New Pathways to Jesus through Art, Design and Creativity
Who I Am
I’m Álvaro Doladé. Married to María Alonso, and father of Verso and Lago.
For 20 years I’ve worked as a creative, strategic designer and educator with brands such as Nike, HP, Ford, Iberia and Turismo de España. See my creative work
At the same time, I have spent 20 years serving in Christian projects across Europe, co-leading church plants, events and training initiatives. See my ministry work
In 2026, I took a leap of faith and left my professional position behind:
To work alongside the Universal Creative Director.
I cannot imagine anything more challenging and exciting!
The Problem
CHURCHES AS CREATIVITY KILLERS
We live in a time of polycrisis. Ecological, economic, technological and social tensions are reshaping how we live and understand the world.
In this landscape, the Church faces a crucial question:
How can it remain part of the human conversation in the 21st century?
“If we don’t reclaim the space at the intersection of creativity and spirituality, we’re going to become irrelevant in the human conversation.”
The consequences are particularly visible among younger generations. According to figures compiled by The Collision:
- 31% of churchgoing 18 to 29-year-olds describe the Church as boring.
- More than 13% say it does not provide opportunities for creative people.
- As many as 1 in 4 believe it is negative or unaccepting toward the creative arts.
Artists and creatives can explore new ideas, challenge assumptions and translate complex realities into experiences people can understand. Yet many feel restricted, underused or out of place within church structures.
Their gifts are often welcomed only when the Church needs a song, a poster, a video or a stage.
They are treated as decorators rather than discipled as cultural agents.
Many leave, not necessarily because they have rejected Jesus, but because they cannot connect their faith, their vocation and their desire to contribute to the world.
As McManus argues, creativity is not an optional addition to Christianity. It is part of what it means to be made in the image of a Creator:
“It’s astonishing to me that we’ve allowed people to turn the Bible into a manuscript of conformity when it’s really a manifesto of creativity.”
The people who could help the Church imagine new pathways into society are already among us.
But who is discipling them, connecting them and challenging them?
The Vision
The Central Arts project was born in Zurich in 2016, expanded in Berlin, and now arrives in Barcelona in 2026 with a deep conviction:
ART TRANSCENDS
Like the parables of Jesus, art begins with what is simple and familiar, accessible to everyone, and from there leads us toward the mysteries of the Kingdom.
Art connects beyond beliefs or backgrounds.
Art opens questions where other discourses create distance or resistance.
Art allows us to experience before we understand. To feel before we categorize.
It embodies the beauty of the Kingdom through love, truth, forgiveness, justice and hope — not by imposing, but by inviting people to walk a path.
That is why our mission is:
To create accessible pathways between society and Jesus through artists, designers and creatives.
What I Will Do
I LOVE ART, BUT I’M NOT STEPPING INTO ABSTRACTION. I’M STEPPING INTO ACTION
As a Creative Director, Strategic Designer and professor who has mentored nearly 500 students at leading design and business schools in Barcelona, I will focus on three core areas:
1. Disciple Artists and Creatives
Walk alongside artists, designers and creatives as they integrate faith, vocation and personal life.
Help them develop the spiritual depth, character and courage they need to understand their creativity as a calling and to live it with purpose.
Not simply inviting them to contribute their skills to the Church, but discipling and curating them as artists, cultural agents and missionaries.
2. Build a Collective and Connect Communities
Create a collective where artists and creatives can meet, collaborate, be supported and grow together.
Connect churches, ministries and faith communities that are exploring new models rooted in creativity and innovation helping ideas, relationships and learning travel between them.
3. Engage the Cultural Tensions of Our Time
Bring artists, designers and creatives together to listen to society and develop meaningful responses to the tensions shaping contemporary life.
Through artistic projects, research, conversations and cultural interventions, we will engage issues such as technology, artificial intelligence, mental health, social fragmentation and the increasing precarity of creative work.
The goal is not to offer simplistic answers, but to create spaces where society can encounter truth, beauty, justice and hope. And where new pathways toward Jesus can emerge.
I will collaborate with Christian organizations, cultural institutions and initiatives seeking to bring Christ-centered values into society in honest, relevant and credible ways.
Base Camp
As a family, we are willing to open pathways — and to help others walk them.
But no expedition sustains itself alone.
In June 2026, I officially began serving as a full-time missionary! I am stepping into this calling with joy, faith, and responsibility, dedicating my work fully to this mission.
But for this calling to be sustainable, we need to secure a stable support base that allows our family to live with dignity in Barcelona, a city where the cost of living has risen dramatically in recent years.
We need a Base Camp.
A place that sustains the vision.
That allows us to move forward.
And to return, regain strength, and set out again.
Be Part of the Mission
There are three concrete ways to become part of the Base Camp:
1. Pray
Sustain this mission spiritually.
The opening of pathways begins in the unseen.
2. Connect
Write to me. Let’s meet, in a café or online. Schedule a meeting here
Share this vision with people who may be interested in learning about or supporting the project.
3. Support
Your financial support makes it possible for me to dedicate myself fully to this mission: • Accompanying and empowering Christian professional creatives and their work • Activating strategic cultural projects and initiatives • Opening real pathways toward Jesus in society
Your donation helps sustain this mission and allows our family to live with dignity while serving full-time.
If you would like to learn more or explore becoming part of this support team: Write me Schedule a meeting
A Clear Invitation
If you believe that art, design and creativity can open pathways.
If you believe the Church needs new language.
If you believe our world needs Jesus more than ever.
Then join our Base Camp. Come, sit down, and listen to the stories that will emerge around the fire. 🔥
“Prepare the way of the Lord…Every valley shall be raised up,
every mountain and hill made low.”
Isaiah 40:3–4
