Art for the Not Yet invites churches to do something both simple and deeply theological: to help people pray, imagine, and create around God’s heart for those who have not yet heard, not yet believed, not yet returned, or not yet been reached. Connected to BGAV’s 2026 Annual Meeting theme, Heart for the Not Yet, the initiative welcomes visual art, music, poetry, spoken word, sculpture, digital media, and mixed-media pieces from churches and individuals across the BGAV family.

For congregations, the process does not need to begin with a professional artist, a formal gallery, or a committee with matching lanyards. It can begin in worship.
A pastor or leader can preach or teach one of the theological prompts, invite the congregation to respond during prayer, communion, invitation, or a dedicated response time, and then gather those responses into a shared work of art. A handwritten prayer, a colored page, a piece of clay, a photograph, a spoken phrase, or a simple mark on a mural can become part of the church’s witness.

A simple church-friendly process might look like this: choose one prompt, connect it to scripture and worship, invite a low-barrier creative response, hold one art workday, display the finished piece locally, and then submit the artwork, photos, video, audio, or artist statement for consideration in Art for the Not Yet. The goal is not polish for polish’s sake. The goal is faithful imagination—a way for churches to call forth artists, makers, musicians, writers, children, youth, older adults, and people who still insist they are “not creative” but somehow manage to create anyway.

The following ideas are designed to help churches move from inspiration to participation. Each one can be scaled up or down depending on the size, gifts, space, and resources of the congregation. Churches may use one idea as written, combine several, or let these become sparks for something entirely their own.    

Download the PDF handout.

‍

Twelve Community Art Ideas Organized by Prompt

Prayer Stars

Prompt: The Waiting Heart

Project Description: Worshipers write prayers for someone who has not yet come home to faith, healing, reconciliation, or belonging. The prayers are folded into paper stars and strung into a mobile.

Worship Integration: Invite people to write prayers during a sermon response or invitation. Display the stars in the sanctuary or hallway, then submit the piece or photos to BGAV.

‍

The Empty Chair

Prompt: The Waiting Heart

Project Description: Place an empty chair in worship representing those still missing, searching, estranged, or not yet present. Members attach written prayers, fabric strips, or ribbons over several weeks.

Worship Integration: Use the chair during pastoral prayer. Each week, pray for people the church is waiting for in love, not anxiety.

‍

Questions Wall

Prompt: The Edge of Belief

Project Description: Create a display of anonymous questions people are carrying about faith, doubt, suffering, calling, or hope. Artists can respond with drawings, photography, collage, or poetry.

Worship Integration: Invite people to submit questions before or during worship. Use the display to remind the church that questions can be holy ground, not spiritual failure.

‍

Faith Before Belief Soundscape

Prompt: The Edge of Belief

Project Description: Record church members whispering short phrases: ‘I’m still searching,’ ‘Help my unbelief,’ ‘I want to believe,’ or ‘God, are you near?’ Layer the voices with music.

Worship Integration: Play the soundscape during communion, prayer, or a sermon response. It could also become part of a digital art submission.

‍

Clay in the Potter’s Hands

Prompt: The Church Becoming

Project Description: Give worshipers small pieces of air-dry clay to shape into vessels, fingerprints, crosses, or simple forms representing how God is still forming the church. Combine them into one installation.

Worship Integration: Use the clay during a sermon response. Display the finished pieces together as a sign that the church is still being shaped by God.

‍

Neighbor Portraits

Prompt: The Church Becoming

Project Description: Ask members to create symbolic portraits of neighbors the church is learning to see again: teachers, immigrants, young adults, seniors, unhoused neighbors, business owners, or local families.

Worship Integration: Feature one group of neighbors in prayer each week. Ask, ‘Whom is God teaching us to see?’

‍

Seed Packet Prayers

Prompt: The Work Before the Harvest

Project Description: Members write prayers for future generations, unseen ministries, or small faithful beginnings on seed packets. The packets are displayed, planted, or given away.

Worship Integration: Bless the seed packets during worship. Children or youth could carry them forward as a sign of planting for a future they may one day harvest.

‍

Soil, Seeds, and Hands Mural

Prompt: The Work Before the Harvest

Project Description: Create a collaborative mural with soil, roots, hands, seeds, rain, and early growth. Each participant adds one mark representing quiet faithfulness.

Worship Integration: Build the mural over several Sundays. Use it as a backdrop for mission testimonies, commissioning, or offertory prayer.

‍

Map of the Not Yet

Prompt: The Mission Still Unfolding

Project Description: Place a map of the church’s town, Virginia, North America, or the world in a visible space. Members mark places, people, or callings they cannot stop thinking about.

Worship Integration: Pray over the map during worship. Invite members to name communities where the gospel story is still unfolding.

‍

Postcards from the Future

Prompt: The Mission Still Unfolding

Project Description: Worshipers write or illustrate postcards addressed to future neighbors, future believers, future church plants, or communities still waiting for hope.

Worship Integration: Read selected anonymous postcards in worship. Bind them into a booklet or display them as a mission gallery.

‍

‘Let There Be…’ Stations

Prompt: The Creative Heart of God

Project Description: Set up stations for painting, poetry, photography, collage, songwriting, and spoken word. Each station begins with the phrase ‘Let there be…’

Worship Integration: Use the stations before or after worship, or as a guided response to a sermon on creation, imagination, or new beginnings.

‍

Digital Graffiti Wall

Prompt: The Creative Heart of God

Project Description: Collect drawings, prayers, short videos, spoken-word clips, music, and photos from the congregation. Edit them into a looping projection.

Worship Integration: Project it during preservice, communion, or a missions emphasis Sunday. This is especially helpful for churches with more digital creatives than painters.

‍