Hollywood has a plan to get Christians into theaters so they can make a lot of money. Apparently there are a lot of us in the United States (and throughout the world, for that matter), and when a movie comes along that we really care about, ka-ching!.
Like The Passion of the Christ: it made over $600 million dollars and, last time I checked Wikipedia, was the 41st highest grossing movie of all-time and the 2nd highest grossing among R-rated movies.
So, they’re trying to get us back into theaters. Any guesses as to how they plan to do so?
It’s not sex.
It’s not violence.
It’s not a sappy love story.
It’s not action.
It’s the Bible! Specifically the Creation story. But wait, there’s more! The real draw is that they’re going to make it in 3-D and load it up with all kinds of special effects.
As one guy who writes for New York Magazine put it, “With the success of Avatar, they believe they have a new, better game plan: make religious-themed movies, but make them big, effects-packed, 3-D blockbusters…”
I wonder how long it will take before “Avatar” becomes a verb which means “to make something visually stunning through the use of breakthrough technology.” Hollywood is going to avatar the Creation story and put it on the big screen to make money. (That’s how long, I guess!)
Whatever. If they don’t do more than just make it look awesome, it will fail. Remember Waterworld? If not, consider your life more rich and happy.
But my concern is not with Hollywood as much as it is with the church.
The Church is Trying to Play Hollywood’s Games
By that I mean churches are trying to get people to attend by putting on a big show and wow-ing them. This isn’t particularly new, but it’s very sad and becoming more prevalent.
That is exactly what the attractional model is about. Of course, there are reasons to justify it: if we can just get people to visit our church, we’ll be able to share the gospel with them. The ends, many folks believe, justify the means.
That’s why Rick Warren had the Jonas Brothers perform at his Easter service.
That’s why a Corpus Christi megachurch gave away sixteen cars, fifteen flat-screen televisions, furniture sets and other prizes at their Easter service.
That’s why a lot of other churches have a rocking worship team, state-of-the-art sound systems, big stages, HD videos, clever advertising and attention-getting sermon series. We’re convinced that if we’re just cool enough, people will show up and we’ll be able to give them Jesus.
And the worst part is that it works. At least to a degree. People show up all the time for the wrong reasons, we preach a message and they leave. Every now and then someone sticks around and gets saved, but for the most part they are few and far between. Still, we tell ourselves, if even one person gets saved, it was all worth it.
I don’t know if it is. Jesus once asked a rhetorical question about gaining the world and losing one’s soul. I wonder if we haven’t done just that on a communal level. Sure, we’ve won souls (and praise God for that), but the church seems to be losing its soul in the process. Even though 12 guys turned the world upside down two millennia ago by sharing their faith, there are 233 million “Christians” in the United States alone, but it doesn’t seem like much is happening here spiritually.
I don’t mean to undermine the good things that many of us are doing in Jesus’ name, but are we experiencing the limit of how God’s Spirit wants to use us? Has the local church reached its potential today?
Not by a long shot. I adamantly believe He wants to use the local church in ways that would literally blow our minds. But hear me on this: it isn’t going to look like Hollywood. It isn’t going to be some big extravaganza with smoke, lights, fireworks and red carpet.
Because God usually uses things that the world considers weak and foolish things (like the Gospel and average people who follow Jesus) to accomplish his ends. Let’s start acting like we actually believe that, Church.
- Participate: Take a look at your own church – do you sense, even if it is not overt, that it has bought into Hollywood’s games? If so, how might God use you to speak into or change that?
- Engage: Examine your own life – are you dressing Christianity up with anything to make it more appealing? Are you trying to attract others to your faith using methods that Jesus and the early church never did? How might the Spirit be working in you to alter that?
- Own: Bring others into the conversation – talk about this with your small group, family or friends. Do they see how the Church has bought into Hollywood’s games? Explore as a community what the Church would look like de-Hollywood-ized. What would be the gains? What challenges would we face?
Powerful, though I wonder how long it will be until the church as a whole understands this idea? Let us hope it is sooner rather than later.
By: Mike on April 27, 2010
at 11:01 AM
The church, that is the true church/body of Christ, and hollywood have nothing in common unless the transforming power of the Holy Spirit can be seen in the gathering of people. And this will not need to be projected on a screen or proclaimed in beautiful music or described in articulate prose by any preacher or performed by a company of professional actors. Attempts to “can” or otherwise to package the work of God’s Spirit are never very successful, because such packages are never necessary. God is always able to project and to demonstrate his own power and glory without our help, although sometimes he does through individuals. But the work and the effect of what is done is always accomplished by God, not by any effects of hollywood.
