Now I have my own issues with types of outreach methods we use in our churches, so I don’t want to get into them here, but i wanted to point out something I gleaned over at the leadership blog, about the Passion of the Christ movie not having the huge impact on culture as we may have thought it would.

According to George Barna, it did not. Barna conducted an extensive survey of those who saw the film and concluded:

“Among the most startling outcomes…is the apparent absence of a direct evangelistic impact by the movie…. Less than one-tenth of one percent of those who saw the film stated that they made a profession of faith or accepted Jesus Christ as their savior in reaction to the film’s content.”

Sure it made millions, and it made people aware of Christians, but did it really help in terms of the movement of people toward God or away from God? I am sure that is a number that is not easily measured, but it is an interesting thought.

More from the article:

The debate over using films for evangelism isn’t new. Back in 2004, Leadership hosted a lively interaction about The Passion’s potential for outreach featuring Rick Warren and Brian McLaren. Warren wrote that his church was eagerly riding the “spiritual tsunami” created by the film. He reported 892 commitments to Christ were made during his two-week sermon series based on The Passion, over 600 new smalls groups were formed, and his church’s average attendance increased by 3,000. This response, while worth celebrating, according to George Barna does not represent the experience of most churches who reported little or no growth as a result of the film.

Brian McLaren, on the other hand, was hopeful that millions would be impacted by Gibson’s film but he remained skeptical. McLaren was bothered by the hype surrounding the movie and questioned why slogans such as “the greatest outreach opportunity in 2000 years” held such sway with church leaders. He cautioned us to not put our hope in “products (like films, radio broadcasts, boxed programs, etc.),” but in the good works of disciples filled with God’s love.”

McLaren’s cautions seem to be validated by Barna’s research. Despite having more media resources than ever before to accomplish its mission, including big-budget films, the church in America isn’t growing. Barna reported that church attendance has been experiencing “a very slow but steady descent” for the last 15 years. Disturbingly, at the same time churches are increasingly looking to the silver screen to aid in outreach, Barna reports that less then one in 25 churches ranks prayer as a top priority.

I think we need to think through our mediums more thoroughly than we do. What worked in our father’s time may not work in ours.