Growing up in the Nazarene church, watching movies was a touchy subject. As a child, the mention of changing the church into a temporary cinema would have been something you said with a snicker in secret. You would have said it to hear the gasps of your friends and a shush from your parents. And now here we are, using modern media to present the Gospel in a very different, and yet effective way.
We have been doing community-based ministries in Fuenlabrada for a while now, so this was not something completely new. But it was different. The economy in Spain is horrible, leaving little for the young people to do without spending money they don’t have. Add to that fact that we are trying to do creative outreach ministry to the Gen-Texters in a postmodern European context, and you have the basis for a changing context of ministry. This is what prompted our first Saturday movie and discussion night (creatively named, I know).
We wanted to offer something free to the young people in a barrio of Madrid, where we already had relationships and other ministries. We decided to transform the local church into a makeshift theater, where we could show The Chronicles of Narnia. We planned a time afterward to have a discussion with the young people in attendance, to talk about the theological significance and imagery in the movie itself. It allowed the teens to share about Christ in a non-traditional and non-threatening setting: something that is also valuable to the adults in the Spanish culture.
For a first time endeavor, it was a success. We had the support of the local church, and it was interesting for the youth. We will never be AMC, but if we can present the Gospel in a comfortable and effective way, though modern media and dialogue, it will have been a four-star effort. (Did you see what I did there?)