In India, Jireh Ministries hosted an Oral Arts Festival. Drums, songs, dances, dramas, poetry, clothing, jewelry, and other local art forms brought the stories of Scripture alive for both audience and performers. “The cultures they love, in which they have grown up, have become splendid vehicles to communicate the Scriptures that they also love.” (adapted…
In Australia, Safina (Fergie) Stewart’s paintings are “infused with biblical meanings and a sense of joyful hopefulness…. She makes her living as an artist from the sale of her original works and reproductions both online and at a local Indigenous art market where she is able to informally share the meanings behind her artwork. Her Indigenous…
In Russia, a Bosch painting of Christ strongly impacted Konstantin Zhigulin. This painting spoke directly to Zhigulin’s heart, while translated church songs seemed unattractive to him because they were “not at all related to anything in Russian culture” (Handbook p 339). Today, Zhigulin composes worshipful songs that “[touch] the heart and soul of the Russian…
In Brazil, Tom used the musical analysis of Canela traditional songs to compose and then introduce a few Scripture songs back into a Canela village. An observer said “It was like pouring gasoline on a fire!” Within a few nights hundreds of Canelas crowded around, listening to, learning, and improving the new songs. With tears…
In Panama, an elderly Emberá believer sang song after song for the six young people sitting in front of her. Suddenly, they erupted with applause, “That’s the song!” The traditional Emberá tune became the basis for a new children’s worship song crafted with similar melody and brand-new Emberá lyrics. The next day, as the village…
Lament traditions are common in African cultures. Harriet Hill, director of the American Bible Society’s Trauma Healing Institute, found that when African Christians understood the structure of lament Psalms in the Bible, they eagerly embraced the use of their own lament traditions to express their pain to God. When words alone did not suffice, the believers…
Wendy Atkins, who works with Africa Inland Mission, led a songwriting workshop with believers from four people groups in Mozambique. One of those, the largely unreached Mwani, previously had no Christian songs in their language.To create new songs, the workshop participants first spent their mornings in worship and Bible study. In the afternoons, they composed.…
New England missionaries brought their hymn book to the Choctaw land of Mississippi in the early 1800s. Soon after, the Choctaw and missionaries among them were removed to Oklahoma. By the end of the century, the missionaries had passed away while the Choctaw believers continued to sing their faith, and their hymn tunes began to…
You can find information about just about anything through the Internet. You can connect with just about anyone through social media. But how can you find the people and resources most relevant to your particular interests? And, once you’ve found them, how will you maintain contact? If your interests include arts and mission, then you’ve…
A tremendous team has been working for nearly a year to make this happen: Matt and Carol Long, friends and colleagues from DIU in Dallas, TX, did the heavy lifting in terms of the website building. Matt did a lot of programming in order to develop some of the special features you’ll see. Jim Null,…