Last week, from Tuesday through Saturday - every morning through every evening, the nice boys from Zondervan were here filming a forthcoming DVD and small group curriculum for the They Like Jesus book and the forthcoming I Like Jesus book.
It was an interesting experience - we went to a bunch of locations all around Santa Cruz filming set-ups for the specific topic, then interviews with those that are in the book who are the non-church going friends of mine I met as I "escaped the Christian bubble" and the "prison of the church office". They express their opinions of church and Christians and what currently keeps them from wanting to be part of a church community.
For each topic covered such as religious pluralism, homosexuality, fundamentalism and the Bible, judgmentalism, women and the church - we filmed scenes in places that represented the perception of the church being discussed - which included a retro diner, a Buddhist retreat center, a nightclub/bar, a coffee house, 
the place where I get my hair cut, a local book store, the church building, a tattoo parlor, a newspaper office and a ton of "b-rolls" of driving around town and walking around Santa Cruz. I am going to Grand Rapids to film the summary parts in June which will be setting up the questions of how we can answer and respond to this specific topics and perceptions of the church and Christianity. The DVD comes out in February 2008, when the I Like Jesus book comes out.
What I loved most about this project, were the interview parts and I hope will be the most powerful part of the final DVD. My friends Duggan, Gary, Dustan, Angie, Erika and Penny were all interviewed and they shared their view of Jesus as well as their experiences with Christians and the church and how that has shaped their view of the church. I hope seeing their faces, hearing their heart and voices etc. will be helpful in understanding what they are saying.
The consistent observation shared was that Christians generally don't want to listen to other viewpoints than their own, and they basically abandon the person if they aren't ready to "receive the gospel" and the Christian then moves on to someone else. This was shared that it feels like (and actually is) showing that as a person, those outside the church aren't really cared about or respected and valued as a human being other then as an evangelistic target or as someone to prove them wrong, and the Christian right.
Also mentioned in these interviews were stories of how Christians they met cannot generally have intelligent conversations - they only repeated rhetoric of certain phrases used in evangelism and quoted specific isolated Bible verses without explaining the context or able to converse more about them. There is a desire to dialog not just have to listen one-way. It reminds me how important it is for apologetics and for each of us to be "theologians", but using them in the right time and as trust is built.
We got in some great discussions with the film crew about this, as the question was raised how are we each getting out of "the Christian bubble" and meeting and befriending those like I interviewed? Or are we in our isolated Christian bubble, and then it becomes easy to lose heart for those outside the church, get cozy with hanging out with only Christians, point fingers, learn apologetics but only use them with other Christians or strangers on the street we walk up to (which seems to backfire most times since there is no trust). What I am hearing is that people are not stumbling at the cross (yes, the gospel and cross is a stumbling block) but they don't reach that point, they are stumbling over the Christians and the church and the bad experiences and perceptions.
I will be including positive stories and even some stories of those who have put faith in Jesus and now are in church and love the church in the summaries when we film those - but my prayer is when people who watch these interviews, it will cause us to do some self-reflection. To ask if we are in the "Christian bubble" or are we taking time and prayer and heart to really listen and become friends with those Jesus would outside the church. Have we so focused on "Christian community" that we have become narcissistic and forgotten our mission and lost heart for those outside the church as we are so busy in our church world?
So much to say... but a very motivating week in terms of asking each other who are the Dugggans, Dustans, Angies, Pennys, Erikas, Gary's in each of our lives.....or are we in the Christian bubble and not taking the words of Jesus seriously where He specifically prayed we aren't removed from the world and the people (John 17:15-18). It seems we can slip into being salt and light to each other in our bubbles, but not to those living in our own communities all around us outside the church. Figuring it all out every day. Lord guide us. Spirit lead us.
