April 9, 2001
Postmodern conference bares the soul of worship
___By Ferrell Foster
___Texas Baptist Communications
___AUSTIN--When Mark Scandrette's 4-year-old child gives him a piece of art, it's always wonderful. Not because of the artwork itself, but because the child did it.
___In relating to God, "we are the 4-year-old child with Crayons who delights to give giftsback to the parent," Scandrette said. "But most of us have been scared to pick up the Crayons."
PARTICIPANTS in Epicenter use paint to express their worship of God at one of the stations along their path.
___Scandrette, of San Francisco, was a creative director for the Epicenter worship experience held last month in Austin. Epicenter drew international participation for a three-day conference on reaching a postmodern culture with the gospel.
___The movement has received encouragement and some financial support from the Baptist General Convention of Texas Church Starting Center.
___Those planning the event are among a small band of people seeking to express Christian truth and worship through today's culture, using today's art forms.
___"The truth is digested through culture," Scandrette said. "You have no choice; it's always expressed through art."
___The art of the spoken word has been used for centuries to express truth, he explained. "There's a rhythm and aesthetic" to it, but it's fixed somewhere in the past. New art forms are developing, but evangelicals are not "early adopters."
___Some believers "have had to disengage from Christian culture in order to learn culture and then eventually develop some maturity to apprehend truth through culture," Scandrette said.
A WOMAN immerses her hands in muddy water as a representation of the sin in the world.
___Christians generally speak of culture in negative terms today. Scandrette and Steve Collins of London see the sin, but they also see God.
___"We have freedom to embrace everything that's good in culture," Scandrette said.
___They acknowledge that some Christians fear freedom, fear it may lead to sin.
___"With every awkward step, we're afraid we're stepping out of line," Scandrette said.
___The fear is that if you let loose, the fallen side of your nature will win, Collins added. But, in effect, the believer is "holding back God."
___"You're called to take the risk" to bring to birth what God has put inside you, Collins said. "When you give people the freedom to do these things, you find they are much better at it. I've seen some art come out of people who didn't think they were artists."
___When Scandrette and Collins speak of artists, they're not talking only about painters. They're speaking about all those who use creativity to communicate.
___"We're trying to reclaim how the Creator intersects with all of our being and not just the cognitive aspect," Collins said.
___They are not, however, taking off on artistic flights and ignoring the Bible. "Everything I do, everything the people I work with do, it goes back to Scripture," Collins said.
___But "the truth has got to be expressed in language and pictures and metaphors," he said. "The reality of God can never be a static point."
___The Epicenter worship event might appear to be "wacky," Scandrette conceded. But it was "the result of years and years of theological work" in community with evangelical people "who have been faithful for years and years," he said.
___"We've tended to teach the Bible as data," Scandrette said, "when it's really a story we've been invited to be a part of."
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