Fresh Ministry:
Make no mistake, these 21st Century churches aren't trying to be hip or culturally relevant, they are trying to change the culture. "Our goal at Mosaic is not to be relevant ultimately," said McManus. "but to cause culture to cause artistic people to say wait a minute, 'where is this new way of expressing artistic creativity coming from?'"

While Pastor Erwin McManus preaches, artists are working on sculptures and paintings in the audience. McManus doesn't refer to the artists during his sermon; they aren't props or visual illustrations. In a way, their activity is incongruent with the sermon. They are not there to illustrate or inform, their function is simply to inspire. Witnessing the creative process helps put the audience in the frame of mind to hear the message. The artists don't distract people from worshiping, they help the worshiper connect with God.

And when they come to see the art, they encounter God. Whether it is watching a full dramatic performance, participating in a creative worship service or enjoying a sculpture or painting, something happens when people's creative juices are primed by the arts-their heart opens up to their Creator.

As Nicolosi put it, "A beautiful piece of art can stir people inside for something they don't even know. It can make them lonely for heaven."

"The ability to express faith and love through dance, through music, through painting is a gift from God." Nicolosi said. "Some people are not word people so if we say to an artist, you have to be a word person like me, they won't have the means to express what's in their heart and we shut them down, we make them depressed, isolated and in the worst cases bitter." Churches that bring the arts back into the church are welcoming artists and art lovers too.

"The Twentieth Century is unique in human history," Said Barbara Nicolosi, the Director of the Hollywood, California based 'Act One,' "it was the only Century in which the arts and faith were separated and antagonist. Without God's love, art can only speak about one thing with certainty-darkness".

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