IMPORTANCE OF CHRISTIAN DRAMA AND FILM IN THE CHURCH AND SOCIETY

If God Himself who is the founder of His Church can effectively use divine film in the ways I have describe below, the importance of Christian Drama and Film in the Church and Society cannot be over emphasized.

(a) Christian drama or film is indispensable in communicating the mind of God to human beings in general.

So also, its importance in the Church of God cannot be under-estimated because many people usually respond positively to altar calls after an anointed drama ministration or film show.

Now, listen to what a Minister of the Gospel said. Pastor J.A Bolarinwa, Vice Principal of The Redeemed Christian Bible College, Lagos; when lecturing on “Effects of Drama on Evangelism” at a conference organized by Evangelical Film Maker and Dramatist Association of Nigeria, said, “Many books cannot contain testimonies of conversion experiences of people through Christian Drama in films and videos. I had once organized a four-day open air crusade for a Church planting exercise in my pastoral assignment. My experience was that the first two days of the crusade were poorly attended; only few people responded to the altar call after the laborious evangelistic sermons. But with the introduction of two Christian Drama on video to the evangelistic campaign during the remaining two days, we had a crowd on each of the days. The messages in the video tapes played were so powerful and meaningful that people were broken and did not even wait for altar call before they started talking to God about their lives as revealed by the characters in the drama presentation in the videos.”

(b) Another point is that “Actions speak more than thousands of words.” Pastor J.A Bolarinwa also said that he had once watched a Pentecostal preacher dramatizing the healing of the sick man at Bethsaida involuntarily lying flat on his back while preaching. He said this message sunk deep into the heart of the audience. This is an extent drama had gone in the art preaching.

(c) How can a Pastor meet emotional need of his Church’s members when teaching them some specific truth from the Word of God like:

(i) The agony of sinners in hell.

(ii) Spiritual blindness, etc.

Christian Drama or Film can be of great help.

Jesus also used drama in terms of parable when explaining some Truth of God’s Word.

Selwyn Hughes says in his daily devotional reading booklet – “Everyday with Jesus” (March – April ’96 edition):

Thursday 18^th April Last paragraph:

“Our Lord talked much about the Love of God in His messages to the multitudes but they never comprehend that Love fully until they saw it – dramatized - at Calvary.”

No wonder many universities in the developed countries of the world are using drama to teach Language and some other fields of subjects.