Yesterday I had the privilege of sitting in on a session or two of what is called "City to City". It is an event that started in New York and has now moved to Asia as well which prepares and educates church planters/missionaries. Roger Lowther, the main missionary I work with, who has helped to plant several churches throughout Japan, gave a talk about the use of the arts in church planting. He is the founder of Community Arts Tokyo, which connects the Japanese people to the churches through the arts. It was a very good talk, and I wanted to share some of his points because it not only describes the role of Community Arts Tokyo, but also gives reason to why the arts can and should be used in churches. 
     There were five major points of what the arts can do:
          1. Bring people to church, and bring church to the people. The way Community Arts Tokyo does this is through hosting events and concerts out in the community. By flyers and word of mouth people attend and become immersed in the body of believers who are putting the event on, without the pressure of a church service.
          2. Build community among artists. Art, Life, Faith is like a Bible study or discussion concerning art, whether it be someone's personal art or just in general. There are also performance parties, where professional artists gather and perform for one another and meet other artists. Most of the people that attend these events are non-Christians.
          3. Create resources for churches. Videos, panel discussions, worship music, writing new songs, art meditations, dance, drama, and special music are just some of the ways that the arts can be used during or in conjunction with the worship service.
          4. Mercy ministry. The arts give people more opportunities to serve and volunteer. They are able to use their talents to give people joy and bring light to lives that have been darkened by misfortune. 
          5. Window into the culture. Artists portray in their art what they see in the world around them. They have the ability to make cultural differences easier to understand through their art. 
     So that's that. I thought they were very good points and I hope I am able to use these ideas at some point in the future. :)