Philosophy Statement

Though Raise Productions and The Center for the Gospel Arts are not churches, we consider ourselves a ministry. As such, we aim to conduct our classes and services based upon Christian principles and are wholly devoted to drawing out our students’ unique gifts and talents.

While we are committed to the preservation and perpetuation of Gospel Music as an African American cultural art form in scholarly and secular forums, our primary goal is to offer instruction in the Gospel Arts as a means of preparing musicians and artist for service within African-American churches or other Christian ministries. The Holy Bible is filled with the arts. Therefore, it is our goal to develop courses based upon all of the art forms, talents, and gifts used within the Bible with the hope of supporting and demonstrating the value of utilizing various gifts and talents in ministry.

Gospel Music and art are usually spread through the oral tradition; hence we are committed to continuing this tradition; however, we are also committed to preparing students to serve in ministry, educational, and/or performance settings that focus on written musical traditions. We call this the “total music” philosophy, in which artists and musicians are prepared for ministry, work, or education in both cross-cultural and/or multiple musical settings.

We believe that such extensive musical training will enable students to become all things to all men with the hope that they might, by all means, win some, and thereby, spread the gospel message throughout the world (I Corinthians 9:22). Therefore, we recommend that all students have “comprehensive” or “total music” training.