I am so tempted. :)
So we're walking up to the idea I had of doing a neighborhood movie night. It's still evolving thanks to the ideas you guys have given and some we've received from the folks at New Hope. Mark Edwards (G'Day mate) suggested we do it outside to cut the church "cheese" factor out for the unchurched. Working on that possibility from a logistical POV.
But more to the point, what movies?
I've been looking at some websites for ideas.
Christianity Today has lists for different groups of people.
For Families
For Adults
For Teens
The Ten Most Redeeming Films According To CT
Again, keeping with the "Clarity" principle of "Simple Church", we here need to decide how far on the scale are we going to place this effort. If it's early on the Outreach scale, then we are building relationships and sowing spiritual thoughts. If later, we are adding discussion over dessert about those spiritual thoughts, and probably using more "edgy" movies.
Mark's point about moving it outside of church would move it farther along even if nothing else changed I would think.
Suggestions? Ideas?
"About A Boy" - awesome movie (and might even be free of huge amounts of bad language...but, I can't remember. Does this mean we have to preview each one before we show it?
ReplyDeleteDepends on who we're trying to reach. If it's neighborhood folks, something they're already familiar with like "Evan Almighty" might be easier for them to warm up to. If it's us as a herd of cats, "The Village" might be a lovely cautionary tale about what happens when a community decides to separate itself from the world. Or, depending on the crowd and how bold we're all feeling, we could use "The Village" to find out how much the folks around us think we've separated ourselves from them. I agree with the cheese factor of it being at the church. But where is outside the church? The parking lot? Another buiding? Stupid logistics. I wonder if we could rig up a giant bedsheet between two trees at Lincoln Park. Might be tough to get follow-up conversation in that setting, unless it were "A Movie THEN Dinner" :)
ReplyDeleteHere in Australia, outside movies are part of the culture..comes with the beautiful weather, especially at night, with people wanting to come out, with a cooling summer breaze.
ReplyDeletea decent data projector, a good sound system, a local park, and you are ready to go. The smell of sizzling sausages... and something different for the family.
I would go for a great family movie...there are plenty of them. Nemo is a good one with family themes.
Introduced by the pastor... with a very brief welcome.
I would not go the discussion route, but I might invite them along to a movie night at the church, with discussion afterwards. As long as people know what they are up for...thats fine. A movie night at the park is not, in my view, a 'fair' location to get too serious. It is an opportunity to show you care about them, and want to do something for your community, with no strings attatched.