FOR SUCH
A TIME AS THIS:
Tremendous Opportunities for Arts Supporters/Networkers Seeking to Build Christian
Community Among Local, National (and International) Christian Musicians/Artists
& Related Ministries, etc.
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CONTENTS:
Perceiving the New Thing: Setting the Opportunities
in Context
Some Opportunities to Consider
Types of Gifts Recommended
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PERCEIVING THE 'NEW THING': Setting the Opportunities
in Context
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It is a day when the Holy Spirit is increasingly stirring up the hearts of
His musicians and artists as well as many other arts supporters / networkers
in the Church. He is seeking to bring greater unity of vision and purpose
as well as increasing collaboration in order to help to fulfill His visions
that He is putting on the hearts of many of His musicians and artists in these
days!
There are pockets in our cities and nations where these things are already happening, and where some of the foundation-laying for this has been developing over the years - to a place where it is getting close to breakthroughs happening where we are seeing not only greater unity, networking and partnership developing in small segments on the smaller scale, but where we are also beginning to see some of the larger effects of WORKING TOGETHER to move toward shared vision.
However, although there are pockets of this developing, by and large it still seems that most Christian musicians and artists are still feeling quite isolated and still relatively unsupported and discouraged, even though over the past 7-10 years, especially, there has been a growing acceptance and perhaps even invitation of the Church, in many streams, to begin to develop Worship & Arts Ministries, etc., and many missions have been increasingly utilizing the arts over the years as well in seeking to reach out to the lost internationally.
I believe God has been laying foundations, over the past years, to bring into being some things which have been brewing under the surface for many years, but which I believe are on the verge of beginning to explode in the year to come.
There are many music/arts ministries and artists that have, largely on their own, been developing in their own area of expertise, whether that be in music, painting, drama, photography, sculpture, arts supporters/promoters, writing or whatever. But it seems that many music and arts ministries and musicians/artists and arts supporters are at the place where they have developed to the extent where they are now able to begin to effectively network and partner together, and indeed they ARE desiring to do so…at least this has been my very encouraging experience over the past years as I've been networking and in the process of developing local and international collaboration.
Psalm 133 reminds us (NIV) HOW GOOD AND PLEASANT IT IS WHEN BROTHERS DWELL TOGETHER IN UNITY! (by the way, I have noticed that there are not very many exclamation marks in the Bible, but there IS one here in my NIV!)…It is like PRECIOUS OIL running down the beard - perhaps implying covering the body and not only bringing God's anointing and power but also causing it to function together effectively since oil lubricates joints that have not been working smoothly?)…it is as if the dew of Hermon were falling on Zion (producing refreshment, growth and life and restoration?), for THERE the Lord bestows His blessing, even LIFE forevermore.
For about 10 years or more it has been a passion of mine to see unity developing in the Body of Christ. Near the beginning of that time I felt God was putting on my heart a new perspective of His Body and how BEAUTIFUL it is! Although I still saw the flaws and wrinkles, He enabled me to look with eyes of faith to a glimpse of what He sees and is developing as He is bringing us into maturity as His spotless Bride, and it began to break my heart in worship and awe and to inspire me that He indeed was able to do what was in His heart! It has been this growing vision of what He not only longs for but which HE is ABLE TO BRING TO PASS that has inspired me in the directions that I have been going over the past years in all of my endeavours.
In the past few years, especially, I have been greatly encouraged to see how the Holy Spirit has indeed been stirring similar visions and desires in the hearts of many in His Body in our city, nation and in many cities and nations throughout the earth. Lately, however, this passage in Psalms has been causing me to feel increasingly overcoming with a deep sense of awe of God's power and grace as I have been experiencing deepening levels of this type of growing unity here in my city and nation and also increasing frequency of it. I am moved to tears with wonder, humility and worship as I see God manifesting His PRECIOUS OIL in these situations where He is bringing unity into His Body, and where the visions of HIS heart are being sought and being moved in TOGETHER with servant hearts towards each other.
For me personally, I do not think I have experienced anything as PRECIOUS, GOOD and PLEASANT as these kinds of times, because the Presence of the Lord is so evident and manifest there, and His pleasure so keenly experienced! The only appropriate response is deep worship and reverence, and brings amazing joy, peace and love! HOW GRACIOUS our good God is to allow us, in this time in history, to be in such a place, and I believe this is just the tip of the iceberg that's about to begin to explode in the coming year!
