The paintings above were all born out of a project run by Jeremy and Jamie Wells called “Artworship“.

“During Artworship participants are asked to reconsider worship. They are asked to forget what they have known and think about the fundamentals of worship, of expressing love and reverent devotion to God.  What makes the God of Christianity different from the deities of other faiths is His extremely personal interest in knowing us. Our response to this should be worship which allows this personal God to search us out, to test us and to know our thoughts.  Many times we don’t give ourselves this freedom or we are scared to delve into these areas and thoughts.  Artworship is a place where we can come before this Holy and Loving God.  We can express though creative means our love, devotion and the truth of who we are.

People are asked to create.  And they are not given a formula.  This can be a frightening experience for some.  For this reason, we walk people through this experience and assure them that being created in the Image of God, we all have a creative capacity within us. The hope is not an end result of beautiful paintings. The hope is that through this experience Christ will be allowed to touch what has been hidden away and the process of healing and forgiveness can begin.’”

An extract from the Artworship website

I think that what these guys are doing is fantastic, and, I for one think that art could be utilized so much more in public worship.

We have people painting occasionally at the church service I attend, and I know that for some people, they find it so helpful. It’s not just about the artist, who is able to use their God given talent to worship their maker, but about people who learn and take things in better using visual aids.

I think that a very important point that Jeremy and Jamie make is when they say “The hope is not an end result of beautiful paintings“. I believe that all of us have creativity, if only because we are made in the image of a creative God! I always say to people that say they can’t do art, that whatever they create, someone, somewhere will like it and will be willing to pay money for it. Even with that being the case, that is not the point here – to me, there is no such thing as a “bad” piece of art, not only because of the fact that people have different tastes, but because of the fact that art is SO much more than the finished product, it is SO about the process and what the artist goes through to create!

So in this, what I am saying is that, if you feel like you are not a creative person, that you can’t paint, then give it a go, take a pen, or some watercolors, or whatever you can find, take some time aside with God and create something in worship to him, and see if it is helpful to you. And, if you are a creative person, take some time to encourage someone else to try out a new way of expressing their love and worship to Jesus.

- James