Today’s post is a guest post from Jon Barnes, a good friend of mine. I wouldn’t be who I am today without the hours that Jon poured into me while I was in high school. Jon is one of the most creative people that I know.

This one’s for the artists.

We’ve all had a creative dry spell or suffered from writer’s block here and there, who hasn’t? But sometimes as artists and Christ followers a unique paralysis falls upon us- a paralysis that’s not just a “desert season” or a funk but something deeper and rooted in how we think about ourselves as Christians artists in the world. The following is a list of reasons why Christian artists (aka creative people) stop making art or creative works.

Lack of Community

A big reason why Christian artists fail to flourish is because they’re flying solo. They have no community, no team, no support. They’re like an ember that’s tumbled out of the fire ring and is slowly cooling down. Sometimes it’s the fault of the artist for minimizing the necessity and value of true community, other times the fault is no one’s, it’s just dang hard to plug in and find like-minded people who are both highly creative and strong believers. Either way, finding a creative community is key. Creative folks were never meant to go it alone.

Lack of Mentorship

Similar to the reason above, many artists fail to launch (or stay launched) because they do not have an older/wiser mentor of some kind. The mentoring relationship is hugely important and for Christian artists the role of mentor is part Biblical disciple-making and part artistic guide/guru. Artists who make a distinct priority of being mentored and mentoring others will go a long way.

Unresolved Sacred/Secular Tensions

Some Christian artists stall out in the actual (or perceived) great divide between “regular art” and “Christian art.” It’s a tension that’s not new to our era, although we do find ourselves in the unusual modern predicament of having “Christian music” and “Christian movies,” etc. But the challenging part of the creative process is understanding how the artist relates to the world, the church and creative subject matter as well as coming to peace with the ideas of what is “sacred” and what is “secular.” Or that there is no such distinction at all. Either way, it’s something that artists have to wrestle with. We will be all over the map on this one but the point is to work out the struggle for ourselves in a way that compromises neither art nor mission.

Busyness

This one isn’t unique to Christian artists but it’s a valid one. Many creative people don’t create (or don’t create to their full potential) because they’re just too busy. And don’t get me wrong, I’m not slamming the tasks and time that life demands. Our kids need time with us, work needs working, home needs homemaking, for sure. Good things. But if we’re in touch with our calling we have to live with priority when it comes to the ever-shrinking pool of time and energy we have. The farther you trek into adulthood the better you have to become at carving out creative time. The fight is not with your creativity; it’s with making the room in your life to create. Many Christian artists stop creating because they haven’t cultivated the ability to carve out creative time when it’s no longer naturally occurring.

Have you experienced any of these challenges in your life as a creative person?

In Part 2 of this blog we’ll look at 4 more reasons why creative Christians often fizzle out in their artistic mission. Stay tuned.

Bio:  Jon is currently Director of Communications at a Baltimore-area marketing and communications firm and has enjoyed a wacky buffet of careers over the years including youth pastor, law firm unicorn trainer and running his own design shop. When he’s not dreaming of fancy cheeses he’s creating videos for his YouTube channel or re-enacting scenes from Knight Rider episodes with his 2 boys. Jon and his family live in Ellicott City, MD. @pumthuggee. www.pumthuggee.com