A philosophy of Christian Films;

From the time I began feeling that I wanted to make Christian films I have believed that I ddin’t want to create films where the action and plot stop suddenly so one character can actually lead another to Christ and they end up sitting on the steps quoting scripture verses. I just feel that so often those scenes are very heavy handed and a complete interruption of the story. I’ve never felt like my conviction on this matter was a complete disregard for putting Christ in my “Christian Films” but at the same time I’ve always felt a little torn about how you can make a film that teaches a moral message or encourages the viewer to give their life to Christ and yet not have the “scripture and prayer” scene. About a week ago I felt the Lord telling me it can be done.

Recently I had the great privelage and opportunity of seeing some old friends, Billy and Joanna Coppege, who today work as missionaries with WGM in Northern Uganda and are key players in the strategy to enter Sudan. It was quite a surprise to see them at Tenwek Hospital in Bomet, Kenya, but I was very happy to spend a few minutes with them while we were each “randomly” at Tenwek at the same time. I was there to get some extra footage for the video I’ve been working on lately, and they were there with a group of people sharing their burden for Sudan with members of the Tenwek Medical staff.

Much of Billy’s work in Uganda and Sudan involves “storying” or the telling of stories to groups as just a fascinating story and then separately telling how that story can be applied to every day life or a dramatic change in the spiritual life in order to bring the listener closer to Christ. The day that I saw Billy and Jo at Tenwek he told the story of the paralytic who was brought to Jesus and lowered through the ceiling. Though I had heard the story many times before, I found myself riveted during Billy’s telling and excited to see what he had to say about it. Those who know Billy will recognize that he has a very magnetic personality which helps draw you in no matter what he says, but there was more to it. Billy simply let the power of the story carry itself out and did not interrupt to explain it. As this particular story-telling was a demonstration for the medical staff he was pretending to be a doctor in Sudan using the story to witness to a patient, played by Joanna, and so he continued by explaining his purpose for the story, to show her that Jesus has the power to forgive sins.

Billy then addressed all in attendance and explained how he uses storying in ministry. Considering myself a story teller, with video as my medium, I was really excited to hear Billy ask the crowd if they agreed that stories are one of the best ways to teach people things and have them all agree with him. The thing that stuck out to me most though was when Billy said that he believes that the Bible has the BEST stories and again everyone agreed. I thought on that fact for just a moment, because to me it was obvious that the Bible has the best stories from a Christian stance, as in the stories in the Bible point to Christ, but it had been a long time since I’d really considered the power of the stories in the Bible as pieces of great story-telling and drama.

After the meeting I didn’t have a lot of time to think about how Billy had used the story as I ran off to do some more shooting and then editing on my video. However, a few days later I was back in Kericho and getting ready for bed. I do my devotions each night before I go to sleep and on this particular evening I was reading another very familiar story in scripture. In Genesis, Abraham, following God’s instructions, nearly sacrifices his only son, Isaac, as a burnt offering to God. At the last minute God intervenes and provides a wild ram for the sacrifice. As I read the story that night I thought of how that story is a metaphore for the grace God provided for all of us in His Son Jesus. We were all doomed to pay the greatest price for our sins but the God sent His Son to take our place as the one lain on the altar.

Suddenly I realized something that came to me as quite a surprise, no where in the story is it mentioned that several hundred years later Jesus would be for us all like that ram for isaac. In fact, it leads one to question why the story was even kept in the Hebraic tradition long enough for Christians to come along and realize the great value of the story. My guess is that the Hebrews saw in this story the kind of devotion to God which they, and we, should strive to emulate and they decided that it was an important story for that reason, and I agree. But even that message is only communicated in the reader seing and understanding the great sacrifice Abraham was willing to make for his God. Then I thought quickly of other stories in both the Old and New Testaments where various heros of the faith are truly celebrated, to my recollection none of them stop to say anything along the lines of, "If you've read this and want to become a Christian here's what you do." Even Jesus when asked directly what one must do to inherit the Kingdom of Heaven doesn't respond with "Okay come over here and we'll say this prayer together." He advises the person who asked to change the aspects of his character which are not in-line with God's character.

So now I feel more encouraged and inspired to try to craft and tell unique and compelling stories which can be used to encourage others to live a Godly life, but don't require hitting the audience over the head with it. It's encouraging to know that I can concentrate on what I actually think my characters would do in their circumstances and not worry about stopping the action to teach a sunday school lesson.