Journal · 26 October 2026
How the Church lost the arts
Think of the most beautiful things people have ever made.
Michelangelo painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Bach writing music so rich it still makes people cry three hundred years later. Huge cathedrals with windows of coloured glass, built over a hundred years by people who knew they would never see them finished.
Almost all of it was made by Christians. For God.
Now think of the phrase "Christian movie." Be honest. What do you picture?
For a lot of people, it is a little awkward. Low budget. A bit cheesy. Something you watch to be polite.
How did we get from the Sistine Chapel to that? That is what this post is about.
We used to lead
For more than a thousand years, the Church was the biggest supporter of art in the world. It paid painters, builders, singers and writers. It wanted the best, because it was all for God.
Most people back then could not read. So the art did the teaching. A window showed the story of Noah. A painting showed Jesus on the cross. Art was not a side thing. It was how people met the story of God.
Then we got scared
Over time, some Christians grew worried. Some felt that pictures in church were being worshipped instead of God. In some places, statues were smashed and paintings were covered over with whitewash.
Later, some groups closed the theatres. Plays were seen as sinful. Novels were seen as a waste of time. Dancing was banned.
Jump forward to the last hundred years, and the fears kept coming. Movies would ruin young minds. Rock music was from the devil. The television was a doorway for evil into your living room.
Some of those worries had a point. A lot of what the world makes is not good. But there is a problem with only being afraid.
We left the room
When Christians stepped back from the arts, the arts did not stop. Films kept being made. Songs kept being written. Stories kept being told. We just weren't the ones telling them.
We left the room, and then complained about what was going on inside it.
And when Christians did come back, many made something safe instead of something good. We made "Christian" into a type of art, like "comedy" or "horror." A label on a shelf. And the label started to mean "nice message, poor quality."
But "Christian" was never meant to be a genre. It was meant to be a standard.
Good work is part of the message
Remember Bezalel from last week? God filled him with skill. Real skill. The tabernacle was not "good for a church project." It was the finest thing in the camp.
A cheap, rushed piece of art with a Bible verse on it does not honour God more than a beautiful one. Often it honours Him less. It tells the world that our God is small and our standards are low.
Bach used to write three letters at the end of his music: SDG. It stands for Latin words that mean "To God alone be the glory." He did not water down his work to make it Christian. He made it brilliant, because it was Christian.
Taking it back
I believe God is calling His people back into the room. Back into film, music, design, writing and photography. Not to copy the world, and not to hide from it. To make things so good that people stop and ask why.
That means hard work. Learning the craft. Practising for years. Caring about the small things nobody else notices.
Why I hold myself to this
This is personal for me. As a Christian photographer, I never want my faith to be an excuse for average work. If anything, it is the reason I push harder.
When a couple trusts me with their wedding, I want the photographs to stand next to anything in the world. Calm, honest, full of real light. Something they will be proud to hang on their wall for fifty years.
That is not me showing off. That is me trying to do what Bezalel did. Make it beautiful, because it is for Him.
Next week, the big one: Is AI the beast?
Planning a session