Excerpt from The Ministry of Fine Art: To the Happiness of Life; Essays on Various Arts Fine Art comes of the union of love and labour, for without love it has no sufficient motive, and without labour it can have no success. As all ideas cannot be put in words, art is in some form or other a human necessity; and in the general estimate of human happiness, the result is perhaps not to be deplored that there is no other subject that in theory and practice is treated with so much liberty. It is so easy to talk about it, and so easy and pleasant to produce a modicum of effect in it, that it is the world's favourite; as an amusement to the multitude, who care not to look below the surface of anything, and as a bright refreshment for the many who are wearied by the hardness of busy life. So for these, and for much higher purposes than these, Fine Art may be said to have a mission in the world; at least, if by that we understand the employment of cultivated faculties, such as in eloquence, poetry, or any other combination of soul and sense by which men affect each other; and as each one's talent may be, his mission is to do that talent's work. Thus genius finds its purpose, and had best follow its own bent, whether in prose or poetry. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

First United Methodist Church in Augusta, Georgia, gives concerts to raise money for local service organizations. Trinity Lutheran Church in Mission, Kansas, has been sponsoring a religious art show for more than twenty-five years. Fellowship Lutheran Church runs a Christian arts camp for young people every summer. These are just three of the eighteen case studies of practicing arts ministries in this book, in which Michael Bauer encourages the nurture and support of all the creative gifts of God's people. Bauer lays a solid foundation for arts ministry, grounding it in the historic Christian tradition and urging churches to expand their engagement with the creative arts -- "to live and worship in full color," as he puts it. A concluding chapter clearly lays out how to develop an arts ministry, helping readers to take these ideas from theory to practice, to embrace and celebrate the continuing creative activity of God in the church.