A one-off screening of the Life of Jesus film drew nearly 300 people to an eastern suburbs cinema on a Monday night to learn more about the man from Nazareth.
"We found that it's a really easy to invite people to go to the movies," said Dr Greg Clarke, one of the presenters of the film and a director of the Centre for Public Christianity (CPX).
"So if we put on a movie, everyone has a good time and churches can decide how they want to follow on that activity. But it's the easiest event to organise in the world: you just turn up to a movie."
The event was promoted at a number of neighbouring Anglican, Baptist and Pentecostal churches, as well by offering tickets in a community newspaper. Clarke and fellow presenter and CPX director, Dr John Dickson, introduced the one-hour cut of their course on Jesus' life at the Hoyts Eastgardens cinema, then took questions from the floor afterwards.
Bob, a member of Wild Street Christian Church, brought Yasser, a Muslim student. Bob was fascinated to see the places where so many of the events of Jesus' life had occurred, while Yasser wanted to come because he was full of questions. "I want to know what is the life of Jesus," he said. "How is it Christians believe in Jesus? And I want to ask, is Jesus alive or dead? If Jesus is the Son of God, does God have more sons? And Maria [Mary]" she is Jesus' mother: is Maria married to Allah? More questions, more questions" " he smiled.
One woman asked Clarke and Dickson for their faith stories. A man in the audience challenged them about historical sources for information about Jesus, while a child asked what God thought of people who ignored him all their lives but accepted Jesus at the last minute. "Great question," Clarke responded before commenting that God wasn't fooled by pretence.
After the screening, Clarke and Dickson were enthusiastic about the number of people who came, as well as their response to the film.
"It's a great way to present the life of Jesus to people," Clarke said. "And it's a good chance for churches to work together. It proved really easy to get 10 churches interested in the same thing." Added Dickson: "The cross-denominational thing was really exciting for us."
Clarke said they would love to screen the film across the country, and had staff to help that happen. "We hope anyone who's interested in doing this in their area will give us a call," he said.
You can contact the Centre for Public Christianity on 02 9955 0077.
