How can churches interact with our culture? The Southern Hills Church of Christ has decided to start producing YouTube videos to reach a mass audience. What are your thoughts? Is this an effective way to reach the world?
I love the video. I say if that's where people are, then that's where we should be trying to reach them. Certainly, there are matters of balance where this approach could overshoot or undershoot its purpose, but I appreciate the effort, and am glad they're trying to make a difference and to reach the lost.
I think they dropped the ball on that video. They try to compare it to a parable of Jesus, but there is one important difference. Jesus' stories had a twist or hook that would catch people and cause some uncomfortable introspection. This movie was a vapid, feel-good, candy coated pile of fluff. There was a great opportunity to flip this on its head at the end and they took the easy way out.
To me this is the equivalent of most Christian pop music - just some shallow affirmation of the most agreeable point possible. Jesus calls us to conflict and tough questions. Faith is expressed in the agony of Job, not in a bubblegum song where the words "baby" and "Jesus" could be virtually interchangeable.
What would you have them do with the video? I am intrigued to hear. I have an idea, but I would like to hear yours.
I would like to know how many non-Christians have looked at the video. It seems like one of those things that Christians would enjoy and non-Christians would roll their eyes.
However, I think it does make a good point: each of us has "eternity in our hearts" (Eccles. 3:11), the image of God that is still stamped in our DNA.
I don't know exactly what I would have done (that's why I don't make movies). Some thoughts on what the dude would have heard when he listened to his own heart: silence, a blowing wind, or a cacophonous mix of all the songs he had been hearing.
Despite the scripture they flashed up, the message that the video communicated was that he was doing fine on his own. He had Jesus in his heart, so he didn't have any need for church or community or transformation. I wanted for them to really hit the point that the human condition is one of being incomplete without the Spirit of God. We need to be made new creations.
I gotcha. That makes sense. I guess what I was thinking was having the guy start moving the stethoscope to his own heart, and then fade to black with the words "What would you hear?" Then finishing off with how God recreates each of us as he calls us to be his children.
As I said in my comment, I wonder how many non-Christians paid any attention to the video. But maybe it isn't written for non-Christians; maybe it is written to remind each of us that God is within us.
6 comments:
I love the video. I say if that's where people are, then that's where we should be trying to reach them. Certainly, there are matters of balance where this approach could overshoot or undershoot its purpose, but I appreciate the effort, and am glad they're trying to make a difference and to reach the lost.
I think they dropped the ball on that video. They try to compare it to a parable of Jesus, but there is one important difference. Jesus' stories had a twist or hook that would catch people and cause some uncomfortable introspection. This movie was a vapid, feel-good, candy coated pile of fluff. There was a great opportunity to flip this on its head at the end and they took the easy way out.
To me this is the equivalent of most Christian pop music - just some shallow affirmation of the most agreeable point possible. Jesus calls us to conflict and tough questions. Faith is expressed in the agony of Job, not in a bubblegum song where the words "baby" and "Jesus" could be virtually interchangeable.
Maybe I'm being too critical . . .
James, you are right about Jesus' parables. And you are also right that you are being too critical.
James-
What would you have them do with the video? I am intrigued to hear. I have an idea, but I would like to hear yours.
I would like to know how many non-Christians have looked at the video. It seems like one of those things that Christians would enjoy and non-Christians would roll their eyes.
However, I think it does make a good point: each of us has "eternity in our hearts" (Eccles. 3:11), the image of God that is still stamped in our DNA.
Just my thoughts. Anyone else?
~Daniel
I don't know exactly what I would have done (that's why I don't make movies). Some thoughts on what the dude would have heard when he listened to his own heart: silence, a blowing wind, or a cacophonous mix of all the songs he had been hearing.
Despite the scripture they flashed up, the message that the video communicated was that he was doing fine on his own. He had Jesus in his heart, so he didn't have any need for church or community or transformation. I wanted for them to really hit the point that the human condition is one of being incomplete without the Spirit of God. We need to be made new creations.
I gotcha. That makes sense. I guess what I was thinking was having the guy start moving the stethoscope to his own heart, and then fade to black with the words "What would you hear?" Then finishing off with how God recreates each of us as he calls us to be his children.
As I said in my comment, I wonder how many non-Christians paid any attention to the video. But maybe it isn't written for non-Christians; maybe it is written to remind each of us that God is within us.
Just food for thought.
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