Bubble or Patron?

[Heather Goodman]

Christians have their own publishing houses, record producers, stores, and magazines. I've decided to pursue publication in CBA because I desire to see the Church claim (reclaim) their position as a Patron of the Arts. While part of this includes shepherding individuals in secular realms, I believe part of this is creating lighthouses of art.
But where is the line between making a bubble that protects and shelters us from the world and building a lighthouse to shine into the world?
What are your thoughts?

[Tammy Parker-Walker]

Unfortunately a lot of people end up writing "junk" to make thier living. It's funny how perceptions have changed over the years and now the secular publishers are drawing more of the really good writers, whether they are for novels, teaching materials ect. I think it's become easier to just "spit'' out a not-so-good book and make money, than spend the time on a piece and let Christ shine through it.

[Heather Goodman]

It's interesting because I started this thread before going to the Transforming Culture symposium (about art and the church). I was leaning heavily toward CBA, but now I'm reconsidering. It's not that CBA is bad, and as I've said before, it seems to me that CBA is in it's adolescence. If they're willing to go through the awkward elbows and knees, than maybe we can grow. Growing doesn't mean leaving behind the niche they have. It means expanding.
ABA already has an expanded market. I'm not saying that ABA puts out good material and CBA puts out bad. Both put out both. But I think I'd have more freedom in ABA. Maybe I'm wrong. But I'm going to spend the next few weeks praying about this.

[Brenda Gribbin]

When the rector of our church was asked about a "Christian" yellow-pages publication, he told the individual he wasn't interested. They asked, "Don't you want to know the plumber who comes into your home is a Christian?" He answered, "No...I want the plumber to know I am a Christian." Very different. I just participated in a church sponsored art exhibit that was highly publicized and extremely organized. However, it was not highly selective...in other words, anyone who painted a scene from the Garden of Eden was in...no filter as to technical or aesthic quality. Out of the 150ish works, maybe 30 were high quality...well conceived and executed pieces (and I'm not counting my own work.) I had rather be turned down because my work is not up to the standards of the exhibit than be part of a HUGE collection of mediocre work. As artists, we are not driven to perfect our God-given talents if we always take the easy routes. (I'm preaching to myself here.) There is a time and place to stay in your "bubble", and use your talents for the glory of God within the worldwide church community. However, we have a responsibility to hone our skills and use them as tools to usher unbelivers into His presence. I don't care if the audience is Christian...I want the audience to understand that I am a Christian, and that I have the same struggles they do.

[Jerome]

I personally have a really extreme view of the Christian industry such as books, music and entertainment. I wish the whole industry part of Christianity would just fall off a cliff. I feel it's a huge inbred bubble that only feeds it's self and alienates the rest of the world. Which blows my mind because the christian industry only makes up like 10%(don't quote me because I'm just guessing on the percentage) of the music, books and entertainment industry. I feel the same way about Christian radio. There isn't JCM Jewish contemporary music or BCM Buddhist contemporary music. Why do Christians have to separate themselves? I feel that Christian arts and entertainment would be way better if they had to compete with the rest of the world.

But as a musician I feel the same way about the music industry as a whole... secular, christian and the whatnot. I feel no musician deserves a multi-million dollar advance like Eminem or Britney... mainstream pop(that includes country music too) music is killing music. Pop music is also inbred and stagnant. We'd be better if all bands just had to tour to make a living and to sell their cds... to actually work and let the quality of their music sell the records... not their stupid name..

[Heather Goodman]

Jerome--you might be interested in a blog post Barbara Nicolosi wrote--WWJD about the disgust with the parallel universe we Christians have created.

[Heather Goodman]

I agree that it's more important to me to have books on the shelves of Barnes and Noble than in a Christian store.
Actually, it's more important to me to write a good story than to care where on the shelves they are.
Thanks for sharing that article. I'm going to sit down and read it tonight.

[Heather Goodman]

Like you said, Jennifer, there are more issues in this "simple" question than I realized at first.
There's the idea of, is it okay to have Christian publishing houses (forget CBA or ECPA rules)? Is it okay to have something sponsored by Christians? Would it look more like Christians patroning the arts or would it look more like us retreating into our own world?
The second issue I'm realizing as an artist: some are called to minister more to non-Christians and some to the Body of Christ. Of course, as Christians, we should strive to do both, but where is our primary gifting and calling? And of course, no matter what, as artists, we should be striving to make good art (this is a different conversation entirely--those called to be artists, which I think brings the mantle of striving for good art and being perfectionists, versus all Christian being called to bring creativity and beauty into the world simply because of the Imago Dei--I plan to talk about this at some point on my blog).
And then, besides those two more abstract questions is the more practical question: if there is a place for Christian publishing houses either to be patrons of good art or to minister within the body, how do you flesh that out? What type of boundaries do you have? Should these boundaries be different for the different purposes (creating something for use in the sanctuary, so to speak, versus for the general marketplace)?
So many questions...