2026 Artists Network
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G.K. Chesterton wrote, “The function of imagination is not to make strange things settled, so much as to make settled things strange; not so much to make wonders facts as to make facts wonders.”
Artists of all types are tasked with inviting their viewers and hearers to see and listen. To make facts into wonders. Art is uniquely suited to enrich our prayer lives, catalyze renewed engagement with the Bible, foster empathy, enhance our spiritual perception, challenge our beliefs in healthy ways, and bring us into more intimate contact both with our Lord and the world. It invites us to slow down and gaze deeply. Art communicates, questions, and holds accountable. It stirs and reveals. The arts, in all their forms, are good gifts from God, intended to be cultivated and employed, communicating God’s message of hope and redemption for humanity. As artists, we need to mindfully consider how to practice the habit of seeing and listening on our own in order to create.
What Network Participants Are Saying
- "I feel that I was quite lost and busy with everyday life before I came here. It was difficult for me to motivate myself to do something for the artists in Estonia. I had a lack of energy and ideas. Now, after having met my brothers and sisters from other countries, I feel fulfilled again. I am closer to God, closer to my ministry, and full of new ideas on how to carry on my work in Estonia. That is what ELF and it's artists network gave me."
- Kulli Hansen, ARTEST+ Network Leader, Estonia - "The Art Network is as much educational as it is practical, because what we learn here - we can adapt in our lives. The way we look and understand art, the way we create. The connections between artists who know Christ are so meaningful!"
- Eglė Tamulytė, President, Lithuania - "Being part of the Art Network, I feel way less alone and deeply understood in my creative calling, and I’ve learned that honestly singing about my struggles is not egocentrism, but a way to glorify the God who brings beauty from ashes."
- Balazs Koncsard, Worship Leader, Hungary
Applicants should be artists who are engaging with society or the church. The Network provides a haven where Christian artists gather in community for relationship, spiritual nourishment, deep thinking, professional growth, and strategic possibilities.
Network Leadership
Network Speakers
Ann Brown is a geographer and taught geography for many years. She also has an advanced diploma in the history of art. She has an interest in the reception history of the Bible, especially in the way that the themes that it generates lend themselves to apologetic and evangelistic engagement. She… Read more
Lindsay Brown is a native of Wales. He studied European history at Oxford (MA) and theology at the Free Faculty of Theology at Vaux-sur-Seine, near Paris, under Henri Blocher. Lindsay served as the International Director of the Lausanne Movement from 2008-2016. He has worked with the… Read more
Efrem Buckle, as Deputy CEO and Director of Training and Mentoring at London City Mission, draws on thirty years' experience in urban ministry including twenty years as church-planting pastor of ecclēsia (South London). In the early-90s he formed part of a missional music duo, Ministry of… Read more
Brian S. Chan is a professor at Dallas Theological Seminary in Media Arts & Worship, teaching creative writing, visual artmaking, and theologies of beauty, creativity, story, and film. Dr. Chan pastored in Hollywood/Los Angeles and taught courses at Biola University on a theology of beauty,… Read more
Heather Holdsworth is a Bible teacher, author and artist. Her focus is on the Spiritual Formation of people of all ages. As a teacher she developed a keen interest in how people grow. Following a 2-year diploma in Practical Theology, she completed an MA in Spiritual Formation & Discipleship… Read more
Saša Nikolinović has been the senior pastor of Sarajevo Evangelical Church since 2001, and he served as an elder of the church from 1995 to 2001. He is a member of several boards in their denomination, most notably as a leader of the summer camps board where they focus on evangelism and… Read more
Keith Ogorek, president of the Author Learning Center, brings a unique perspective to communications, having worked simultaneously in ministry and the marketplace for virtually his whole career. Using his experience as a marketing and communications professional for banks, as an ad agency… Read more
Network Programme
Sunday, 17 May
Billions listen. Trillions spent. Every continent has caught the wave. Yet the church struggles to understand and engage the hip-hop culture. Whilst hip-hop gave the streets a voice, hip-hop heard the silence of the lambs in reply. Hip-hop isn’t just music—it’s the heartbeat of a generation. Discover how its unstoppable rise exposes gaps in Christian mission, and how we can learn to engage subcultures and marginalised communities with Gospel creativity. Let’s explore what Arts, Media, and Worship practitioners can learn from hip-hop’s rise to boldly represent Jesus and reach the culture with power and purpose.
Most assume that modern artists had no spiritual influence in their lives, since religion is often excluded from discussion in the public square. But Van Gogh was a failed missionary, Picasso made a bargain with God, and Andy Warhol attended Mass almost daily. Why does so much art have a spiritual history and motivation? In this seminar, we will explore the answer to this question as we discuss well-known artists who had profound religious influences even if they did not live lives as Christ followers.
Monday, 18 May
As artists, we know the tension of living between vision and reality — the dream that stirs our heart and the pit that tests it. In this session, we’ll explore the creative life through the lens of a biblical dreamer whose imagination was both a gift and a burden. Together, we will uncover what it means to stay spiritually alive when circumstances and waiting stretch us thin.
Artists create out of how they see. This session explores how we can nurture our eyes, cultivating a theologically in-depth view as redeemed artists in Christ. Following biblical examples, we learn how to integrate this redeemed view in our contexts in the world, which are our mission field.
Tuesday, 19 May
English-born Thomas Cole is best known as the pioneer of American landscape painting, in particular, sublime wilderness scenes. His work also expresses regret at the utilitarian attitudes to the earth that result in its desecration. The Course of Empire series could be interpreted as a ‘pioneering study in the Anthropocene’. Contemporary artists such as Eliasson and Gormley also interrogate humanity’s use and misuse of the earth. Are there implications for contemporary Christians working in the arts?
Art and faith have often been seen as separate worlds—one creative, the other spiritual. Yet when they meet, they open space for deeper understanding of God, self, and community. Drawing from personal experience as both pastor and artist, this session explores how creativity can serve as a bridge for spiritual formation, personal calling, and witness within the local and wider church.
Wednesday, 20 May
Artists from the Middle Ages onwards have found inspiration in the gleaning fields. Initially, the Biblical story of Ruth was the focus, and then, in the nineteenth century, Millet and others shifted attention to contemporary peasants. In the twentieth century, filmmaker Agnes Varda took up the theme. Why is the ancient agrarian practice of gleaning of such enduring significance?
Aesthetic delight refuels the creative soul. Discover a biblical understanding of Christian pleasure that is a way to engage God and nurture a creative life. Learn how to enjoy aesthetic moments without guilt in such a way that grants rest for the soul and reinvigoration for creativity.