Is it possible for Christians to work effectively in an entertainment industry that seems so absent of the gospel? Is it possible for Christians to truly share the Gospel with those whom they work with? In this video, Andy and Jon Erwin share how the gospel shapes their work as filmmakers, both in the movie and in relationships with cast and crew members. As Christians and filmmakers, Andy and Jon’s primary goal is to use their movies as a way of giving Christ to culture, weaving threads of the gospel into the stories they tell. In addition, Andy and Jon seek to share the gospel with those on their film set – cast, crew, and everyone in between. Through a Christ-like influence and genuine relationships, Andy and Jon are able to share the gospel in their daily work.
1. Storytelling
2. Giving Christ to Culture
3. A Lonely but Worthwhile Road
How the Gospel Shapes Our Everyday Work
I think the gospel shapes the way I do my job on a couple levels. First, it guides the stories that we tell. Again, giving truth to our culture, giving Christ to our culture really is my ultimate goal. So do we want to make highly entertaining films? Absolutely. Do we want to make films that generate revenue? Absolutely. But the ultimate goal is we want to give Christ to culture.
And so the gospel governs the work. And that’s not to say that every film is going to have an overt presentation of the gospel, but we weave gospel threads into the work and hopefully into a way where people get immersed in the story and they’re engaged emotionally by it. They fall in love with the characters and then their heart’s open for a worldview. And so the gospel really guides everything we do in terms of the stories that we choose to tell.
Ministry in Our Work
Somebody that I really respect once said to me, “Don’t miss the ministry of your own film set.” It’d be a shame to tell these stories with the gospel in it and in the process run over people in such a way that my life doesn’t illustrate that. I think the ministry to your film set is just the ability to love all the people around you.
I don’t think it’s up to me to convince anybody of the gospel, but by having gospel threads and looking for opportunities where I can encourage the people that come in directly into my path and just make them feel valued and loved, and then look for opportunities that I can share with them, I think I want everybody on my film set to know that they’re loved, that they’re appreciated, and I think in that process, be able to win hearts.
I mean film is a rough business and it’s a rough life these people live and they’re constantly on the road. It’s a very lonely place. And so to try to influence them a bit and to try to give them a good experience and ultimately open their hearts up to the gospel is something that we are passionate about. And hopefully, it’s been great to have conversations with even some actors that are really coming around and have questions and haven’t really been exposed to Christianity. Los Angeles is a very different place, and film is just a great way to bring people together and form relationships that can lead to discussions of the gospel.
