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Nick Pollard quoted Quentin Tarantino as saying that “Cinema is the new church.” Christians therefore need to take cinema seriously and to think about it missiologically. Can we find a way to do effective film outreach? Nick outlined some basic questions that missionaries ask:
- What are the stories of this culture?
- How do they shape the people’s beliefs and values?
- How can we communicate the gospel to people with those beliefs and values?
- Can we use those stories in our communication?
In a media-dominated society, stories are told in the cinema, on TV, and in popular music, as well as in many other contexts. Can we understand these stories and use them?
Nick described how Damaris UK had used this thinking to enable them to make a positive contribution to contemporary popular culture. They had begun working with mainstream film distributors to create official resources for the film’s release. This enables effective outreach by connecting with high-profile stories and helping people to reflect on the beliefs and values explored in the film, which creates a great opportunity for churches to explain the Christian message in relevant and appropriate ways.
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Photo credit: © Victor Ollervides. Used under a Creative Commons (CC-BY-NC-SA-2.0) licence..