I know that I am only one among many that has been longing and praying for this kind of unity for many years…and have clung to passages of Scripture such as Habakkuk 2:1-3 "…Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it. For the revelation awaits an APPOINTED TIME; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will CERTAINLY COME and WILL NOT DELAY."
For the past 7 years or so I have sensed a constant sense in my spirit that THE TIME IS NOW! This seems to be something that God has been saying to many of His musicians and artists over the years. Recently, however, there seems to be a new resurgence and reinforcement of this sense for many musicians and artists, and for me personally as well. Although I strongly sense this for our region here in Vancouver, BC, Canada, I also do believe it is something that God is speaking all over the globe.
Recently I felt that God gave me a song, not only as His message to me at the time, but I also feel it is for God's musicians and artists all over. Many of us have been going through major spiritual wildernesses for years, but I believe we are at the threshold of a NEW SEASON…and that it will likely begin to happen quite SUDDENLY, as MAJOR changes began to take place in Joseph's life as God SUDDENLY brought him out of the prison and gave him a major promotion, and as God also brought Daniel SUDDENLY out of his situation into leadership, etc. I have been hearing numerous prophetic words the past few years that God is about to be doing a lot of SUDDENLIES, and I have surely seen this happening in my life in mind-boggling ways!
The song I felt He gave me is from the Song of Songs and Zephaniah 3 and
is called ARISE,
MY DARLING. I believe it is His message to us in these days…
A couple of lines in the song have special meaning for me and for perhaps many of you: ie. "see, THE WINTER IS PAST…the SEASON OF SINGING IS HERE…" Though this may be where God has many right now, I think it is also prophetic and may not be quite the timing for the evidence of some of this for some right yet, but IT IS COMING if it's not yet! : )
Interestingly, last night I was listening to a new CD I just received from a woman with a worshipper's heart from www.todavid.com in Malaysia. Zoe's CD is titled FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS… This is also something I have been saying a lot the past months and keep hearing from various people, and so I felt that the timing of this CD arriving was also significant.
Here are the words of her song:
"For such a time as this, I have chosen you
You have found favour in My sight
For such a time as this
I have hidden you for a time
But now I've brought you forth
To work out My plan, MY PLAN
For such a time as this
You have chosen me
I have found favour in Your sight
For such a time as this
I'll be faithful to You, I'll obey Your voice
Worship You in reverence and in awe"
I am reminded again of the Scriptures:
Isaiah 49 - the first half of the chapter, approximately, talks about God hiding us as He is spending so much of our lives, it seems, POLISHING US, and then He 'CONCEALS US IN HIS QUIVER to be taken out suddenly, in just His timing, to hit the bulls-eye on the target! We often feel, during these times, that He has shelved us and that He has forgotten us, but He is preparing us for the great moment or period of time which we were destined for - FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS!
Isaiah 43:18-21 "…Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. SEE, I AM DOING A NEW THING! Now it SPRINGS UP, do you not perceive it? I AM MAKING A WAY IN THE DESERT and STREAMS IN THE WASTELAND. The wild animals honor me; the jackals and the owls, BECAUSE I PROVIDE WATER IN THE DESERT and STREAM SIN THE WASTELAND, TO GIVE DRINK TO MY PEOPLE, my chosen, the people I formed for myself, THAT THEY MAY PROCLAIM PRAISE."
I think of Esther in her situation where "FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS" is taken from, and how God used her SUDDENLY, taking her from a place of imprisonment, though it was in a palace, to DELIVER GOD's/HER PEOPLE.
Interestingly, too, Esther, Daniel and Joseph, etc., were all being used in the marketplace, a place where swelling numbers of God's musicians and artists are sensing God calling them into, with a passion to see the lost reached and the arts restored for God's glory in those contexts as well as within the Church.
Isaiah 45:1-3 "This is what the Lord says to His anointed…whose right hand I take hold of…to subdue nations before him and to strip kings of their honor, to OPEN DOORS BEFORE YOU SO THAT GATES WILL NOT BE SHUT. 'I WILL GO BEFORE YOU and WILL LEVEL THE MOUNTAINS; I WILL BREAK DOWN GATES OF BRONZE and CUT THROUGH BARS OF IRON. I WILL GIVE YOU THE TREASURES OF DARKNESS (like a miner mines for treasures in a dark mine??), RICHES STORES in SECRET PLACES, SO THAT….YOU MAY KNOW THAT I AM THE LORD, the God of Israel, WHO CALLS YOU BY NAME…."
