Amazing Grace, the next big "Christian' flick to hit Sydney's movie screens, will be released on 26 July. How much potential does this film have for Sydney Anglicans as an outreach/evangelism tool? What value does film as a whole have to our ministry and outreach?
The Rev Stephen Semenchuk, rector of Dapto Anglican Church, is dubious about the value of Amazing Grace as an outreach tool in his neighbourhood.
"I don't anticipate that people in our community are going to rush to see Amazing Grace," he says.
"Narnia and The Da Vinci Code created their own following, but we'd have to promote this movie."
He likens it to Luther, the film that told the story of the famous German reformer almost four years ago.
"I thought the Luther movie was a great movie, but evangelistically, it was a dead loss."
The Rev Antony Barraclough of All Saints', Petersham, agrees that Luther was "too in-house as a topic."
Christian film reviewer Mark Hadley suggests this factor may impede the evangelistic potential of Amazing Grace.
"It's not just a matter of jumping on a film that seems to tell our story," he says.
"Amazing Grace, for example, seems ready-made for the Christian market, and that may be the very thing that keeps it from becoming interesting to non-believers."
"The more successful connections seem to be made through those films that have a much wider appeal, like Narnia or The Passion of the Christ, or those that touch issues about which we have something to say, like Spiderman 3 or The Queen."
The Rev Sandy Grant, of St Michael’s Wollongong is enlisting neighbouring Anglican parishes to push for Amazing Grace to be screened in the local Greater Union cinema.
While St Michael’s is not running an event centred on the film, he believes Wilberforce’s example of faith and action will provide good opportunities for Christians to talk about their faith with their friends.
“What I am encouraging Christians to do is to invite non-Christian friends to go see the movie together with them. I am sure many good gospel-related conversations will result,” he says.
“This is very relevant at a time when secularists are saying personal faith must be kept out of the political arena. Thank God Wilberforce did not follow that advice!”
The key to connecting
How does a church pick a good film that will help them to connect with and possibly evangelise their local community?
Stephen says the answer lies in the conversations over the back fence or in the schoolyard.
"It's knowing the community, and picking up what your kids and everyone around you is talking about."
18 months ago, Dapto Anglican Church drew a crowd of 800 to their walk-through Narnia display, in which a church hall was transformed into the Queen's winter palace, and a conference table became the stone tablet on which Aslan was put to death.
The display opened the two nights before Christmas Eve, taking advantage of the momentum from the film's Boxing Day release.
"When we found out that the release date was Boxing Day, we could build on the publicity that was already out in the media, and knowing the film leads into Christianity and is an obvious connector with the community, we thought, "you beauty!'," Stephen says.
Similarly, when The Da Vinci Code premiered in Sydney, six parishes in the Illawarra area hired out a local cinema for the first two nights, and included a follow-up talk a week later, giving a Christian perspective on the issues raised by the film.
Antony chose a less mainstream film " Hotel Rwanda " for an event held in Petersham's Moore College mission week last year. He says the universal social justice issues raised by the film made it a good choice - and being a less mainstream film was actually a good thing.
"People have often seen mainstream films already," he says. "But we chose Hotel Rwanda more because we thought we could get to the gospel from it, it was a real event, and it made you think, "what difference does the gospel make?'"
Great expectations?
The Rev Charlie Brammall, chaplain to the entertainment industry since 2001, runs Enter, a ministry designed for workers in the field.
Enter has run a number of "Trof-fests', which target this niche audience, and have a different look and feel to the average church event.
"It’s different to the kind of thing a church might do where it shows a film and then has an evangelistic talk afterwards, in order for people to bring their friends along," says Charlie.
"We intentionally don’t make Trof-fest open to the public, and have it at a venue that only industry people can get to, because in my experience it’s often difficult to get industry people to come to a Christian event, but slightly easier to get them to come to an "industry’ event."
While these events are different to the usual church-run film night, many of the underlying principles are the same.
One of these is the necessity to choose an experienced and proficient speaker who can effectively facilitate discussion and use the film reflect on the gospel.
"People are in an aroused emotional state after seeing a good film, so an evangelistic talk at that point runs the risk of feeling an anti-climax and selling the gospel short, unless done very cleverly and insightfully," says Charlie.
Connecting point, or an evangelistic exercise?
"You can't evangelise until you've connected," says Stephen. "The movie raises the issue for us, our visitors know the storyline, and we try to help them get a different take on it.
"The movie gives one answer to an issue, we want to give a gospel answer."
Stephen says film creates a level playing field for Christians and non-Christians.
"It's something both the Christian and the non-Christian person has seen, so you can show you're engaged with their world, and you can show them how they can engage with your world."
Antony says Petersham chose film for its unique and far-reaching ability to get people thinking.
"There are very few Australians who don't watch movies," he says.
"It's a popular and powerful medium and a way of trying to bridge towards the gospel."
Antony says film events are also able to show the community that the church is willing to talk about the things that interest them and provides an opportunity to connect with people who might be unlikely to walk into church on a Sunday.
"There's a band of people out there who won't go to church, but they might discuss a film with Christians."
