Next Stop, Australia
- amynoreo
- Aug 13, 2017
- 2 min read
In a little less than two months I'll be jetting off to sunny Perth, Australia. "Smart!" you say. "Escaping the chilly winter temperatures like that." Well actually, I like the winter temps and try to avoid heat as much as possible. So why am I going to the southern hemisphere during their summer? Most people would probably say business or vacation. However, I am not most people. My answer is missions. More specifically, the Art Evangelists School (AES).
The AES is a six month missions school designed to help artists, such as myself, hone their craft and learn how to use it as a tool for evangelism. The school starts on Oct. 1st 2017 and ends on Mar. 16th 2018. The first three months are dedicated to learning different mediums of art and looking inward at the heart of the artist. Following that is an outreach that's designed to give you opportunity to use everything that was learned in the lecture phase.
I guess you may be wondering, how do you use art for evangelism? Paint big "Jesus Saves" posters and plaster them all over the place? Not at all! In many third world countries people may never have seen a picture of themselves. Imagine drawing a portrait of one of these people, and watching their face as they see themselves for the first time. Now they've got questions. Why would an artist want to draw them? Are they really worth all that work? Thus, the door is flung wide open to share about the Gospel, and the value God places on them. Yes, they're worth all that work.
It's not limited to portrait drawing. You can paint a story and tell it to the people gathered around you as you paint. You can hang out with other art students from a local university and use art as a conversation starter. The opportunities are plentiful when using art for evangelism.
I've been drawing since I was little (see more recent drawings below), so I'm thrilled to be able to take this time to focus on how to use it for Christ and grow in my abilities. I'll be able to use these skills for the rest of my life, whenever, wherever.
This school isn't about me, or any of the other students, learning cool new art stuff. It's about God and the people he wants to reach through us and our art. If you would like to be a part of that you can give through PayPal by clicking the Donate button at the bottom of the page (contact me for more options), or if you want to know more about the school, head to the Contact page and send me a message. I'd be happy to talk with you! Stay tuned over the next few months to hear about my time in Perth and the art I'll be creating.
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