The artists are already in your pews.
Painters, musicians, photographers, writers and makers fill Canadian churches. Many feel unseen, unsure how their work fits their faith, or used only for Sunday tasks. At the same time, whole congregations are hungry for beauty in a culture that feels anxious, fast and flattened by screens.
Renaissance Canada walks alongside churches to change that. We help you shepherd the artists among you and form a people who know why beauty, truth and goodness belong together.
Start with a Sunday.
Invite Jess for a sermon or evening talk on beauty, the arts and the life of the church, or book a one-day workshop for your staff, creative team or congregation. Best for lead and creative pastors, staff and volunteer teams.
- —The forgotten transcendental: truth, goodness and beauty
- —Beauty in Scripture, from Eden and Bezalel to the new creation
- —What the church has remembered, and forgotten
- —Beauty on mission in your city
You’ll leave withA beauty audit to walk through as a leadership team.
Bring this to your team ↓- —Seeing the full range of makers in your congregation
- —The gifts and wounds of the artistic temperament
- —Beloved before the work: identity beyond output
- —Discipleship shaped for creative people
You’ll leave withSimple next steps to notice, gather and commission your artists.
Bring this to your team ↓- —Why artists are often unreached, and why that matters
- —Restorative work through the arts, drawn from Creative Drop-In
- —Hospitality, presence and long-term friendship
- —Starting something small in your own neighbourhood
You’ll leave withA first, realistic step toward the artists around your church.
Bring this to your team ↓- —Finding the story before picking up a camera
- —Light, composition and framing on a phone or camera
- —Filming people with dignity and consent
- —A short shoot-and-edit exercise
You’ll leave withPractical skills your team can use the very next Sunday.
Bring this to your team ↓
A life that’s beautiful, good and true.
Developing a theology of beauty. A discipleship course for people who aren’t artists.
What if discipleship isn’t only about what we believe, but about what we love? We live in the most image-saturated moment in history, and the pictures, stories and songs around us are quietly forming us. This course invites the whole church to slow down and ask what God has to say about beauty.
Over eight weeks we explore how God forms us through what we behold, why the arts matter for the kingdom, and why the artists in our churches matter so much right now. Each session moves through teaching, engaging with a work of art, guided reflection, and sharing and prayer. No artistic experience needed. Just come curious.
- Length
- 8 weeks · 1.5–2 hours a session
- For
- Small groups, discipleship nights and whole congregations
- Format
- Teaching, art, reflection, sharing and prayer
- Reading
- Makoto Fujimura, Art and Faith · Philip Ryken, Art for God’s Sake
- 01The God who is beautiful
- 02Formed by what we behold
- 03Beauty in a broken world
- 04The beauty of Christ
- 05Redemption and restoration
- 06Called to create
- 07Beauty as witness
- 08Guardians of beauty
The first cohort begins in January 2027 with a partner church. Led in person by Jess, with guest artists and teachers.
Let There Be.
A course for artists asking life’s big questions.
Canada’s creative communities are one of the least-reached places in the country, and many artists have never been invited to explore faith on their own terms. Let There Be is a filmed, table-based course built for them: a short film, honest conversation around a table, and a chance to make something together.
Each episode completes the phrase Let there be… and looks at a big question through the eyes of an artist, from Van Gogh and Caravaggio to Bach and Hildegard of Bingen. Table hosts lead the conversation, and every guest receives a journal to carry the course with them. It’s being written now, with filming to follow, and we’re looking for churches and ministries who’d like to be among the first to run it.
- Length
- 12 sessions and a retreat
- For
- Artists and creatives exploring faith, hosted by local churches
- Format
- Short film, table conversation and a studio moment
- Includes
- Guest journals and guides for table hosts
- 01Gather around a table
- 02Watch a short film
- 03Talk honestly about a big question
- 04Make something together
Want to hear first, or pilot the course with your church? Register your interest below.
Take beauty to your city.
Creative Drop-In is a mobile creative studio for your shelter, youth or outreach ministry, led by volunteer artists who teach art through the lens of faith. It runs weekly at the Calgary Dream Centre. Best for outreach and missions pastors.
Beauty, every week.
Every week, an artist teaches at the Calgary Dream Centre. Men who were resistant to art at first now come back each week to make, talk and pray. Partners include the Calgary Dream Centre, Youth Rise (Edmonton) and DYC.
Meet Pastor Jess.
Jess Sanchez is a pastor, filmmaker and the founder of Renaissance Canada. She serves with PAOC Mission Canada, holds a Bachelor of Theology and is completing an MA in Theological Studies at Briercrest Seminary. She preaches and teaches with one conviction: beauty is not a luxury for the church. It is part of how God restores people and places.
Simple from here.
Start with a conversation.
Tell us about your church and what you're hoping for: a Sunday, a season or an ongoing partnership. We'll reply within a week with ideas and dates. jessica.sanchez@paoc.org