Who is my neighbor?

No, it's probably not Mr. Rogers.

But this is a question I'm asking myself at the end of this week - who are the people that make up my town?

I found myself getting very excited about some of the "bigger picture" moments I had this week, concerning the vision of this ministry and the topic of artwork in the church. Historically, the church was the epicenter of music and visual arts; some of the greatest masterworks were produced as commissions for the church. What happened? Where did the creative endeavors of the church go?

Some interesting statistics: According to the national survey of 3,689 American college students conducted by UCLA’s Higher Education Research Institute, sixty-two percent of fine arts majors rated high on “spiritual commitment”.

Here's one more: Part of an ongoing survey of students at 46 U.S. campuses, 53 percent of students said time in the classroom had no impact on their spiritual development.

If we draw a logical line between these two statistics, what we have is a body of art students who show aptitude for spiritual discipline, but a lack of institutions that are willing to help them develop that aptitude. This is an area where the church can really step up.

Though these are exciting discoveries that point to a legitimate need for art ministry on a national and global scale, if left unmeasured, it could lead to some loftier train of thoughts that may actually distract from the real center of any ministry: discipleship of those around us.

Today we met with some homeschoolers in our congregation who are asking us to host art workshops for their kids in the future. We also visited a Muslim community center right across from the event center we plan on hosting classes soon, and brainstormed over mural work that our community would like to see in our building. We swung towards the lofty end of our vision, then landed back at home, where the people we live with are; this is a humbling reminder that if we really want to guide others to Jesus, we can't go to far from the second greatest commandment: Love your neighbor as you love yourself.