Making a joyful noise for the Lord
Every now and then, I get chills while making music with God’s people. When the royal priesthood belts out a tune they know well and I get to support the singing (some of it with questionable tuning but undeniable passion), it’s always a special moment. To be able to experience Jesus’ love as a community and serve in response is a privilege and a blessing.
Of course, creative callings can extend beyond music! Some children of God have gifts in visual arts, filmmaking, or poetry; all beautiful ways to express the love God first showed us. They give us wider and more complex palettes with which to paint a picture of our Saviour who died and rose for the world.
Since February of 2024, I’ve been part of a group gathering at St John’s Lutheran Church in Unley called Handmade. The idea came out of a Blueprint Ministries young adult camp to gather Christian creatives together to share their work and encourage each other. Every month, we feature a different artist and hear about their journey as a creative with faith.
We’ve been fortunate to have a good number of creatives come through, both experienced and young, including wonderful musicians like Robin Mann and Kathie Renner and filmmakers like Andy Voigt and the Diffusion Productions crew. We’ve also featured visual artists and are planning our second South Australian Living Artists (SALA) exhibition in August.
In March, we were able to hold a very special event – a live album recording of original worship music! This included four local songwriters, including myself and some fellow young adults, alongside other musicians and creatives all uniting to develop a vision we all share.
Our intention in making this album is to serve the church by making a useful worship resource. We want to provide songs that are locally made by passionate Christian young adults for the benefit of the church through accessible sheet music, lyric videos for all the songs, and official videos for use in worship and sharing of the music. As church musicians, we know that accessing practical resources for songs and managing copyright can be difficult. Our hope is that we’re able to help in this area!
We are thankful to the Handmade team, Blueprint Ministries, the LCA SA-NT District, St John’s Lutheran Church, the creatives involved, and our Father in heaven for making all this possible. Stay tuned for when the album releases in June!
To keep updated with Handmade events and news you can follow their social media pages.
Facebook: www.facebook.com/handmadeartandfaith
Instagram: @handmadeartandfaith
Linktree: https://linktr.ee/handmadeartandfaith
READ MORE STORIES ABOUT artists, Blueprint Ministries, Christians, community, creative, handmade, handmade art and faith, live album, local artist, March, music, recording, SALA, St John's, Unley, worship music
