One of our gifted, younger pastors wrote to me today. We're trading ideas on training films to help Christians and churches recover passion for their ministries. This pastor wrote, "What seems to be missing in so many...churches is a real sense of passion--about life, about God, about neighbors....and while ministry plans and strategies are good, without passion we are going through the motions." Then he wondered aloud, how much deconstructing of the "going through the motions" will be necessary before churches can find a new, authentic passion again.
So, for starters, without regard to film ratings or age, here are some ideas that aren't Sister Act, or Mel Gibson's botched The Passion of the Christ. I'd recommend parts of Zorba the Greek; it's unfamiliar to most, but outstanding. More recently, the animated film Up had a lot to offer. When I left the theatre, I said, every church council should see this film together! Then each council could ask, "Like the character, Carl, what do we need to off-load from our house in order to find a new adventure--or to go heroically to the rescue?" Robert Duvall's The Apostle is superb, as was a much earlier film of his, Tender Mercies.
So those are the early entries for the Top Ten Movies EVERY Church Should Use to Convert Their Hearts to Passionate Ministry. What else would you recommend? I am sorry but we cannot accept recommendations from movies where Moses or Jesus, and everybody else, speaks the Queen's English. Also, no Amaldovar films. If you don't know who that is, count yourself lucky.
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I'm not familiar with any Amaldovar films, but I'm reminded of a film by a film maker with a similar name, Pedro Almodovar. One of his films, "All About My Mother"("Todo Sobre Mi Mama" in Spanish) tells of a mother grieving after the tragic loss of her son and how some of the strangers she encounters help her cope with her grief. Sort of a good Samaritan tale set in a different setting. It is sort of a dark film using bright colors. And...no Queen's English is spoken.
At my women's Bible study this morning we were discussing life and death choices. Our leader mentioned the movie "Out of the Ashes", which I think she said is a true story of a female doctor in a WWII concentration camp who gave abortions to the women inmates who were often raped during their imprisonment. It sounds very moving and thought provoking.
Have you seen "Precious" yet?
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