“Public Restroom Art” by Jordan Watson

eric posted on September 1, 2010

Jordan Watson serves as a youth minister, water polo coach, communicator, and blogger. He is the founder of Spreading Stories a website designed to highlight new churches in America.

“I firmly believe that a public restroom is the best art gallery. Recently, I walked into a public bathroom and spent ten minutes admiring the work of many undiscovered and unappreciated artists. I browsed the bathroom and gazed at the art displayed on the mirrors, stall doors, toilet seats, and walls. Then I came across a familiar phrase that everyone has seen in hundreds of public restrooms, “Erika was here,” which I found interesting since this was a Men’s restroom. I like to think that Erika is not a man with a very unfortunate name, but a woman who has mastered the art of making her presence forever known within Men’s restrooms.

Erika is very similar to you and I in that we all long to be noticed and we each have an art. Every human being longs to be fully known, seen, and valued. This is what motivates so many of us to write, “I was here” on bathroom doors. What if we took a lesson from Erika and noticed people for their art and gave them opportunities to use it? Erika’s bathroom art brought me to a new understanding of “equipping” as a work of providing opportunities and empowerment. We equip when we provide people with opportunities to discover their art and empower them to give it to others.

In church leadership, it is easy to believe that to “equip” means to create systems, conferences, or workshops that provide people with the tools, that we think they need, to plug into the ministry structures within the church. When we do this we merely program robots with tasks and provide instructions on how to complete the job. Programming robotic volunteers is not equipping people to uniquely live Jesus’ mission of love and service.

When we transform people into robots we miss the full potential that a person’s art can contribute to the mission of Christ. For example, some people possess the art of motivation and their very presence can inspire others to live differently. We miss this person’s full potential when we ask them to attend a ministry workshop that will “equip” them with the curriculum they will need to teach at a Sunday school class. On the other hand, to truly equip this person is to provide them with opportunities in which they will further discover their art of motivation. Moreover, we equip this person when we empower them to motivate a group, area in the community, or ministry that is lacking in passion.

However, many church leaders continue to settle for programming volunteers simply because the treadmill of ministry demands it. In these situations, we must first change our mentality on ministry to one that values art over action. An infatuation with action can move a church into busyness, and busyness is a cheap imitation of healthiness. Sometimes, churches can become so busy with “action,” and mistake their busyness for growth. These churches usually appear healthy and may even boast booming numbers, but they are probably packed with robotic volunteers that move rapidly about their tasks. Meanwhile, only small groups of people in the church have truly discovered their art and consistently give it away to others. In fact, the leadership may even value programming volunteers because it keeps them from doing the hard work of equipping people with opportunities to discover their art and empowering them to give it away. This high value on action will eventually lead to burnt-out volunteers and abandoned ministries whereas a value on human artistry will enable people to give from their passions.

We must challenge our leaders to understand “equipping” as a twofold work that seeks to provide opportunities for people to discover their art and unleashes them to give it to others. Lastly, if church leaders can adopt a mentality that values art over action then our people will be equipped to give their art to humanity in service to the mission of Christ. Erika used her art to make her presence forever known in a Men’s bathroom. Perhaps, God wants to use our art to make his presence forever known in the lives of everyone we encounter.”