Image taken from He Qi Art . For purchasing prints of this and other artworks by He Qi go to heqiart.com . For other images of He Qi art works in TIPs, see here.

Painting by Nalini Jayasuriya (1927 – 2014), used with permission by the Overseas Ministries Study Center (OMSC) at Princeton Theological Seminary. You can purchase this and many other artworks by artists in residence at the OSMC in high resolution and without a watermark via the OSMC website .

“Nalini M. Jayasuriya was an internationally known artist from Sri Lanka, who exhibited her soul-stirring paintings in Manila, London, Bangkok, Paris, Toronto, Tokyo, Jerusalem and New York. (…) While growing up in Sri Lanka, Nalini never took an art course. As an eight-year old assigned to draw a still life in drawing class, she ended up erasing a hole in her paper, and was told to take her books and leave. She spent the rest of the year’s drawing class time in the library. Her real talent was music; from about age four, she could play almost any piece of music that she heard. At about age fifteen, she wrote a number of poems that were published, and later wrote a secondary-level reader consisting of letters from her cat, Ingy.

“The direction of Nalini’s life changed when, as a young ESL teacher, she was offered an unsolicited British Council grant to study in England. She saw this as one of the many miracles in her life. For three years in London, she experienced a whole new world. She added evening classes to her schedule, including coursework in stained glass and enamel on metal, thinking that she would never again have such an opportunity. Later, she received seven scholarships and fellowships, (none of which she applied for) and she went on to live in thirty-six different countries.

“’I come from a land of rich, ancient, and diverse cultures and traditions. While I carry the enriching influences of both West and East, I express myself through an Asian and Christian consciousness with respect for all confessions of religious faith.’ Nalini Jayasuriya).” (Source )

About this image, Jayasuriya says: “To me, the Great Commission is much more than the words that Jesus spoke to the twelve. So, I have tried to suggest the Power that had to sweep through humanity and through Time, transcending all thought and illumining all experience. So, Christ makes a Statement and an Offering; a Statement of the Abiding Holy Spirit in the form of a Dove, and the Offering of his Life in the symbol of the Cup. This is not a portrait of the young vibrant giver of the Gospels, but an almost elusive vision of a spiritual Presence — a Presence eternally renewing.” (Source : OMSC 2010, p. 34)

Following is a 1973 painting of the JESUS MAFA project, a response to New Testament readings from the Lectionary by a Christian community in Cameroon, Africa. Each of the readings was selected and adapted to dramatic interpretation by the community members. Photographs of their interpretations were made, and these were then transcribed to paintings:

In The Mission to the World, Jesus stands atop a hill proclaiming to his disciples their authority to baptize and teach all that Jesus commanded. His arms are outstretched in a posture of blessing and exhortation. Some disciples remain before him while others are setting out on their journey to complete the task Jesus has set before them. Those departing go in separate directions to spread the gospel to all nations. This scene is a reminder that all Christians are called to spread Jesus’ message of love and justice throughout the world.

From Art in the Christian Tradition , a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. Image retrieved March 23, 2026. Original source: librairie-emmanuel.fr.