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Through the Lens

Through the Lens


Why a series about movies?

We are all drawn to stories - whether they are on the written page or on the screen. We watch these stories because they address desires deep within us. Any truth we see in movies is God's truth (because there is not another kind) and all beauty we see in movies is from God (because there is no other source of it). For this series, we want to look at four common themes that show up in different movies and ask ourselves the questions: What do these movies tell us about culture? What do these movies tell us about ourselves? How do these themes interact with Scripture? And, how can we use movies to connect with non-Christians in winsome and missional ways?

Check out the resources listed below!

Other Resources

Listed below are other resources to help us grow and engage our culture missionally. We have been placed in this world by a good God who doesn't make junk. Part of our responsibility as image bearers is to find beauty in the world and to glorify God because of it.



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Culture, Mission, & Calling

In this video, Pastor Mike Sherman asks the questions "What is culture and why should we care?" He then seeks to answer them by providing a brief theology of culture and a discussion about our place as Christians in the world around us. 



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Center for Parent/Youth Understanding

Walt Mueller's website: Center for Parent/Youth Understanding is chock-full of resources to help parents, youth leaders, and students understand the culture we live in. Its tagline reads, "Helping parents, youth workers, educators, pastors and others understand and reach today's youth culture." It contains links to podcasts, articles, movie and music lists and more. One resource that is available for purchase, is How to Use Your Head to Guard Your Heart: A 3(D) Guide to Making Wise Media Choices. This guide is a unique and easy-to-use tool that is designed to help students develop media discernment skills.



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Movie Discussion Guides

Our staff has put together discussion guides for several popular movies. It is our hope that these guides can serve as conversation starters for small groups, families, or personal reflection. We have also created a general movie discussion guide that can used when watching any movie to help us think critically about what each film is telling us about ourselves and the world.

*We recognize that people have different sensitivity levels when it comes to movies. Please use discernment when selecting movies for your family and others.*



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Echoes of Eden: Reflections on Christianity, Literature, and the Arts

In his book Echoes of Eden, Jerram Barrs (professor of Christian studies and contemporary culture at Covenant Seminary in St. Louis), From comic books to summer blockbusters, all people enjoy art in some form or another. However, few of us can effectively explain why certain books, movies, and songs resonate so profoundly within us. In Echoes of Eden, Jerram Barrs helps us identify the significance of artistic expression as it reflects the extraordinary creativity and unmatched beauty of the Creator God. 



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Culture Making: Recovering Our Creative Calling

In his book Culture Making, author Andy Crouch asserts that it is not enough to condemn culture. Nor is it sufficient merely to critique culture or to copy culture. Most of the time, we just consume culture. But the only way to change culture is to create culture. Andy Crouch unleashes a stirring manifesto calling Christians to be culture makers, reclaiming the cultural mandate to be the creative cultivators that God designed us to be.