the Message Factor – a guide to understanding Christian films

February 22, 2009 in culture with View Comments

I have long been conflicted in what I believe about Christian Films.  As a Christian and as a filmmaker and as a someone who works in the church I have long been conflicted on this subject. Now I won’t get into the sacred-secular debate for time sake, so for this instance we will label “Christian Films” as those film that have a clear message and might be sold in a Christian bookstore.  For the sake of argument I am not going to suggest that these “Christian films” are more powerful than say “subtle Christian films” like X-Men which is a film that has very powerful Christian underpinnings…..however I am going to talk specifically about “Christian Films” in this post.

Most “Christian Films” are often looked at as second-rate films.  We compare them to “The Dark Knight” or a movie up for the Oscars and so we think of them as inferior.  Over the last 5-7 years there has been a surge in the increase of “Christian Films” that have drastically improved in their quality.  Still these films are going to fall short when they are compared with movies that have multi-million dollar budgets. Recently the movie Fireproof came out and I had the chance to see it at the San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival.  To be honest I enjoyed the movie but as a filmmaker I did not think it was incredible.  The acting was not that great and parts of the movie seemed very second-rate compared to big blockbusters out there.  While at the SAICFF I got the chance to hear Stephen Kendrick talk about how many marriages had been saved through this film and the movement they have started.   Hearing stories like these I think it is time we stop criticizing films for not being “Oscar worthy” and start seeing them as “God worthy.” I mean if a film can inspire a couple to save their marriage…that is a film worth praising and so in instances like this the message gets through the bad acting and the broken script. I am not arguing that we cease to pursue excellence I am arguing that we start praising what God might be praising and start looking through the lens of what is God honoring not so much as what is film worthy.  Yes I believe excellence matters but I also believe that God can work and move through movies that might not ever reach “excellence.”

About Brandon Riley: Brandon is Married to Lorren Riley and currently serves as the Creative Media Producer for Sugar Creek Baptist Church in Sugar Land Texas. In his spare time, Brandon volunteers with teenagers, creates films and loves to read.


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  • http://blog.jaredrey.com jared rey

    i think it is important to be reminded about this fact you brought up. sometimes it is hard to look past what is in front of us and see that God can work, move, and be glorified through movies that are not so great. I struggle with that idea all the time when confronted with a 'christian movie'. It is hard for me to go see them b/c of the expectations I have for them. As Christians we should shoot for excellence and I think that ball gets dropped sometimes, and I don't think it can just be blamed on a 'small budget', I mean slumdog killed at the oscars and that was a small budget film, or you can take another small budget film like napoleon dynamite that just blew up as a favorite for many people. So I see things happen for movies like those and I think how much more impact could Christian films have if we attempted something like that, I just don't know how to bridge that gap or what that would look like? But I am not a film person, so I hope a christian filmmaker can figure that out. But all that said, we shouldn't ignore what impact a movie can have on people in positive ways even if it doesn't meet those movie standards.

  • http://bekobad.ru ?????

    Another stunning – and helpful! – compilation. Thanks so much!

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