Ministry Pathways: Art Show in Italy

“Last summer, I fasted.  I asked the Lord to speak to me about the gift of creativity He gave me that I hadn’t tended in years.  In the process, He answered and was with me.”

Hollie is an American living in Florence, a recovering artist, and a Pioneer seeking God’s heart for His church in Italy. She always knew she’d live in Europe, but didn’t predict the way art would give her a voice in Italy over the years.

In December, Hollie was invited by a local church to do a solo art show. Nuova Vita Downtown Bologna hosts an annual show spotlighting a different visual artist each year. When Hollie was invited, she was visiting the States and had no artwork in progress. She returned in mid-January, was sick for weeks, and worried whether she would have enough work for the show.

“It was an honor they asked me, especially as a recovering creative just getting back into artmaking.  I love how this church understands the arts - and in particular the visual arts - are a language everyone speaks and is a beautiful means to connect with others who may not ever enter a church.”

As members of the community gathered and mingled, they were welcomed and invited to engage with a diptych Hollie had done of a paper bag and a carafe. There was a concert, a short gospel message and, of course, some food and drink.  When the show began, it was clear Hollie had the right amount of artwork and anything more would have been too much. The Lord showed Hollie her work was perfectly sufficient and that He is, too.

“One of the works I sent in for the show was a cube drawn in pencil… It’s a basic building block for everything and certainly not “show-worthy” but I brought it anyway.  And would you believe –a man who was invited by a church member was quite taken with it and the explanation I gave. Between that conversation and an interview where I shared my thoughts on the diptych, this man decided to start coming to church.”  

Hollie loved art from a young age and God used its hold on her life to create a pathway for knowing Him. Art was her safe space through mentally and emotionally dark teenage years. She struggled with the general education requirements of American study programs, so she opted to attend art school in Europe. She landed in Florence for the first time where she studied for two years until 9/11 happened and the world changed.   

“My mother jokes that I was born with a crayon.  I fell in love with Michelangelo and the Renaissance at twelve and painted part of the Sistine on my bedroom wall with house paint at fourteen.”

“While I physically came back to Texas, I always said I left my soul in Florence and tried to return every year for the next decade.  During this season, I quit painting seriously and merely dabbled when I had time, as a single mom trying to survive. In July 2011, I began a spiritual workbook to recover creativity called The Artist’s Way.  Part of the (workbook) program is to do stream-of-consciousness writing first thing in the morning. In that process, I learned my love of Italy was holding me back in a lot of ways - it was idolatry.”

At the time, Hollie didn’t know the Lord and couldn’t identify art as an idol. She began a process of saying goodbye to Italy, writing a letter to Florence and officially letting go of the attachment. The Lord saved her the very next day.

“I literally had to make room in my heart for Him.”

As an early Christian, Hollie read Francis Schaeffer’s How Then Should We Live and began the ongoing process of forming a vision for arts ministry. The constant practice of starting, stopping, failing, and starting over has given her countless moments to process with the Lord and shape her vision for ministry.

Hollie is now passionate about Christians making art in new and adaptive ways, not necessarily focusing on Scripture or overtly religious themes. She is practicing and leading others to worship God through excellence in their art, no matter what the motivation or message of the piece may be.

“I can tell you as someone who has been a shadow artist their entire life… in trusting your talent to the One who gave it to you, there is a profoundly beautiful gospel message in learning how to see and how to see well.”

The road ahead for ministry through Hollie’s art has countless possibilities. She is inviting Christians to join her in this process of Christian art. She loves the process of recovering creativity, pursuing academic art professionally, and finding the voice God gave her as she reenters the art world. She hopes to gather believers and nonbelievers together to create, talk about art, and discuss real parts of life.

“I would love to train people how to talk about art as a means of connection and gospel truths.  We can go to draw or meet in small groups to engage those around us. Ideally, I see creating a rhythm of going to museums and in time, creating a growing community who meets afterward to discuss what we see… that may even become a church.”

Hollie would like to build a team to do this in Florence. Perhaps you or someone you know would be well-suited for this ministry in Italy. Perhaps her story has sparked ideas about pursuing innovation and flexibility on the mission field in Europe. If her journey resonates with you and your affection for art could lead you to join Pioneers in Europe, commit that vision to God in prayer and connect with us below.

Spiritual Climate Survey: Italy

Local churches vary in appearance across the globe. This is often easy to notice in our home countries but difficult to imagine overseas. In Europe alone, churches can vary in size, doctrine, music, culture, meeting space, teaching, etc. The mission of Pioneers is not to plant identical churches but to know and glorify God as we see new believers gather with other believers and grow as the body of Christ.

“Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.” Ephesians 5:15-16

Today, we learn about the evangelical church in Tuscany. Italy is commonly known as a Roman Catholic country, home to the Vatican and a culture that has been dominated by Catholicism for over 1500 years. This Spiritual Climate Survey provides a fresh perspective from Stefano, an elder in a non-denominational church in Florence.

In this series, we have sought the opinions of local brothers and sisters to help us gain understanding of the spiritual context that surrounds us here in Europe. The views expressed belong to those being interviewed and as such do not necessarily represent any official stance of Pioneers in Europe. Please join us in seeking to better understand the experiences of others and respond in prayer to our heavenly Father who sees and understands all things clearly.

What are the demographics of the population you live and serve among?

We serve in a small church (by Italian standards) with about 30 adult members. Members and frequent attenders are mostly female, including widows, wives of non-believers, and single women. At the moment, we have seven children attending the Sunday school. The proportion of non-native Italians in the church is higher than in the general population with many people from Latin America, Russia, Albania, and the USA.

The community we are serving among has a mean age of 45 and the majority is nominally Catholic (less than 20% attending religious services regularly). There is a growing population from North Africa who are very difficult to reach with the Gospel.

How would you describe the health and spiritual practices of the local church in your area?

We have an evangelical population of about 1%, mainly from Pentecostal-charismatic churches. Other evangelicals (Reformed, Brethren, Baptist churches and others) are a minority in most areas. Italian evangelicals generally have a strong doctrinal identity, trying to be active in the service of the community and in evangelism, but have very limited human and economic resources. They often end up insulated from the surrounding community.

What geopolitical events have been affecting the people in your area and the rhythms of your local church recently?

The pandemic has strongly affected the life of the church during the last several years. Most of the churches transferred their services online for many months and once the situation normalized, many frequenters did not return. This was an especially big hit to the older population who struggled with the technology of the online format.

What portion of the population in your area has been the most and least open to God in recent years?  

Foreigners (about 10% of the people residing in Italy), especially those from Christianized countries, seem to be the most sensitive to the preaching of the gospel. Among Italians, southern people are the most open to God. Among northern Italians, young people seem to be more open to at least having a conversation about spiritual issues.

What else are people trusting in in your area? What do people fear?

 A good portion of the Catholic church attenders (a minority of the overall population) are traditionally devoted to the Virgin Mary and the Saints. Most of them know very little, if any, about the Bible. The general population is mainly concerned about enjoying life, going on vacation, eating in good restaurants. The birth rate is the lowest in history (and the lowest among western cultures). Married couples are concerned about working and saving money. People’s fears concern health and economic security. The average lifespan of an Italian is one of the longest in the world, but the greatest fear of the people is death. It is a sort of taboo topic people talk about as little as possible.

Apart from spiritual needs, what are the greatest needs in your area?

Houses for young couples, services for the families, accessible care for the elderly, quality education for the young people.

What patterns have you seen in ministry in your area?

Generally, Italian pastors take care of churches that cannot provide economic support for them because of the small number of church members. This has strong implications on the capacity of the church to reach the community and on the pastors to be prepared for a theologically sound service of their churches.

Do various evangelicals in your area work together? Is there unity in the church?

I have seen and participated in many commendable attempts to work together in evangelism at the local level. Denominational churches mainly participate in the activity of their own denomination, but non-denominational ones (probably the majority) seem more sensitive to the local attempts at collaboration. The small size of the Italian churches make it difficult to form critical movement in the evangelism and service of our community.

Where do you see room for the global church to serve in your area?

Although Italy has attracted a strong missionary effort for decades after the 2nd world war, it’s my opinion that this country has to still be considered a mission field. Numbers and needs are comparable or greater than those in Africa or western Europe. Overseas churches have to realize that our battle is cultural, not material. I mean that we do not need rice or bread, we need instruments to change the minds of the people. Christian schools, universities, social services, Missionaries with PHDs, quality education for our young pastors… these could be some of the instruments to make a difference for Italy in the current day.

There are many barriers to the Gospel in Europe. History and the church’s reputation often hinder conversation. Let’s join the Pioneers in Italy in praying that the cultural battle and history of the church would be gateways for the Gospel!

Thank you to Stefano and our local Pioneer in Italy for sharing your experience and stories!

A Vision for Italy (Video)

A Pioneers team in northern Italy, in partnership with Act 29 Europe,  has a vision to see gospel communities spread across the nation of 60 million people. Watch this video to learn about the vision and to fuel your prayers for this team.