Learn Like A Painter

Church Relevance - Issue 19
May 2007
by Kent Shaffer

Another church’s formula for success may not work for your church. Do not replicate what other churches do, but study what principles and techniques make them successful. Learn like a painter.

Great painters study other artists, but they blend what they learn with their own artistic expression. Although other artists influence them, their passion and self-awareness are the driving forces of their artform.

In the same way, you should study other ministries, but you need to be able to discern which techniques will work with your church’s unique calling and circumstances. You can learn from and be inspired by others without becoming a clone of them.

Impressionist painter Édouard Manet is an excellent example.*

Édouard Manet’s Influences

What is remarkable about Manet, his influencers, and the artists that influenced them is how diverse their artistic styles are. They were able to learn from and be inspired by each other without diluting their own passions and styles.

I believe that this is how churches are to learn from one another. Do not become distracted by other churches and replace your calling with their callings. Stay focused and passionate about your calling, and study how other churches’ techniques can help you better fulfill it not replace it.

Copying other churches is not innovative, but learning the “why” behind what effective churches do can lead to innovation. As Frans Johansson explains in his book The Medici Effect, breakthrough insights are found at the intersection of ideas, concepts, and cultures. Study churches that are different than your church. Go outside of your denomination and worship style. Look for ideas, concepts, and church cultures that will challenge your thinking.

I still see thousands of churches trying their hardest to become like the #1 church of 1995 only to find out that the world has changed by the time they get there.
Bobby Gruenewald :: Innovation Pastor :: LifeChurch.tv (Edmond, OK)

Do not try to become like another church. Be yourself. And learn like a painter.

*Édouard Manet’s Influences Further Explained

Lorenzo Ghiberti taught Donatello, who is rumored to have taught Andrea del Verrocchio, who taught Leonardo da Vinci and inspired Michelangelo, who inspired Marcantonio Raimondi, who was taught by Raphael and inspired Édouard Manet.

A shorter chain of influence begins with El Greco, who inspired Francisco Pacheco, who taught Diego Velázquez, who inspired Salvador Dalí, Pablo Picasso, and Édouard Manet.

Manet was also inspired by Titian and was friends with artists such as Edgar Degas, Claude Monet, Paul Cézanne, and Pierre-Auguste Renoir.

Design by Bombay Creative.

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