The vibrant pop of color along the Big-4 Rail Trail is hard to miss for those passing by Zionsville Christian Church.
The recently completed 4,339-square-foot mural on the west side of the building facing the trail was dedicated Aug. 23.
Church officials said the building’s prominence along the Big-4 Rail Trail sparked the idea to create an inspirational mural that can be enjoyed by the community. It serves as a public art installation, allowing the church to engage with the people of Zionsville.
Eli Archer, a 2023 graduate of Zionsville Community High School, was commissioned to create the mural. Archer, 19, is a sophomore at The College for Creative Studies in Detroit. His family are longtime members of ZCC.
“I grew up drawing on the cards that they put money in for offerings,” Archer said. “This opportunity fell into my lap because they had an idea for the mural and reached out to me. And how could I say no? It was a great opportunity. In a way, this is marketing to show what this congregation is about. The words I had to go off of (in the creation of the mural) are the core values of the congregation. I was inspired a lot by sayings like ‘all means all’ and ‘have questions? So do we.’ I used that as inspiration to create the images.”
Archer created more than 20 designs for the panels, spending time with church members and tweaking those drawings to fit the vision for the mural. When design work was complete, church volunteers cleaned and primed the wall, which included filling in any cracks or spaces in the masonry.
Painting the mural took about a month and a half. Archer said the lively colors are intentional.
“I figured, if it’s going to be the core values and telling people what the congregation is about, then I wanted it to be so bright that it made you look,” he said. “I’m just a sucker for bright colors myself.”
The Rev. Tyler Thompson, ZCC’s senior minister, said creating the mural has been an ongoing discussion among church leaders and members for several years.
“There’s always been a conversation about recognizing how important the trail is to the community, and that we need to focus on how we can be a good neighbor,” Thompson said. “So, we decided to depict artistically who we are as a congregation that’s both an act of public art but also an act of public witness. For 188 years, this congregation has had some very important core values, namely love being at the center. We need to lean into the power of love instead of the love of power.”
One of the panels features Thompson prominently pointing with the message “You are loved” underneath.
“My face on the wall is one of the most uncomfortable things for me,” he joked. “But I end every service on Sunday morning with, ‘I love you, God loves you, let’s love one another.’ And the ‘You’ stance in the mural, for folks walking on the trail who woke up not feeling loved one morning, they have a pretty aggressive reminder that everybody is worthy and should be treated with love.”
Thompson said ZCC views the building as a community asset. The mural is designed to be inspirational to everyone.
“No one has a monopoly on love,” he said. “We’re coming from this radical notion that love is unconditional and that when we say all are welcome, all means all. That’s the beauty of our growing community. It’s not directed at one religion or any religion at all.”
During the painting process, Archer said that he was approached by people who thanked him for creating the mural.
“People came up to me while I was painting, and one woman started to cry,” he said. “She told me that she was having things going on, and to see ‘You are loved’ painted on the wall really touched her. As an artist and as an individual, that’s what means the most to me.”
Church members who attended the mural dedication said they were excited to have such a vivid representation of ZCC values so prominently displayed for members of the church and the community.
“I grew up in this church,” said Rob Berger, a lifelong congregant of ZCC. “It reflects how I feel. We’re all connected. We’re all friends.”
Berger echoed Thompson’s sentiment that the artwork could serve as an inspirational boost for passers-by.
“I think there will be that one or two who are having a bad day, and one of the pictures will speak to them,” he said.
Archer said he hopes people who pass the mural find their own meaning in it.
“I think everybody probably has a different hope for the mural,” he said. “I think the message that this has is very positive. That you are loved, you are accepted, whoever you are and however you are. I think that’s a very positive message that maybe a lot of churches have lost. I think that if anything, people could walk down and just feel a little bit of happiness for a moment.”
Learn more about the mural at zionsvillechristianchurch.org/mural.
ABOUT ZIONSVILLE COMMUNITY CHURCH
Zionsville Community Church predates the official founding of Zionsville.
The church was formed in 1836 and moved to its current site at 120 N. 9th St. in 1979.
ZCC’ senior minister, the Rev. Tyler Thompson, said one of the tenants of the church is to live out faith as a verb rather than a noun.
The church’s core values include radical inclusivity; courageous compassion; unrelenting love; open, intelligent and curious faith; and mission first.
Services are conducted Sunday at 10 a.m.
Learn more at zionsvillechristianchurch.org.
