Wardrobe evangelism

We’re holding our breath...

The much-anticipated arrival of the big-budget Hollywood movie version of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe could be utterly brilliant, or it could fall flat as an Archenland pancake. Those of us who have read the books to our children, or enjoyed the animated series or the BBC versions, will understand that it is a project fraught with potential difficulties.

The special effects and the battle scenes, if the trailer is to be believed, will certainly match up to expectations. C.S. Lewis’s classic has been given The Lord of the Rings treatment, and shares many similarities in the way it was produced. Exterior scenes were shot in New Zealand, and the character design and special effects have been done by companies which worked on the adaptation of Tolkein’s works. But ultimately, the success or failure of the film will depend on the quality of the child actors, the believability of the Lion, and the script.

Jesus or PC?

The production company, Walden Media, is set up to produce family and educational films and has strong Christian backing. But the involvement of Disney, and the main screenwriter Anne Peacock, should give more cause for concern. Disney has shown itself more than capable of pulling the Christian guts out of stories in favour of more politically correct themes. And the screenwriter’s previous film credits are all stories that have a strong interest in racism. Will these pressures detract from the big message of the story — about how Jesus’s death can rescue traitors — and substitute it with weak politically-correct moralising?

Whatever the answer to these questions, there is little doubt that it will be a must-see movie in the run up to Christmas.

The opportunity

But how can we use this occasion evangelistically? Well, after you’ve seen it yourself (always advisable), plan to take your youth group/Sunday school to see it together.

Walden Media, in consultation with Zondervan, has developed a large range of discussion materials that are available free from its website at http://www.walden.com/html/pub/lww/lww_materials.jsp. There are discussion guides and lesson plans for a range of ages, but Christian youth group leaders will be disappointed with them — there is little explicit Bible content, and there is no attempt to pursue an evangelistic line in them.

Far better are the leaflets produced by The Good Book Company. Three evangelistic full-colour tracts have been produced that could be used to hand out at your local cinema — two for children, and another for adults.

‘Beyond the Wardrobe’ takes a passage from Philippians and helps children to understand the cross. ‘Meet the Real Lion’ picks up the description in Revelation of the Lion in heaven, and helps children understand who Jesus is. And. for adults, ‘Always winter but never Christmas’ thinks about the themes of sin and unrealised hope.

When The Passion of the Christ was released, many churches approached local cinemas who allowed them to set out tracts for people to take. It would be worth doing the same again for this film.

You can read these tracts, and order them, at http://www.thegoodbook.co.uk