A major risk is being used instead of being respected. One church invited a drama group to present, in the context of worship services, brief sketches that would raise fundamental questions about human existence, certainly a respectable enterprise. The purpose, however, was to set the preacher up to provide the answers. To use art in this way is highly disrespectful. A genuine respect for the artists would require an invitation that anticipates a deepening of the questions rather than a closing of conversation with the church's answers.
Censorship can also be a risk taken by artists who become associated with churches.
Church boards may be reluctant to let arts organizations choose the play they will present or pick the paintings that will hang on the walls of the church, even temporarily. Church people have a tendency to elevate taste or custom to the level of morality. Many of them would be shocked by the graphic sexuality of some medieval church art, but they would not be interested in having a course in art history. They know what pleases and what upsets them, and in making judgments about art they have all the confidence enjoyed by those with limited information and narrow experience. A few encounters with such church leaders will convince the even most optimistic artist that true spiritual enquiry must take place outside the control of organized religion.