SOME OPPORTUNITIES TO CONSIDER:
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Hopefully this has laid some groundwork to help to excite you about the possibilities
which I believe are about to explode just around the corner as we prayerfully
consider some of the opportunities to further develop local, regional and
national unity among God's musicians, artists, arts supporters/ministries
and the Church at large. May we seek to collaborate in ways in which the Body
is enabled to function as she was intended to function in 1 Cor. 12, with
each part being released to be/do what it has been created to be/do, by the
power of the Holy Spirit and by the enablement and empowerment of His PRECIOUS
OIL.
Feel free to use and adapt these ideas according to your situations.
Foundations
Needed for Effective Local (and/or Regional) Networks/Partnerships
What??
'Starving Artists' No Longer Starving But THRIVING??
FREE 'Christianity & the Arts' e-resources available - which you can also use to adapt to your situation to help build a networking community among your regional Christian musicians/artists and the Church, etc. -
Some Potential
Ideas for Proposals Which You Might With to Consider for Your Region
Work together with the Great Commission Worship & Arts Center/International
Worship & Arts Network, in collaboration with others, to develop an international
NETWORKING DIRECTORY.
+ A Form You
Can Adapt and Use to Assist You in Networking Christian Musicians & Artists
in Your Region -
Resource
Networking Fellowships for Multicultural Christian Musicians & Artists
A
Way to Quite Quickly Develop Christian Community Among Local Christian Musicians
& Artists in Your City and in Cities Throughout Your Nation, as well as
connecting internationally - although the Vancouver community is just
in it's very initial stages, the Toronto one has been developing over the
past year, apparently with great success. Christian Coffeehouse.ca is also
seeking to assist networkers and those desiring to see Christian community
developing in their cities and nations in these ways. Contact them through
this site if this is of interest to you and other Christian music/arts leaders
in your city/nation -
Networking:
A Biblical Model of Cooperation/Rebuilding: The Nehemiah Strategy
FYI - Some Results From the Greater Vancouver Networking Directory Questionnaire
Glorious
Unity - and the counterfeit - prophetic word
TYPES OF GIFTS NEEDED:
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Do you sense God is raising you up to help connect and network His Body in these days? What are some of the gifts that are helpful in moving in these directions?
It begins with a desire for increasing intimacy with Jesus and a desire to see the passions and visions of God's heart for whole-hearted, total-life worshippers from every nation, coming into being, as well as a desire to cooperate with Him and His people to see this vision come to pass.
You do not necessarily need to be a musician or artist to work together with others in His Body to see these things happening, but must have a passion to see Christian musicians/artists and the Church raised up and working together in unity in the Spirit.
Some helpful gifts (not necessarily all in one person but perhaps in a
local or national team working together in these ways):
+ administration/coordination skills
+ business skills
+ computer skills
+ web site designing skills
+ ability to do accurate data entry
+ ability to network locally, nationally, internationally or all of the above
+ a pastor's nurturing heart to encourage, support and mentor musicians/artists
+ gifts of encouragement and loving exhortation
+ a servant heart, not a desire to build an empire
+ a desire to help to release the gifts that God is stirring in His musicians
and artists
+ a desire to encourage godly character development in His musicians and artists
+ biblical understanding of the roles of music and the arts in the Bible,
and the roles of God's musicians and artists in the Big Picture
+ accounting skills
+ servant-leadership ability
+ interpersonal skills
+ growing evidence of the fruit of the Spirit
+ entrepreneurial spirit
+ marketing gifts - operating out of a biblical worldview and not a world-system's worldview
Etc.
It is an absolutely incredible time for God's musicians and artists to be alive! Let us seek the Lord together, become increasingly intimate with Him and with each other and endeavour to allow His PRECIOUS OIL to function in and through us FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS, so that the passions and desires of HIS heart are satisfied as we cooperate with His Spirit in these days!
By Grace Wiebe, August 2003
Great Commission Worship
& Arts Center