Art and Our Relationship to God

God created human beings in God’s own image, and breathed God’s own spirit into them, imbuing us with aspects of God’s character: love, joy, compassion, and among others, creativity. The Danish polymath Piet Hein expressed this truth with the words:

I am a humble artist
moulding my earthly clod,
adding my labour to nature’s,
simply assisting God.
Not that my labour is needed,
yet somehow I understand,my Maker has deemed it that I too should have
Unmoulded clay in my hand.

Emmanuel Community Church has been blessed, over sixty-four years, with gifts of art – both physical artworks in the form of traditional paintings, banners, murals, woodwork and metalwork, given by the artists to our church; and the gift of artistic talent given by God to members of our fellowship. In 2025, the year when Emmanuel Community Church declared “Joyful Expression” to be one of our core values, Governance Council set aside the west wall of the west hallway as a curated art gallery; with the purpose that artwork which is presently scattered throughout the church be displayed intentionally; honoured by being curated, properly lighted, and deliberately promoted.

A first step in creating Art Hall is establishing an Art Policy standing on those principles, aiming to ensure that artwork is impactful, that artwork is rotated to keep it relevant and noticed, that artists from among our fellowship and our neighbourhood are recognized, encouraged and celebrated; and the artwork on display reflects the infinite variety of God’s grace and unconditional love.

If you are interested in exhibiting your artwork in Emmanuel’s Art Hall, or would like a copy of the Art Policy, contact the office at 403-272-1551.