By: Bob on April 27, 2010
at 12:55 PM
Bob, I’m not sure your categories are so clean cut. When you say “true church/body of Christ” who are you referring to? Or perhaps, who are you not referring to?
By: Ken Eastburn on April 27, 2010
at 12:58 PM
Hi Ken,
The “true church” is to be seen in a gathering of people where the transforming power of the Holy Spirit is at work. This may be two individuals or it may be 120 as on the day of Pentecost or it may be more. Their identity as the “church” will not be certified by the name that they call themselves, like Christian, or by any denominational connection, or by the beauty of their facility and campus. So the label of “who” cannot refer to anyone but the Holy Spirit and Jesus. If they are not present and active in the gathering, it is not the “true church”. I hope that this clarifies my point. If not, I’ll try to further clarify it. For further commentary on this matter you might see my statement on “The Church (Revised)” on my website. It is here: http://christianityetc.org/the_church.php
By: Bob on April 27, 2010
at 2:20 PM
Well, let’s not throw the baby out with the bath water! The thing about Hollywood theatrics making iit nto the church is that it is fun. I welcome the opportunity to enjoy myself in a way that is still centered on Jesus. So, I do not think this is all about getting people to show up on Sunday. Now, I do think caution is necessary. I definitely think it is possible to lose focus and forget why we have a church in the first place. My biggest complaint is that we put so much focus on Sunday morning, trying to make it the thing we all attend and we end up going over the top. I would really like to see a deconstructed church experience where it’s not just about adding glitz to Sunday morning. I’d really like an opportunity to be taught, or listen to sermons where that is the primary focus. I like small groups. I’d also like a time to worship through song and praise. And, I would love every now and then something unexpected, something I could invite someone to, and then say, “by the way, you might be interested in the other things we do around here.” There are six other days of the week.
By: Michael on April 30, 2010
at 11:46 AM
Thanks for commenting, Michael.
Interesting thought about making church fun, too. Certainly I’m not opposed to fun.
I guess I question where the line is. Is it possible for us to unknowingly lose our soul because we’re just trying to have fun and get people to come?
What do you think of the Saddleback thing and giving away cars and stuff?
By: Ken Eastburn on April 30, 2010
at 11:52 AM
Is it possible to lose our soul? Absolutely. And I wouldn’t restrict that to us just trying to have fun, meaning we can lose our soul when trying to do the “right thing.” Church leaders, or really all of us, need to be self critical. To be sure, we should always question what we are doing and checking that against what we are trying to accomplish. To be clear, I am not a follower of Jesus because it’s fun. My point about a deconstructed church experience is so that when we are dealing with things that matter most, we are not distracted by our theatrics. I do enjoy having a good time once and a while. Even better when we honor God while doing so. That’s really what I’m trying to say.
As for Saddleback giving away cars (really?) and not knowing anything about that, I do not want to be critical. But I would hope that Saddleback considers the perception something like that gives and consider, in the end, if the consequence of that perception does more harm than good. Personally, if I received a car from my church just to make me happy, or as a way to create awareness (of the church), I’d have a hard time accepting that gift.
By: Michael on April 30, 2010
at 1:47 PM
Hello,
The point of my comment is not that we should “throw out the baby with the water”, but that we make sure that what we are presenting and viewing shows us the “baby”, that is Jesus. I’m not against “fun” at church, but I think that this “fun” that we experience at church should come from the “joy” that we receive from the Spirit. Jesus was apparently able to enjoy some personal fellowship with Mary and Martha from time to time, but Mary knew better than to let the pleasure of what was going in their home distract her from concentrating on what Jesus had to share with her, not what they had to share with him (see Luke 10:38-42).
By: Bob on April 30, 2010
at 12:12 PM
That the end justifies the means is the predominant American philosophy — it crosses all religious and cultural groups. In our disdain for “worldly philosophy” we have set the study of it aside, so now we can’t even recognizing when we (or our pastors) are being driven by a philosophy of this world.
Instead of educating us on how to evaluate or consider our thoughts, motivations and actions, they teach us by example that results are more important that ethics.
By: Buster on June 16, 2010
at 1:12 PM