Monday, November 28, 2005

In this world, not of it

So, I've been thinking about this notion of how to attract people to a church and get them more involved and more comfortable talking about God, without the church becoming worldly. Mostly I just overanalyze things, because after all, God is at work through the Church and I'll never completely understand or get it right, but occasionally I learn something from my overanalyzing, even if it's just learning that I was way off in the first place. With that said:

I've noticed that movies and music are two things that just about anyone these days has an interest in. As Christians in this world, we are surrounded by it. How great would it be if we would look at our movies and music, and tie it into conversations about Biblical principles? Instead of talking about how great an actor such and such was and how the plot didn't quite turn out how we expected, what if we analyzed the movies and music we listened to from a Biblical perspective: what morals and Biblical principles were displayed (or contradicted) in the movie? What motivated the characters and how should a Christian behave under similar circumstances? How beneficial would it be if we didn't view such things as simply entertainment, but rather as a means that we could use to grow spiritually and reach out and spark conversations about God and Christ with others?

Along these lines, I led 2 Bible studies last year with this intent: One looked at Christian music and reflected upon the lyrics and Biblical themes and lessons we can glean from the songs. The other looked at movies and reflected upon the plot and characters and Biblical themes or parallels it included. I must say preparing these Bible studies took a lot of time, but I learned so much and there were a lot of resources on the Internet.

Ultimately, isn't the goal to evaluate everything in life from a Biblical viewpoint, to "deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously, and godly in the present age (Titus 2:12)? If you're interested in seeing the Bible studies, let me know.

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