The Rise of Artisan Culture and the​ Church’s Worship and Witness

The Rise of Artisan Culture as a Cultural Shift Shaping the Values and Expectations of Society.

The Institute for the Future predicted in 2008, “The next ten years will see a re-emergence of artisans as an economic force.” This prediction proved true. These artisans work outside the walls of big business, making a living with their craftsmanship and knowledge. The new artisan economy has seen the growth in one-person and small and businesses along with the rise of new organizational structures providing a more significant opportunity for work-life balance. This emerging artisan culture is creating new economic and cultural realities as many are joining the ranks of the new artisans to match their work with their values. The rise of the artisan culture is presenting new opportunities and obstacles for the worship and witness of the Church.

I am using art, artisan, craftsman, and craftsmanship as synonyms referring to the craft or person who practices or is highly skilled in a craft. These craftsmen are more than highly skilled manual laborers; they are found across a broad spectrum of disciplines as diverse carpenter shops, laboratories, concert halls, blacksmiths, brewers, bakers, shoemakers, leatherworkers, and software developers.

Technological advances that once threatened the artisan’s craft are now making it possible for artisans to compete in a globalized economy. For example, a small band of craftsmen banded together in central Latvia to revive medieval craftsmanship traditions to create woodworking tools, knives, bows, swords, leather goods, and watches. They are world-renowned for their quality work, with orders sometimes on waiting lists for months (Check them out at www.northmen.com). Technology also allows customers to demand products tailored to their specific needs and wants, and this is creating a market opportunity.

In my research on the craftsmen renaissance, I observed four major elements contributing to the re-emergence of artisan culture: The desire for expression, authenticity, community, and economics:

A Desire for Expression. McManus contends that art finds its most profound value when it is the authentic expression of a profoundly human experience. McManus also argues being creative is essential to being human, that we all carry within us the essence of an artist. Fujimura assets we all need to create something beautiful, good, and true to allow our souls to come to life.

Authenticity. Well-educated young people are skipping high paying careers and choosing to work as baristas, distillers, or butchers because artisan jobs seem solid and “real.” Local, organic, fare-trade food has emerged as “meaningful” and “authentic” alternatives to industrially mass-produced food.  This rise of artisan culture may be a reaction against the fixation on bargains. This obsession is arguably the most powerful and devastating market force of our time as it combates the consumerism that blights our landscapes, raises personal debt, lowers our standard of living, and skews our perception of time.

Community. A sense of community is as valuable to artisans as their competency. For example, locally sourced foods are as valued for their cultural meaning and community identity as they are for the nutrition, sustainability, and taste aspects. The outward-facing, performative aspects of craftsmanship were equally valued as part of this community creation. Most artisanal jobs involve interacting with people going about their daily lives. Artisans have become transmitters of desirable knowledge, even replacing consent conventional cultural gatekeepers as arbiters of taste.

Economics. Locally produced, high-quality craftsmanship is creating a new market economy that allows people to connect their values with their purchasing power. A 2016 study identified values that enable, and drive participation in, artisan endeavors to include what can be called ethical economics. The study highlights locally based ethical markets as an alternative to the uneven North/South consumption/ production relationships of neoliberal globalization. Local production is gaining momentum in the global North. These artisans will attract and retain highly skilled and creative talent by offering freedom and flexibility and, in many cases, highly competitive compensation. These economic realities led Steve King to ask, “Will the new artisan economy save the middle class?”

How does this cultural shift threaten the current practices and assumptions of the Church’s worship and witness?

The artisan cultural shift presents several challenges to the status quo of Christianity in the West. As far back as 1954, French philosopher, sociologist, and lay theologian Jacques Ellul warned of what he called, “The Technological Society”; a society in which everything has become “technicized”, rendered efficient, and thus diminished in the process. His was a monumental warning of the unseen dangers of globalization and mass commoditization.

More recently, writers such as Ellen Ruppel Shell have focused on the forces that drove Americans away from quality, durability, and craftsmanship and toward the accumulation of more and more things at cheaper and cheaper prices; and the astronomically high cost of this cheap mind-set.

When the forces of mass commoditization and deep-discount values merge with theologically shallow thinking, the Church’s worship and witness has been re-shaped to an image more appropriate to the current world-system than the eternal Kingdom rule of Christ.

However, the cultural shift being brought about by the rise of artisan culture is having a positive transformation of society. This transformation of cultural norms and expectations will challenge current Church culture at multiple levels. I want to focus on four specific areas that are being challenged: time, tastes, visual and tactile aesthetics, and integrated living.

Challenges to the Church’s perceptions of time. The Nine-to-Five employment model is under threat by the new artisan economy. Most of Western society no longer share a standard weekly schedule: Work schedules and days off are now spread throughout the week, making it a challenge for scheduling church events. Churches will increasingly need to find creative ways to serve the spiritual needs of its community outside the traditional Sunday morning service. In addition, what happens while together will be increasingly viewed in how it treats the time of the people the Church seeks to serve. Busyness and activities for activities sake are more harshly judged by the artisan culture.

Artisan tastes challenges to the Church’s quality of ministry. Church size was once a driving feature, now is more about church substance. Artisan culture has changed the taste expectations of society. In today’s artisan culture, people pursue quality for its own sake. After more than a generation of “church growth” teaching, leaders are discovering “church health” is more important. Now, with the rise of artisan culture, leaders are also discovering that quality is expected regardless of size. This should be liberating for most leaders because while we may not be able to control the number of people who attend our services, we are able to control the health and quality of our services. In the artisan economy, substance is of greater value than size. House churches to mega-churches can embrace craftsmanship standards.

