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| June 06, 2009
About Us Visionprofiling, empowering, and networking Christians in the arts Mission to document the Christian arts scene Values We value the Word of God as the foundation of our beliefs as Christians in the arts. We value relationships in which to equip the community. We value a learning culture to develop character and skills. Medium CreateLeVoyage.com, an online journal, and an all arts inclusive Writers Group that meets monthly. ............................  CreateLeVoyage.com's core team : Aaron Lee, Yang Ming, Dawn Fung, Annabelle BokInterview with CreateLeVoyage.com's core team published in Vantage Point 2008, by Eagles Communication edited by CreateLeVoyage.com for the purpose of this page VP : Why do you exist? CLV : When we first began in 2003, CreateLeVoyage.com was a one person effort - Dawn Fung had just returned from Paris in end 2002, and she created the website in the hope of finding like minded individuals who were Christians and practitioners in the arts. Eventually she did and uncovered a network of people and events that were related to this group description. Through the early years, CreateLeVoyage.com became egroup Arts4Jesus' official magazine, and by 2009, CreateLeVoyage.com will have documented the Christian arts scene for 7 years. Today we are a group of Christians in the arts from diverse arts disciplines and churches who aim to write professionally and examine critically, the relationship between our faith and our art. As such, we created an umbrella of options to pursue this topic more indepth, from reporting, commentary analysis to reviews and the more esoteric column of prophecy. (You can see it in the desks under Articles). These desks are the fruits of extended discussions of our practice as followers of Jesus and practitioners in the arts. The word CreateLeVoyage means Create the journey. If we were to seriously understand our existence and interpret it as a journey, then the way is home to heaven. We are imperfect, creative and forgiven creatures in search of the next step towards our understanding of our Creator. Within our calling in our professions are filters ( art mediums and their disciplined usages ) that often stand in the way or aid us in our illustration of this journey. We look forward to collaborating with those outside of the island interested in the dialectics of Christian identity in the arts. Perhaps this is a tiresome topic to many. While we are quick to acknowledge that work is only a third of our lives, and to be forgotten in the better priorities of life, we hope that CreateLeVoyage.com offers an inspiring alternative to those ready to take up an interest that is truly a niche. VP : What do you do? CLV : Our activities are twofold - via writing for the magazine and meeting up as a writers' group. The first because our main medium is an online magazine with a strong slant on writing. Yet there are exceptions like Journalogue's inclusion of songs as a an expression of devotion. Of course, if you want to grow a magazine, you also want to grow people who have a heart to run the vision with you, hence the writers' group. The CreateLeVoyage.com's Writers' Group meets monthly on a Monday evening and is hosted at Aaron and Namiko's place. We always start our sessions with worship, simply enjoying the presence of the Lord and ministering to one another in prayer. It also serves to remind us more than a collection of Christians in the arts, we are followers of Christ and a part of the family of God. We sometimes have guest speakers-- artists, academics, ministers etc-- who share their views with us on a suggested topic, or about what is going on in the local and international arts scene. We share with one another the work that we've created : this could be a narrative, analysis, poem or a song. This group is a safe place to receive constructive comments and to affirm one another's gifts. The Bible says "iron sharpens iron", and we always welcome everyone, whether they are regulars, or newcomers who are curious about what we do! The benefits of doing the activities are simple. We get to document the Christian arts scene (which is a burgeoning melting pot of diverse people). Secondly, we get to equip people for the work, but in a relational way. The writers' group is like a family - for those who come on time, we have dinner together, and we're always excited to see what the Lord is doing in each other's lives. VP : Who are the people involved? CLV : Our core team consists of writers with different strengths and interests; we include a poet, a playwright and two songwriters. The core team meets up bimonthly to encourage and edify each other, as well as decide on how to run the magazine and the writers' group. We are blessed that the core team is mature in the faith and open to ways of developing CreateLeVoyage.com - even towards our 7th year, there are so many things that can be done. Psalms 127:1 says that unless the Lord builds the house, the workers labour in vain. When we meet, we make it a point to hear from the Lord clearly. Our commonality as children of God is so central to our ministry! As for others outside the core team ,we count prose writers, journalists, academics and editors among our