Lausanne World Pulse – WORLD PERSPECTIVES – Engaging a New Generation through Media

By Tom Newman

Twenty years ago, I led a group of young people on a tour through England with the stage show “Toymaker & Son.” After performing on a makeshift stage in a packed room at a local YMCA, I felt inspired to take the microphone and communicate a vision that had been emerging in my life. I still remember the curious looks my wife and several close friends gave me as I proclaimed that “we were called to reach a sight and sound generation with the gospel of Jesus Christ through music, theater and film.” Pretty bold words for the assistant principal of a Christian school in Oklahoma, USA. Now, after three internationally touring live shows, two documentary films, over fifty television commercials, two internationally broadcast children’s series, two feature-length movies and the current theatrical release of a new film, I look back in wonder that I’m still here, pursuing that same vision.

Of course the cultural, political and spiritual landscape of the world has changed since that day in England. However, the need to reach a sight and sound generation has not. Saying that today’s culture is consumed and controlled by media is overstating the obvious. From films, books, television and videogames, media and the art of storytelling have become the currency of culture and influence in our world. And though it’s often an unconventional method within the body of Christ, I can’t think of a greater place to communicate the stories and truths of God than through these mediums.

Two thousand years ago, Jesus chose some unconventional means of his own to communicate his message. He toured the countryside and told stories. Though it hardly seemed like an effective means of communicating such important truth, there he was talking about farmers, wedding banquets, wineskins and mustard seeds. Of course our modern Bible translations with their comprehensive footnotes can tell us exactly what each of these stories meant. But the meanings weren’t that clear for those who were actually there, not even for the twelve disciples. So with a message so important, why not just come out and tell people exactly what he meant? In the Gospel of Mark we find the disciples asking Jesus a similar question to which he responds, “You’ve been given insight into God’s kingdom—you know how it works. But to those who can’t see it yet, everything comes in stories, creating readiness, nudging them toward receptive insight…All my stories work this way” (Mark 4:10-13; The Message). Philosopher and literary critic Kenneth Burke says that “stories are equipment for living.” From his ministry on earth, this seems to be an idea that Jesus understood quite well. And it’s a remarkable thing that the God who incarnated himself as a man also chose to incarnate eternal truths through an equally unexpected means.

Tom Newman is founder and president of Impact Productions. As a producer his work includes the feature film “End of the Spear,” the children’s series “Pahappahooey Island” and the holiday film “Christmas Child.”