Gospel Henna in South Asia

From Pioneers in South Asia:

Throughout Africa, Asia and the Middle East, henna (a temporary plant-based dye) is used to dye hair and beards—giving it a reddish tint, or helping to hide the gray and white. Women use it on their fingernails and toenails to enhance femininity. But the most common use of henna is in decorative body art on the hands and feet, which is becoming increasingly popular in the West...

Read the rest of the short article here.

Mehindi Job Training in South Asia Uses Bible Stories

I recently came across the following blog entry by a Christian worker in South Asia, Lucy Chilton (not her real name).  She describes her use of henna/mehindi designs inspired by the Bible while giving job training to local women at a beauty salon school and sewing center.  If you are a lady who is interested in this art form, and wonder how it could be used to communicate the Gospel in South Asia or anywhere in North Africa or the Middle East, I suggest you read on.  For the rest of you, please read on anyway and rejoice that God is using cultural art forms to draw his children to Himself!

You can also check out my earlier post on the use of some of these same henna/mehindi designs by another missionary here.

Here is Lucy's post:

Henna-Inspired Art in Africa

I recently met Kristin Glaze at the the Arts in Mission 2011: Training for Cross-Cultural Ministry conference in the U.K.  She is currently about half way through a two-year assignment in southern Africa, and has a BA and a MFA in art.  Kristin's team has two branches: one is media-focused, reporting on missions stories for Christians mostly in the U.S.; the other does consulting regarding the use of oral communications and creative arts for field use.

A Busy September!

I've been back at home for about a week, after having been out out of town for two weeks in September.  I wanted to give a report on what I've been doing, since all of it related to arts and missions.