I would like to preface this with the realization that this is not a step by step guide to instant community for christian artists, It is instead some thoughts that I have recently had concerning some of the characteristics that make up such a group. I believe that Christian community serves as an effective mechanism by which we can live missionaly and it is therefore important to think about what makes up such an environment. There is no doubt that I will post more about this and other related topics as I think more on the issues, and some of my views may expand or change, but it is important to start somewhere. So without further ado here are some of my thoughts on the matter.
I have been doing a lot of thinking lately on the Idea of Christian Creatives and creating a community of such individuals. I have often thought about such an group for multiple reasons. First of all, these groups, if done properly, can challenge the individuals in the group to live Christ centered lives, cause growth in the artistic ability of the group through shared knowledge, and provide a platform where non-christians can experience authentic Christian community through the shared love of art (in whatever form it takes). While these are all well and good they cannot be achieved unless the community is founded on the right principles. That is to say, just because you want these end results in a group does not mean that you are going to get them if the effort is not made on the front end to build a culture that will naturally form these traits.