CHRISTIAN COMIC ARTS SOCIETY :: A NETWORK OF CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP FOR COMICS FANS, PROS, AND AMATEURS

Art can Be a Ministry

New idea of the day:using art as a catalyst for those in poverty across the world. Kids who grow up in the slums of India or the Philippines or countless other countries have next to no chance to get out of where they're stuck. Many turn to drugs, sniffing glue, cutting, and etc. to deal with things, as shown in the documentary Mother India. (Which can be found on Netflix) but...what if all of the struggle, all of the pain...was channeled into art? I recently watched the movie Million Dollar Arm, which reminded me of this idea I had a long while back, but dismissed as my life began to take some crazy twists and turns. Coming back to it, though, what if we went into the slums, the places where no one goes, and began to mentor these kids in art and God? I don't know, just some thoughts and ideas. When I was in the Philippines I was on sitting on the ground sketching cartoons for hours on end surrounded by a huddle of kids. I was told a couple months after I had returned home that the kids still ask for "the great artist, Hailey." The day I was visiting that slum the kids were asking the local missionary if I would be at the school classes they had to teach them how to draw...but sad part was that I would be gone by then, halfway around the world. I feel there is so much untapped opportunity in this...to go beyond the physical relief, and to go on to emotional and spiritual discipleship...through art. Providing a way to express one's self and find healing. Poetry and art were my way of dealing with things through a lot of my struggles, and helped me come a long way. Art can be a huge ministry in itself...if we just tap the potential. :)

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  • I think I saw a ministry like you're talking about except with music. It's a good idea!

  • That sounds really cool! I think media is a great way to go about things in a lot of ways. (I mean, hello, I want to make all kinds of media with my life, so...) But something I am really getting at here is the personal relationship and investment in the individual, rather than simply "creating media," and also going into the highways and byways to go after the least, last and the lost. The people who may have no way to escape the situations they're in....the hopeless and broken.

    God takes the foolish to shame to shame the wise, the weak to shame the strong. He takes the sick and despised, the things that are not, to nullify the things that are.

    It's these people who are going to change the world. I'm tired of putting such an extreme amount of value on certain people groups, while nearly completely neglacting the people that God declared to do the greatest works through...it's through our pain, our weakness, that God can do everything we can't, all to his glory.

    He said: "“My grace is enough for you. When you are weak, my power is made perfect in you.”

    Paul said:For this reason I am happy when I have weaknesses, insults, hard times, sufferings, and all kinds of troubles for Christ. Because when I am weak, then I am truly strong.

    I say: For this reason, praise God that I grew up with Aspergers. Praise God that I faced the hardships as I did as a kid with bullying, rejection, and my Mom's illness. Let the love of God overflow from my heart, because I'm giving everything for Him, and I'm never going back. I write this in tears...but they're tears of joy. Praise God for whatever comes out of my life, and praise God that all of our pain, hardship, and struggle that is meant to change the world, to save lives, to transform society. All glory to God, for He is enough. <3

    It's only in our brokenness that God can work miracles.

  • Good stuff Hailey. Thanks for sharing. There is a ministry I just found out about that helps train those from Asian countries to become "media missionaries". Here is a link. http://emergemissions.org/main/project/medialight/

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