arrested by a painting. Stopping to take it in, the man beheld Jesus Christ crowned with thorns. Below were painted the words, “This I have done for you. What have you done for Me?” The man answered, “I will do more…”
The young man was Count Zinzendorf who surrendered his life for the advancement of Christ’s Kingdom. Zinzendorf used his wealth to establish a safe haven uniting Christians of many stripes fleeing persecution. A prayer community was born wherein Zinzendorf surrendered to missionary service himself. Later becoming the bishop of the Moravian Church, many answered God’s call through his preaching in what would become known as the Moravian Missionary Movement. This is the power of God through visual art. And this is my prayer as we work together to craft a permanent installation signaling God’s heart for His world.
Art heralds a message springing from a spiritual/philosophical root. It is a goal to create a piece that conveys the feeling of how God sees the world.
Jesus sends us to all nations. It is hard not to think of the unreached in terms of mere numbers. But the desire is for the work to stand as a reminder that missions is about reaching people, and people are not “projects”. So it will be a priority to keep the human element in the forefront.
While national boundaries exist, due technology and commerce, people connect in ways transcending their borders. Business, media, trade, education and immigration have united subcultures across national boundary lines. Some people groups (especially those who have been dislocated) find their homes in shared ideas rather than in places. New technologies have opened new venues of evangelism and discipleship. While we want to convey a sense of the lands where people dwell, we also want to show the migration and formation of new groups and subcultures which have united across these lines.
Another goal is to prevent the art from losing relevancy with the passage of time, locked in the era in which it is made. Because we worship the Creator of all things, we are asking God be the Art Director, to show us something new and innovative with a sense of timelessness that will speak to seminarians for many decades to come.
The main objectives are as follows: (1) To communicate the Great Commission Mandate and provide opportunity for contemplation; (2) to convey God’s Heart for people; (3) to show the mission field connected by nationalities; (4) to show the mission field connected by ideas; (5) to present the task of global engagement with invitation to participate; (2) to inspire mission through contemporary innovation in technology and media.
It is with these objectives in mind that together we seek to undertake the goal of completing this work in the new GCTS Hall of Missions.
