The intersection of creativity and spirituality highlights how using God-given artistic talents—through various mediums like writing, music, visual arts, and more—can be a powerful form of worship, personal growth, community building, and faith expression.
The Intersection of Creativity and Spirituality
God gives us our creative talents for a reason. We are to share these gifts with others and glorify him through their use. There are many different ways that we can use art to express our faith.
Choosing Your Medium: Finding the Right Creative Outlet
Some media you can choose to work with are:
Writing is how I blend my faith with creativity. In addition to writing for iBelieve, I am also writing a series of clean, romantic fiction.
If you have a way with words, you can write articles for faith-based publications, start a blog about faith, write a devotional, or write creative fiction and release the stories in your heart. You could even write stories with Biblical themes for children.
Drawing or Painting- Drawing and painting are great ways to express your faith. You could start a business where you draw or sketch a customer’s favorite person in the Bible that they can hang on their wall. You could frame it and add a short bio about the character underneath.
Sculpture- Sculpt Bible characters, Christian symbols, or angels that people can set around their homes or offices for decoration.
Making Jewelry- Handmade jewelry is a great way to show off your faith, because every creation is unique. You can customize your jewelry with the customer’s favorite colors and Christian symbols.
Clothing-Design clothing with Christian symbols, sayings, and Bible verses. If you are great at sewing, you could do it yourself. Not so great with a sewing machine, needle, and thread? Then start a t-shirt business and add Christian decals with Bible verses, sayings, etc.
Woodworking-Design figurines and signs with Bible verses and sayings that people can display in their homes, or outside in their yards or front porches.
Music or Songwriting- Offer your songwriting skills on platforms like Fiverr or Upwork. You could even write and record your songs at home and release your Christian music albums. If you are new to songwriting, all kinds of songwriting software are available, like Hookpad, BandLab, Masterwriter, and Finale by MakeMusic. Please do your research so you know which software is right for you.
Religious Wall Art—Create religious wall art with Bible verses and sayings that people can hang in their homes. Customize it with your customers' favorite verses, colors, and symbols.
Illustrated Scriptures—Create illustrated Scriptures that people can wear or display in their homes. This will help others who aren’t familiar with the Bible better understand the verse.
Create Religious Videos- If you’re good at creating videos, offer to make some videos for your church to promote an upcoming event. You could also start your own YouTube channel and feature religious videos for adults and kids.
Choosing Your Medium: Finding the Right Creative Outlet
Finding the right creative outlet can be difficult, especially if you have a lot of different interests. Here are some tips to help you find the right outlet for your creative leanings.
Benefits of Creative Outlets.
Let’s start by talking about the benefits of having a creative outlet.
-Emotional well-being because being creative reduces stress and improves mood.
-Enhanced self-awareness because being creative encourages introspection, which helps you understand yourself better.
-Skill development because hobbies like writing, photography, and painting develop new talents that boost confidence.
How to Find Your Unique Creative Outlet
Start by Asking Some Questions.
-What activities make you lose track of time?
-What did you enjoy as a child?
Try A Range of Activities
-Painting, sketching, or photography
-Journaling, storytelling, or poetry
-Dancing, yoga, or theater
Try to spend an hour each week doing these things, and don’t judge yourself about your abilities. Everyone has to start somewhere. Have fun, enjoy yourself, and don’t stress.
Art as Worship: Creating Sacred Spaces Through Creativity
It’s important to have a sacred space where you can be creative and talk to God while doing it. Not everyone has an office, garage, or shed where they can disappear to be creative without interruptions. Here are some tips to help you create a sacred space for creating, no matter where it is in your home.
-Choose a space out of the way, like in a corner of the room or even a closet if you have one big enough, or a space in a finished basement or attic.
-Decorate with things that inspire you.
Let your family know that you are not to be interrupted when you are in this space unless it is an emergency. You may even want to define an emergency, especially for your kids.
-Make up a cue to let your family know you’re not to be interrupted. For example, my “office” is in our living room. My husband knows not to interrupt me when I have headphones on. You can do the same thing, even if you have to set a particular object out as a cue or make a sign to let everyone know that creativity is in progress.
The Power of Community: Collaborative Artistic Expression
Community is important for creatives. If you have Christian friends who are creative, make sure you all keep in touch regularly. Even though being creative is a blessing, it’s not for the faint of heart. You have to wear a lot of hats.
Having creative friends to brainstorm with, bounce ideas off of, and get encouragement from is crucial. I don’t know what I would do without my author friends. Sometimes you need to talk to someone who understands.
Create a group that meets once a month, either in person if you are all local or online, and talk about your struggles, successes, ideas, and ask lots of questions if you can. Try to have a mix of people at all levels in their journey. Those starting will appreciate having others in the group in the same boat, and those a little farther along will be grateful to have others to talk to.
If you live locally, attend local festivals and events to sell your goods. Split the cost of the rental space/table(s) and spend the day together. It’s nice to have someone to chat with when times are slow, and you can all be each other’s cheerleaders when you make a sale. It will be a fun day for everyone, whether a sale or not.
Overcoming Creative Blocks: Staying Inspired in Faith-Based Art
Everyone who is creative experiences creative blocks once in a while. We can’t be on top of our game all the time. This can happen for many reasons, like poor planning (for example, some writers are planners who create outlines and beat sheets before writing, while others are pantsters and go with their creative flow), stress in other areas of life, or simple burnout. What can we do when we hit a creative block to help overcome it?
-First, we need to accept it. The more we fight it, the worse it’s going to get.
Decide how to best overcome it. Take a walk outside, call a friend and talk, or read a book about creativity. Figure out the best way to help you overcome the block.
-Ask God for help. Divine inspiration is a real thing. I had ideas for three original books, but God spoke to me and told me I should write a series.
-Don’t force yourself to write, paint, photograph, etc., because you feel you are losing time. Some blocks may last a day or two, others may last a little longer. By forcing yourself, you will not put your best creative juices forward and will have to return and do more work.
There are all kinds of ways to be creative and express your faith. Choose an outlet today for a happier, less-stressed, more innovative tomorrow.
Photo Credit: ©GettyImages/LightFieldStudios
