Lausanne World Pulse – Themed Articles – Christianity, the Creative Arts and the Narrative Play
By Rebecca Jones
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True to the nature of this topic, this article is written in the style of a play. After a theatrical production team meeting to discuss the value of using drama to share the gospel, the acting team works through practical examples of using drama in ministry.
Production Meeting
Producer: Welcome to our production meeting. Part of our meeting today is to help educate our fine fellow evangelists to see the value of drama and how important it is to our work and ministries.
Actor 1: Drama is a form of communication that combines the visual, verbal and aural. Research tells us that we retain ten percent of what we hear, fifty percent of what we hear and see and eighty to ninety percent of what we hear, see and do.
Dancer: Language is the foundation of our society. The ability to communicate with one another through a common voice allows for the function of our world. Language is our greatest asset for communication.
Sound tech: The voice of language can therefore be articulated beyond vocal communication and into any realm where beliefs are communicated between individuals. Language can be communicated in books, media, art, architecture, body language, television, theatre, music and beyond.
Lighting: Drama and the creative arts are a part of every culture, race, society, tradition and sphere of life. Storytelling which goes hand in hand with drama is very much a part of the world that God made. We are natural storytellers and story lovers. In wanting to discover a common voice to reach into our communities, drama can creatively provide that common voice.
Costume: Stories and dramas reach all ages; they are personal, a representation of life and an expression of human thought. They can take simple, complex or abstract ideas and turn them into digestible and entertaining messages.
Graphic designer: Theatre holds within its walls a medium that embraces the visual and the verbal essence of language; it invites people into a new world and engages the intellect of the imagination – this is achieved in conjunction with the opportunity to communicate educational, historical and meaningful, even eternal, messages. While a book also contains within its pages a similar achievement, the live, participatory nature of theatre enfolds the observer, capturing the emotive intellect and communicating a message.
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Rebecca Jones is a childrens and creative minister at St. Swithun’s Pymble in Sydney, Australia. She has a primary teaching degree and a masters of education in creative arts degree from the University of Technology in Sydney. Jones has written and directed her own theatre productions. |