The Theater is the New Church
I recently read two articles on the decline of Christianity. One, posted on CNN.com, refers to a survey about the religious identification of Americans, and states that “mainline” Protestant denominations are on the decline. The good news is that evangelicalism (as evidenced by growth in the numbers of people associated with mega-churches) is on the rise. But the bad news is that there is an increase in the number of people who express no religious affiliation.
The other article, adapted from blogposts from the Internet Monk, and posted on The Christian Science Monitor website, predicts that evangelicalism will collapse within the next 10 years. He is not basing his statements on a survey, but rather upon his observations of the evangelical movement.
In the past couple of years, studios and independent filmmakers have relied heavily upon churches to reach their target audience. The commercial success of Sherwood Pictures’ latest two films Facing the Giants and Fireproof have convinced those trying to reach the faith market thatit’s the way to go with films. Make them for the church, include lots of resources, and use volunteers to create the films. I spoke with a filmmaker this morning who said he looked around for the most successful model in Christian filmmaking and found it in Sherwood Pictures, so from now on, he’s using that model.
However, if fewer and fewer people want to align themselves with a denomination (according to the survey mentioned above, there’s been an 11% decline in the last 20 years), then the audience for films targeted toward the church is shrinking. And if that audience is shrinking, then relying upon churches and ministry organizations to get audiences into the theater is not a sustainable model.
It is a model that worked well in the past few years, but now we need new innovations. We need a new model. Who’s going to provide it? What models are you working on to get the eyes and ears of your audience?
It’s hard to know sometimes if these stats are fixed or not especially from the source it comes from. But I do believe that Christians will always be a relevant target audience if someone feels called to make films for that niche group.
But there’s also nothing wrong with reaching the secular markets to make films and tv shows with strong religious undertones like Touched by an Angel and Seventh Heaven. As I’ve learned over the years, “story is king” and if we have good stories told well in an excellent way, we’ll always draw a good audience wherever God leads us as filmmakers. The main issue for reaching non Christians with good films is that I truly believe they don’t relate to many of our characters and they also don’t trust us (it seems they think we’re trying to trick them into getting saved rather than just telling a good story to them and I can really see that fear is not just taking offense to the Gospel). And I’m not saying I don’t want people getting saved, it’s just that we need to communicate our faith better and openly like Paul did on Mars Hill rather than using trickery and poor filmmaking skills. Even Jesus argued that he did everything in the open and not in secret (while he was arrested in secret).
This is a good relevant topic for us — and there’s now a thread dedicated to it here on the Christianfilmmakers.org forum here:
http://www.christianfilmmakers.org/forums/viewthread/4117/
I’m curious to know how the folks there will respond.
We had a good discussion on why non Christians don’t trust our films here on this forum and it’s worth reading as well:
http://www.christianfilmmakers.org/forums/viewthread/4117/
Blessings,
Tom Swift
May 5th, 2009 at 9:05 pm
Even though I am not affiliated with any certain RELIGION, my belief is there. My faith is strong. I just don’t believe in the business of religion.
May 7th, 2009 at 4:44 pm
I agree that there will always be an audience that appreciates a good story, and many Christian films have done well…Mel Gibson’s The Passion should teach us something. I took 25 students from Antioch College (One of the most liberal schools in the country where I did minister until it closed) to see it and it had some impact. The students even tried to boot me from the campus for my efforts to get Christ in front of them…thank God they were unsuccessful Now my twin brother and I, both Jewish believers are writing an autobiography and are looking for a film maker to handle it…marketing is everything after a great film is made…Blessings! Brother Larry
May 15th, 2009 at 2:52 pm
Why do I hear so much talk, but rarely hear the name of JESUS ? whats going on here? Are we now ashamed ? STOP sugar coding – JESUS CHRIST is the only way – and there is POWER IN THE NAME. So say it more, teach it more, place in script more, and tap into the power !!!
July 7th, 2009 at 11:23 pm
This is old news. George Lucas was saying cinema was the new church decades ago.
Actually, it’s the church that has become theater. People sit in auditoriums surrounded by the best audio/visual ’show’ available, all programed to make them feel connected to the divine, offering some type of tangible experience they can walk away with and believe they ‘worshiped’.
July 17th, 2009 at 12:59 pm