Website Mines Movies for Relevant, Biblical Truth
by Allie Martin and Jenni Parker
October 4, 2004
(AgapePress) - Pastors and lay leaders now have an Internet resource that can help them use popular movies to explore and illustrate biblical themes.Several years ago, Dr. Marc Newman and a few friends were discussing ways to bring the gospel to young adults. As a result of that conversation, Newman began looking at the many ways movies have influenced society and came up with some ideas on how popular films could be used to communicate biblical truth.
Now Newman has launched a website called MovieMinistry.com, which provides an online resource for pastors and other Christian leaders who want to extract spiritual meaning and biblical messages from the movies. For an annual fee of $60, a subscriber can access hundreds of Christian topics and sermon illustrations based on many of the most current films.
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Dr. Marc Newman |
In order to reach the current generation, Newman believes Christians need to be relevant and well prepared. "When we take missionaries in America and send them off to Papua New Guinea or any other place," he says, "the first thing that we do with those missionaries -- after we make sure that they're grounded in the Word -- is [to] introduce them to all of the negotiable aspects of a culture. And yet the one place we don't do that is when we teach people to evangelize their own culture."The ministry innovator feels Christian leaders, teachers, and missionaries need to be better equipped to respond to those factors of postmodern society and culture that have the greatest influence on the younger generations. But he notes that most Christians are not equipped to engage with these factors in any informed way.
"Instead, what we do is we run away from our culture," Newman says, "and then we just try to beat people over the head with Christianity, expecting that they're just going to line up and sign up. And yet, we don't ever expect that from any other culture we go to."
The founder of MovieMinistry.com suggests that movies can be a powerful tool in the hands of today's Church, not only to connect with young adults but also to point them toward God's Word.
If the Church is going to reach out to the culture, Newman asserts, "it's vitally important to reach out to them just as they are," and the Church must make the most of relevant, contemporary resources "in the hopes that by using these cultural touchstones, we can lead them to the text of the scriptures."
The Apostle Paul was being culturally relevant, the Internet-based ministry's creator points out, when the New Testament evangelist used the idols of Athenian culture to communicate the gospel at Mars Hill. The intent behind the MovieMinistry.com website is to accomplish something very similar.
"The goal of this site is not to subjugate scripture to the popular culture," Newman adds, explaining that the goal is, rather, "to use the popular culture as a tool to lead people toward a deeper understanding of God through the use of the scriptures."
In addition to the valuable subscriber services, MovieMinistry offers a number of resources at no cost, including free articles, newsletters, and movie "discussion cards." These discussion cards include thought-provoking questions about major movies and are designed to help start spiritual conversations on popular films from a Christian worldview.
Dr. Newman holds several degrees in communication with an emphasis on the language of film -- a bachelors from Biola University, a masters from Louisiana State University, and a PhD from Regent University. His doctoral dissertation on transcendence and redemption in film won Dissertation of the Year from the Religious Communication Association.
