Uniting Creatives bring church artists together

Uniting Creatives bring church artists together

Uniting Creative is a collaboration of passionate musicians, dancers, artists and film makers who are searching for ways to serve the church through their gifts and talents.

Tash Holmes is Church Engagement Leader at Uniting.

“For those of us who feel called to ministry through our creativity, we have noticed there isn’t much of a path for us,” Ms Holmes explained.

“We know that music and the arts are vital for church life and growth but it’s rare we see these positions made available. Often creative roles are made available when everything else has been taken care of and everything is in place. Sometimes this works, but more often we find the very thing we desperately need for church growth, is the very thing that’s left last on the list.”

“As Bono clearly expressed to Eugene Peterson in 2016, Why do we need art? Why do we need the lyric poetry of the psalms? Because the only way we can approach God is if we’re honest – through metaphor, through symbol… so art becomes essential – not decorative.”

In trying financial times, when some churches struggle to remain viable, let alone hiring new staff or launching new programs, this may seem like a big call to make, and Ms Holmes said that she was aware of the struggle.

“However, what then becomes of our worship leaders, poets and musicians?”

“And how do we ensure that churches are able to fully express the heart of spirituality whilst perhaps reaching younger, creative pockets in our community? This is the very thing that we are excited about exploring,” Ms Holmes said.

“How do we create community, training and opportunities for our creatives? How can we develop creative formation so we can continue to grow this vital group and not lose them to opportunities outside of our churches?”

“Our vision is to create a supportive network for creatives in the hope that as we give them room to thrive, this will overflow into our churches and new life will emerge,” she explained.

Putting the call out

Uniting Creative are putting the call out for anyone involved in the creative arts across our churches to connect.

According to Ms Holmes, the project is still at its early “conversation” stage and Uniting Creative want to hear from as many artists as possible.

Over Easter, members came together in lockdown and filmed a new song.

“This was the first step in gauging what interest was out there, and the response has been amazing,” Ms Holmes said.

The result is a new song, My Heart in Your Hands.   


“Within this emerging community, there are big dreams to write, record and produce worship music,” Ms Holmes said.

“The team are also excited to host worship nights to highlight as many creative elements as possible.”  

How can creative people get involved?

“Over this time of isolation, we have seen the significance of the creative arts to connect people, bring comfort, healing and joy in the midst of despair,” Ms Holmes said.

“We want to create opportunities to collaborate and work together in the creative arts space with the hope of launching something later in the year.”

For more information, contact Tash Holmes here.

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2 thoughts on “Uniting Creatives bring church artists together”

  1. Fantastic. There is amazing talent out there. As a member of a small rural congregation we are struggle with new ideas and just providing worship every week, but have found music clips on Youtube to be a great way to learn new songs and just enjoy music of praise that we can not ourselves produce. This is a great way to all share in the talent and blessings that God gives.

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