Artisans’ desire for visual and tactile aesthetics challenges to the Church’s “donation” mindset. I see this as one of the more difficult to navigate and will require wisdom from both the pastoral and board leadership within congregations, because one person’s quality is another person’s opulence. This being said, the challenge I see in churches normally goes to the cheap side of the equation. Medieval artisans crafted houses of worship that still evoke awe when visited. The revival of artisan culture will eventually challenge the visual and tactile longings for beauty that are absent from most contemporary churches.

The desire for integrated living will challenge hyper-activity in church life. Authenticity is a core value within artisan culture, but like the word “art,” authentic can be hard to define but it is known when experienced. Churches will be challenged in their expectations of congregants’ participation and support of ministries. Churches will be challenged to effectively communicate and connect while not overwhelming congregants with too much “advertisement.” And, churches will be challenged to not give into the “trendy” but “shallow” response of embracing artisan practices while not actually embracing an artisan theology and ethos.

How the Church can reflect the glory of God and contextualize its worship and witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Front and center should be serious theological investigation and reflection. Is artisanship only a cultural shift, or is it deeper than that? Is it rooted in God’s Revelation in Christ, Scripture, and Creation? McManus (2015), Fujimura (2017), and Edgar (2017) argue that creativity and artisanship are part of God’s created and redemptive order. If these authors are correct, and I believe they are, then church leaders must begin to engage once again with a theological process to understand creativity’s role in both human growth and development as well as the Church’s worship and witness to the Gospel. Fuller Seminary’s Brehm Center for Worship, Theology, and the Arts is making significant contributions in this arena. Much work remains to be done to move the perception that this is only for arts who use their ministry platform to express their artistic desires.

In addition to the need for solid theological foundations, we need to engage the missiological issues of contextualization for the Church’s attempts to enculturate the Gospel within an artisan context. Numerous scholarly sources either established or assumed foundations in the social sciences of anthropology and sociology. Sennett explores the philosophical impulses that lead humans to be craftsmen.  Edgar (2017), as a religious scholar, bridges the philosophical and anthropological disciplines with biblical and theological reflection.

Missiology provides the necessary framework, insight, knowledge, and reflection on contextualization to help safeguard the Church against mere acceptance of artisanship without the necessary biblical, theological, and ecclesiological foundations. We cannot escape wrestling through matters of contextualization as we seek to accomplish the mission of God. The missionary message of the Christian Church incarnates itself in the life and world of those who have embraced it.

Conclusion

The artisan cannot be separated from the work of God. Whether it is Bezalel and Oholiab (Ex. 38) in their leadership in building the Tabernacle of Moses; or Hiram, filled with “wisdom, understanding, and skill,” building the glorious temple of Solomon (1 Kings 7:13ff); or the artisan tent-maker Paul whose skills made room for him to spread the Gospel (Acts 18:3), artisans are intimately and intricately linked to the work of God.

Interestingly, when recounting the destruction of Babylon, the book of Revelation laments,

“and the sound of harpists and musicians, of flute players and trumpeters, will be heard in you no more, and a craftsman of any craft will be found in you no more, and the sound of the mill will be heard in you no more,” (Revelation 18:22, ESV)

Let the poet among us raise her voice. Let the craftsmen among us hammer out the praises of God in iron and steel. Let the brewer and winemaker create heavenly works from the fruits of the earth. The Craftsman of heaven and earth has formed our hearts to cherish your labor. May you be open for business and we open to heaven through your gift.

 

 

References

Aniol, S. (2012, October 31). Toward a biblical understanding of culture. Retrieved February 10, 2018, from http://artistictheologian.com/journal/at-volume-1-2012/toward-a-biblical-understanding-of-culture/

Autio, M., Collins, R., Wahlen, S., and Anttila, M. (2013) “Consuming nostalgia? The appreciation of authenticity in local food production” International Journal of Consumer Studies

Conner, Dustin. (2015) “Biblical and cultural exegesis: twin components for contextualized ministry in the great commission enterprise.” Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Curtis, R. B. (2016). Ethical markets in the artisan economy: Portland DIY. International Journal of Consumer Studies,40(2), 235-241. doi:10.1111/ijcs.12247

Edgar, W. (2017). Created & creating: a biblical theology of culture. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, an imprint of InterVarsity Press.

Ellul, J., & Wilkinson, J. (2011). The technological society:. New York, NY: Vintage books.

Fujimura, M. (2017). Culture care: reconnecting with beauty for our common life. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Books, an imprint of InterVarsity Press.

Gallace, A., & Spence, C. (2011). Tactile aesthetics: towards a definition of its characteristics and neural correlates. Social Semiotics, 21(4), 569-589. doi:10.1080/10350330.2011.591998

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Institute for the Future (2008, February). The new artisan economy. Retrieved February 14, 2018, from http://www.iftf.org/our-work/global-landscape/work/future-of-small-business/

King, S. (2013). Will the new artisan economy save the middle class? Retrieved February 14, 2018, from http://www.smallbizlabs.com/2013/09/will-the-new-artisan-economy-save-the-middle-class.html

McManus, E. (2015). Artisan soul. New York, NY: Harpercollins.

Niemandt, CJP (Nelus), (2014) “Artisanal cheeses or artisanal Jesus – loving your postal code enough to reflect it in the life and theology of the church.” http://missionalia.journals.ac.za

Ocejo, R. E. (2017). Masters of craft: old jobs in the new urban economy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Rock, H. B. (1995). American artisans: crafting social identity, 1750-1850 ;. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Univ. Press.

Sennett, R. (2009). The craftsman. New Haven: Yale University Press.

Shell, E. R. (2010). Cheap: the high cost of discount culture. New York: Penguin.

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