To spread the gospel, varied methods are adopted by the church. In the past, it was through gospel tracts or one-on-one oral communication; nowadays, many churches use relational evangelism and organize activities to attract people. An urban house church is spreading Jesus through Christian movie reviews or short films, which have shown good results.
Pastor L of this church said that when they evangelized in the past, they often hurried to explain the main points of the gospel, such as "what sin is," "why we are sinners," and "how Jesus redeemed our sins," which they considered very important. But after explaining these things, they saw discomfort in listeners, who found it difficult to accept all this unfamiliar information in a short time, let alone digest and absorb it. Though they kept preaching, many people were unwilling to continue learning.
Spreading the gospel has become increasingly difficult, and, regrettably, people leave as they are overwhelmed by being forcibly fed, he said.
But it's different to use movies to spread the gospel. The pastor said, "People resonate with them as they are telling stories."
Pastor L and his team carefully select movies, based on which they preach the gospel of Jesus. "In our view, this method is still very effective, although it is also subject to many limitations. For example, it can’t be carried out on a large scale due to venue constraints. Nevertheless, we still highly acknowledge the effectiveness of gospel movie reviews."
Some movies are good, but they often last about two hours. After watching them, people have no time to communicate, let alone talk about the gospel.
L said, that after extracting the essence, they have turned some good movies into ten- to twenty-minute movie reviews or condensed them into short videos of about twenty minutes. After watching the reviews, attendees still have time left to discuss and share their knowledge of God. Speaking of their original intention, Pastor L said, "A good movie must be about human nature, so it can be used to spread the gospel, as belief in God is also a part of human nature."
The method of Christian movie reviews has been applied in Pastor L's church for several years, even becoming a cultural export attempt. Many people, especially urban white-collar groups, are interested in movies, and movie reviews happen to meet their needs.
Some overseas churches acquainted with Pastor L have sought advice from him, even taking their movie reviews to play at gospel rallies. "They said it worked very well," Pastor L said. "Though at that time they lacked preachers to give sermons, people just need to watch the reviews and then discuss together, even with some making commitments to Jesus."
- Translated by Abigail Wu
教会采取各样方法传福音，早先是用福音单张或者一对一口传；当下很多教会采用关系传道和开展活动吸引人。一城市教会通过福音影评的方式来传福音，不禁让人眼前一亮。
这所教会的L牧师说，以前他们在传福音的时候，常常把福音的要点急于讲清楚，比如 “罪是什么”、“我们为什么是罪人”，然后“耶稣是怎么赦免了我们的罪”，这些他们认为非常重要的信息。(==当summary） 讲这些信息是正确的，但是他们发现讲了这些之后，对方非常不适应。在很短的时间里面给他们灌输了这么多陌生的信息，他们很难一下子都接受，更不用说马上消化吸收。所以讲着讲着，他们很多就不愿意再继续学习。
福传整体上变得越来越艰难，而因“填鸭式喂养”而把人撑爆了，导致灵魂的流失也是让人惋惜。
但是通过电影就不一样了，人们看了会有一些共鸣，因为它本身是一个故事。尤其是L牧师他们所选择用来福传的每一部电影都是精心挑选出来的，并且他们在这基础上给人们宣讲福音的信息。“在我们自己看来这样的方式效果还是很好的，虽然这种方式也受到很多因素的限制，比如因为场地等原因不能大规模的做。但是即便如此，我们对于福音影评的效果依然是非常认可的。”
可是一些电影虽好，但往往都有两个小时左右。看完了，人就没有时间和精力来讨论交流，更别说福传了。
L牧师说他们“取其精华，去其糟粕”，把一些好电影做成了十来分钟、二十分钟左右的福音影评，或者浓缩成为二十分钟左右的短篇。这样看完影评以后，大家还有足够的时间和精力用来交流讨论，分享信仰的信息。谈到通过电影来传福音的初衷，L牧师说：“好电影一定是讲人性的，只要讲人性那我们就能用来传福音,信仰讲的就是人性。”
福音影评的方式已经在L牧师他们教会应用了数年的时间，很多人尤其是城市白领群体对电影本身就很感兴趣，福音影评正好切中了他们的需要，甚至也这成为了一种文化输出的尝试。
有认识L牧师的海外的教会跟他们取经，甚至直接把他们的福音影评拿去，在福音聚会的时候播放。“他们说效果很好”，L牧师说，“因为那个时候他们很缺讲员，没有讲员给他们讲道。他们就把福音影评拿了过去，只需要看完福音影评然后大家一起讨论就可以了。看完了、讨论完了以后，当场就有人决志信主了。”
经验| 一城市教会的新探索：原来电影也可以用来传福音
To spread the gospel, varied methods are adopted by the church. In the past, it was through gospel tracts or one-on-one oral communication; nowadays, many churches use relational evangelism and organize activities to attract people. An urban house church is spreading Jesus through Christian movie reviews or short films, which have shown good results.
Pastor L of this church said that when they evangelized in the past, they often hurried to explain the main points of the gospel, such as "what sin is," "why we are sinners," and "how Jesus redeemed our sins," which they considered very important. But after explaining these things, they saw discomfort in listeners, who found it difficult to accept all this unfamiliar information in a short time, let alone digest and absorb it. Though they kept preaching, many people were unwilling to continue learning.
Spreading the gospel has become increasingly difficult, and, regrettably, people leave as they are overwhelmed by being forcibly fed, he said.
But it's different to use movies to spread the gospel. The pastor said, "People resonate with them as they are telling stories."
Pastor L and his team carefully select movies, based on which they preach the gospel of Jesus. "In our view, this method is still very effective, although it is also subject to many limitations. For example, it can’t be carried out on a large scale due to venue constraints. Nevertheless, we still highly acknowledge the effectiveness of gospel movie reviews."
Some movies are good, but they often last about two hours. After watching them, people have no time to communicate, let alone talk about the gospel.
L said, that after extracting the essence, they have turned some good movies into ten- to twenty-minute movie reviews or condensed them into short videos of about twenty minutes. After watching the reviews, attendees still have time left to discuss and share their knowledge of God. Speaking of their original intention, Pastor L said, "A good movie must be about human nature, so it can be used to spread the gospel, as belief in God is also a part of human nature."
The method of Christian movie reviews has been applied in Pastor L's church for several years, even becoming a cultural export attempt. Many people, especially urban white-collar groups, are interested in movies, and movie reviews happen to meet their needs.
Some overseas churches acquainted with Pastor L have sought advice from him, even taking their movie reviews to play at gospel rallies. "They said it worked very well," Pastor L said. "Though at that time they lacked preachers to give sermons, people just need to watch the reviews and then discuss together, even with some making commitments to Jesus."
- Translated by Abigail Wu
Movie, an Effective Way to Share Jesus
