2027 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 am so very glad I came to the ELF! Through the Artists Network, I met wonderful, creative people, found inspiration, and learned a lot about art from a Christian perspective. I am heading home with a much clearer vision of how to serve God in this field, what skills to develop, and what steps to take, all of which have filled me with a calming sense of support from the new friends I've made here at the ELF." - Dawid Miara, Youth Leader, Poland
- "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 of Asociacija „Šaltmiros gyvenimo mokykla", Lithuania
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
Linda Acunto is an Italian visual artist. Her practice explores themes of memory, identity, and landscape, with a particular focus on the relationship between territories and their inhabitants.… 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
Attila Nagy-Szakmáry lives in Fót, Hungary, with his wife, and together they serve in their congregation’s marriage ministry. Alongside his work in telecommunications, Attila has developed a parallel career as a playwright. Since 2022, five of his one-act… 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
Network Programme
Sunday, 23 May
Biblical wisdom offers a foundation for creativity, shaping how we create through the guidance of God’s Spirit. In this session, participants will explore what wisdom looks like in practice and how it informs the creative process. They will also experience the wonder and joy of the creative process, learning to see their own creativity as an analogy of God’s creative work.
Called to live life on the edge of what’s known, as creatives, we push into spaces that are often unwritten. Facing blank scores, studios, and canvases, we ‘dip our brush into our own soul’ (Beecher), and our faith and identity tremble. Join us as we celebrate and consider the tensions of our commission.
Monday, 24 May
What if creativity is not simply about creating something, but about entering into relationship? Through a close look at a number of contemporary artistic practices, we will explore how artists use creativity to respond to a deep human need for contact, encounter and relationship, placing this within the broader story of creation, fall, and redemption. We will then ask what it means for Christians working in the arts to listen to the culture of their time and engage with it creatively. Drawing on the reflections of Hans Rookmaaker and Tim Keller, as well as the speaker's experience as an artist and curator in the city of Rome, we will explore cultural engagement as part of our prophetic, priestly, and kingly vocation. How can Christian artists listen to, inhabit, and engage with their culture, and what traces might we leave through the work we create, the relationships we build, and the spaces we make?
The painting captures the confidence of Renaissance achievement—yet hidden within its composition lies a haunting reminder of mortality and the fragility of human certainty. Surrounded by symbols of learning, exploration, and music, the two men appear self-assured, but a mysterious element in the foreground reveals deeper questions beneath the surface of wealth, knowledge, and success.
Using The Ambassadors as a case study, this session invites participants to reflect on the tension between success and meaning, and to explore how visual art can open honest spiritual conversations in today’s culture. Drawing from experience using the painting in student evangelism and church contexts, the session considers how art can serve as an accessible entry point for mission, spiritual formation, and a deeper engagement with faith and the human condition.
Tuesday, 25 May
This session explores how the imagination can be redeemed to see possibility, beauty, and hope—especially through the surprising practice of 'trash art'. Participants will learn how to cultivate their imagination biblically and experience how creative engagement can open new ways of perceiving the world. Through this process, brokenness becomes something that can be re‑imagined and transformed for God’s glory.
What happens when faith has no easy answers and words are no longer enough? Biblical lament gives voice to grief, protest, confusion, and even accusation, while remaining an act of dialogue with God. From the Psalms and Lamentations to the embodied and performative actions of the prophets, Scripture offers a rich language for bringing suffering into the presence of God rather than hiding or resolving it too quickly.
This session explores lament as an essential but often neglected practice of Christian spirituality and asks how artistic expression can become one of its languages. Through biblical reflection and examples from visual and performative art, participants will consider how making, seeing, and engaging with art can create space for grief, memory, protest, prayer, and hope—both personally and within the life of the church.
Wednesday, 26 May
What is biblical peace - shalom? In a world of conflict and injustice, learn how art can promote peace and human flourishing in the world. From uniting people to inviting people into new perspectives, learn how artists can be salt and light of the world as the peacemakers Jesus calls for in Matthew 5.
God is both intentional and redemptive — nothing in a believer’s life is wasted. Each of us can relate to a time or season in life that felt stalled, stagnant, or unfinished; our creativity is no exception. What may have looked like low productivity or disappointment may have been a time of formation or a building block toward ministry, empathy, or calling. Our testimonies prove that even in silence, God is not idle; He is the Author of our story. This session will highlight three themes: formation in the unseen, redemption in every chapter, and trust in divine pacing.