We at the NFfCR believe the battlefield for our youth has shifted from the intellectual battlefield to the cultural battlefield. The church has been very slow to realize this. Currently, Christian art is derivative, cliché, cheesy, unbelievable, and completely lacking in the rigor and authenticity that once characterized holy aesthetics. Christian art has become synonymous with mediocre art. We wa
nt to change that. We believe firstly, that the majority perception of Christian art is accurate. But that is not because the church is completely devoid of artistic talent. One of the major problems is that the representative cultural output of the church has been hijacked by distribution giants that are averse to taking financial risks. Mediocre art is safe, unchallenging, and bland. But it is also very marketable. And when the bottom line is what's important, the art will always suffer. That's why the NFfCR wants to cut the market out of the picture altogether. By relying on donations and voluntary patronage, we avoid subjecting art and artists to the constraints of marketability. Can you imagine what kind of poetry and music David and the prophets would have written if they had been concerned about pleasing the masses? They would not have said the often hard things that needed to be said. In fact, the prophets regularly criticized the "ear-ticklers" who made a living peddling pleasing, fuzzy, feel-good vagaries to the masses. The NFfCR hunts for those precious Christian artists who pursue their callings before God in spite of the church's mainstream complacency. We want to make it easier for authentic Christian art to be created by supporting the financial needs of artists in the creation of their art to the best of our ability. We are small now, but we are very dedicated. And we will not rest until Jerusalem is a praise in the earth.
