'Prince Caspian' Inspires Churches to Examine Faith Journey
Box office sensation "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian" is not only restricted to dark theaters crowded with popcorn-eating moviegoers, but has expanded into Bible study circles in well-lit churches in the form of a ministry tool on faith.
The film based on C.S. Lewis' second installment of the Narnia series, a well-known Christian allegory, inspired a new ministry toolkit by Outreach.com, a popular church outreach tool provider. The toolkit aims to use the movie characters' journey of faith – in this case, in Aslan – as the talking point for Christians to reflect on their own doubts and struggle with faith in Jesus Christ.
"With 'Prince Caspian,' we wanted to produce some tools that would make it really easy for churches to reach out and to share some of the spiritual themes that were in the movie," said Scott Evans, president of Outreach Incorporated, to Christian Broadcasting Network.
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Evans recalled that in the first book, The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, the Pevensie children had left Narnia as a land of faith and Aslan was present. But when they return a year later, which translates to 1,300 Narnia years, faith is nearly dead in the land and Aslan has not been seen in centuries.
The struggle with faith in "Prince Caspian" is in many ways reflective of the struggles faced by modern day Christians. Like the characters, today's Christians live in a world full of skepticism about the existence of God.
With this common problem in mind, Outreach developers created The Faith Journal book for the "Prince Caspian" toolkit to help Christians record what God has done in their lives so that they can look back in the future and see how God has been active in their lives.
The free toolkit includes sermon ideas for pastors, a faith journal, and ideas for children outreach program such as for Sunday school or Vacation Bible School, among other tools.
"This movie is a great way to be able to build bridges, to be able to have a dialogue, a conversation about faith and to be able to help people grow in their faith," Evans said.
"Prince Caspian" opened last Friday and took in more than $56 million in the United States and Canada over the weekend – the second best opening for a movie this year.
On the Web: http://www.outreach.com
