To facilitate a truly global conversation, we ask Christian leaders from around the world to respond to the Global Conversation’s lead articles. These points of view do not necessarily represent the Lausanne Movement. They are designed to stimulate discussion from all points of the compass and from different segments of the Christian community. Please add your perspective by posting a comment so that we can learn and grow together in the unity of the Spirit.
A response to:
Media and the Gospel: Moving Forward Together – Lars Dahle
Lars Dahle’s paper opens the conversation on three key insights on media and the Gospel, first presented at the Cape Town Congress:
1. Media awareness.
This insight suggests we should train believers to be critical of the media messages they receive, and to deconstruct not only their morality but the deeper worldviews embedded in them. I find www.damaris.org to be exemplary in this area. They are constantly engaging the latest media trends and giving thoughtful Christian responses that are not too heavy. They also read the films and other media products on their own terms (rather than trying to force religious meanings into them), and only then do they compare and contrast the ideas and worldviews with Christianity. I often use Damaris material in teaching Arts/Faith classes at Wesley Institute, where some 40% of the students are not Christians. At first, some Christian students seem to think this is a bit ‘fluffy’ and we should be studying real theology, but they soon see that they are being asked to think through their worldviews and consider how to apply biblical ideas to the second real world of the media. Meanwhile non-Christian students are discussing key Christian ideas, safely applied to characters on the screen – so I would suggest this is an effective strategy not only for believers, but for unbelievers as well. Cultural apologetics interests many people in faith.
I could be wrong but I sense that churches need to take this more seriously. Popular culture has at times been considered to be beneath serious analysis by intellectuals, and ‘sinful’ culture to be beneath analysis by Christians. Granted many Christians should probably be encouraged to spend more time in Scripture and less time in the entertainment media, but cultural research is vital to mission: Paul viewed the statues in Athens as part of preparing his message. He had been taught as a child that images were for weak-minded Gentlies, but he nonetheless analysed the worldview they contained, and thus tried to build bridges to Athenian culture.
Imagine the evangelistic potential of a church where thoughtful Christians are trained in how to take solid biblical insights and apply them to the culture of the day. Imagine the conversations they could have with friends from other religions or no religion, bringing questions of values and truth and worldview over dinner after a trip to the cinema or the theatre, or over lunchtime discussions of the latest news.
2. Media presence.
I was recently approached by the series producer of Q&A, a discussion show widely respected in Australia, to be a conversation partner with über-atheist Richard Dawkins during his visit here. I accepted but also suggested other Christian friends who I felt could do a better job: e.g. Dr Greg Clarke from the Centre for Public Christianity www.publicchristianity.org, and Dr Ross Grant, a Christian academic in the area of brain science. Ultimately Q&A chose Cardinal George Pell to represent Christianity (see the debate at www.abc.net.au/tv/qanda/txt/s3469101.htm). The Cardinal was widely understood to have lost the debate: he said we had probably descended from Neanderthals, and was understood to suggest Jews were intellectually and morally inferior (though he later apologised). I’m not claiming I would not have made mistakes under the pressure of live TV, but this drove home to me the need to have experts in various fields (e.g. science and apologetics) rather than necessarily theologians or church administrators. We should have a panel of select specialists media- trained by journalists and ready for media appearances of this kind. Many universities have PR professionals offering their academics to the media as expert spokespeople: evangelical organisations should consider doing something similar, and playing a team game to get one another media exposure.
I had more success on another episode of Q&A by suggesting evangelical Pastor Craig Gross of XXXChurch.com. (http://www.abc.net.au/tv/qanda/txt/s3451584.htm – the most relevant part starts at 19min 10sec.) Pastor Gross presented key aspects of the biblical worldview without coming across as negative or Puritanical, in fact he was witty and culturally progressive, and had obviously shaped his key messages very carefully to avoid minefields in this controversial area. Quite exemplary stuff in my opinion.
3. Media ministries.
This is complicated, and deserves much more discussion. I can quickly say that good media ministries require money in serious amounts that scare many church organisations, but they are actually quite economical per viewer. Media ministries also require people trained in media and in Christian worldviews and theology, and the right kinds of management. This is difficult to do and frankly often produces mediocrity, and we have to give this much more careful thought.
Grenville Kent is a film-maker currently producing a series of apologetics documentaries in response to the New Atheists (see the pilot episode at www.bigquestions.com ), which are intended for free-to-air TV. He also teaches Theology/Arts at Wesley Institute in Sydney.
For one brilliant Christian film, check out Day/Night http://film.hillsong.com/video/46672307