magazine contributors - the CreateLeVoyage.com's Writers' Group has been a main source of help in this area. Some of the writers' group members are tertiary students with a big heart to learn, and we simply enjoy their company and input. Sometimes the people involved in the writers' group are amateur writers who need encouragement and affirmation in their giftings. Although their works may not be published due to editorial policies, our core team often find ways to make sure that their voices are heard during meetings and they don't give up writing. It's such a precious thing to come across each member, who are committed to growing with us. We continue to want to be relevant to our niche group of Christians in the arts, so we are stringent in the choice and quality of articles we receive. And, even though our ultimate aim is to profile, empower and network Christians in the arts with the literary medium as our main vehicle, that doesn't exclude the wonderful participation, feedback and contributions we get from painters, designers, musicians and other artists who visit the group. Such exchanges make our activities richer and more insightful. We hope that more people want to get involved because it's often more difficult to find Christians in the arts who write, and write with an interest in this field! VP : What is your impact on the local church? CLV : It is not a stretch to say that every interest group exists out of a need. By default, Christians in the arts are an interest group although it is not on every church's agenda to cater to that group. If you look at Singapore's vision of a Renaissance City, its dedication to building up the arts reputation, you will find that by 2010, the number of students and arts practitioners who are Christians will have risen substantially. By then, people would be asking more questions about the church's role in reaching out to, if not equipping, these people. In the Word of God, the church is the body of Christ. It follows Christ and not trend. Its decision to do ministry and missions with Christians in the arts must be Christ led. Therefore, if churches do not take up the baton to start creative ministries to disciple Christians in the arts because it's not on their agenda or because of a lack of vision in this area, there should be no offense taken. However, other groups will rise up because God's people need each other. The number of Christians in the arts in egroup Arts4Jesus is 372 member strong - and this is the biggest egroup in Singapore of such nature. Others who are not involved yet in Arts4Jesus must number in the hundreds if we count those in the creative ministries in churches and outside. By numbers that are growing, we hope that the local churches pray for this group even if they lack the resources to equip them. Another thing is that local churches who disciple Christians in the arts may not have the know how to speak their language yet. There is a certain dialectic or way of thinking that is impertinent to our growth in the arts and faith. Sometimes, we acknowledge that Christians in the arts do not feel understood by their churches because of such unfulfilled expectations. The result is either frustration or misunderstanding. What most local churches know as "art" is outdated and irrelevant to most practitioners outside. Again, we refer to the Word - the cutting edge of the local church is the worship of the living God (See Rev 4:11), and not art. If Christians in the arts seek to be a part of the church, they would have to understand their priority as child of God, and not a professional looking for certain stylistics that a church may not offer. And this is not unbiblical - no plumber, doctor, artist, or professional should expect any church to follow man's lead except Christ's. The danger is really a Christian in the arts who seek to follow his/her own style rather than Christ. In the same way, we are also on the lookout for Christ centred churches for Christians in the arts to be rooted in, developed and loved. CreateLeVoyage.com's role is to be a voice for the interest group. By empowering an often overlooked and sometimes misunderstood part of the greater Body of Christ, we hope to see the Church rise up in these last days and showcase God's glory on the earth in ways that reflect His original creative genius. The Bible teaches that every joint supplies (Ephesians 4:16) and we feel that the Church of Christ cannot reach its full potential if a part of it is unable to function and contribute to the overall body in its full capacity. And we see that God's heart is very much for an interest group (made up of His children in the arts) that most local churches may not yet have the structure or language to equip yet. We would be very happy to partner churches and arts organisations or individuals any way we can. In fact, it would be a great blessing if they would get in touch with us instead! We're small but we have a big vision to write and document churches' and artists' events, people and have more writers to join us. CreateLeVoyage.com is necessary because we feel it's a ministry called of God. If God's not in the picture, we have no business existing nor would we have any real impact on the church.
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