Why Your Church Needs a Strong Filmmaking Team

Church filmmaking requires investment. There's no getting around it. But it's difficult to get leadership to green light that investment if you can't fully explain why a strong team and adequate gear are vital to your church's mission. This piece provides a springboard to developing that explanation.

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For many centuries the primary expressions of the church were didactic teaching, prayer and music. This model remained largely unchanged for the following two millennia. As few as 10 years ago churches producing original video and film were extremely rare. Over that past decade, however, churches have begun to embrace the medium of film in ways unimaginable only a few years ago.  

While churches utilize many different methodologies to reach all different types of people, ministries designed around the Great Commission must recognize and embrace church filmmaking as a critical component of stepping boldly into the 21st century. Effective church filmmaking is a powerful, irreplaceable tool for carrying out the purposes of the church. It’s becoming a vital part of the weekend worship experiences as well as opening doors to share the Gospel in ways that were previously unimaginable.

Just as with any other area of ministry, church filmmaking requires investment. This often means setting priorities in order to say "yes" to opportunities that would have been a "not yet" in the past. Let’s explore why engaging in original film ministry is so critical to the success of the church moving into the future.

Bringing glory to God

From the beginning of time one of the primary reasons for humankind’s existence has been to bring honor and glory to God. With its ability to incorporate every artistic discipline that preceded it, film can illustrate and illuminate His nature and creation better than anything else. Film also accomplishes this far more effectively and efficiently than other mediums.

With its ability to incorporate every artistic discipline that preceded it, film can illustrate and illuminate His nature and creation better than anything else.

Anyone who’s seen a powerful story of God’s ability to save and redeem a life can attest to how unique and irreplaceable the power of film truly is. Just as importantly, film can illustrate complex concepts of faith and existence in a way that surpasses the limitations of language. Better still, film allows the Holy Spirit to work within the heart of a viewer in a way that feels both organic and spontaneous to each unique person. It’s God-breathed inception.

Unifying the body

Church film is a powerful tool for helping a congregation stay emotionally and intellectually engaged in the life of their unique congregation. Numerous studies have shown that video spurs engagement at a much higher level than text and still imagery combined. The ability for a church to create effective media content is an essential tool for keeping its membership feeling like it’s in the loop.

The ability for a church to create effective media content is an essential tool for keeping its membership feeling like it’s in the loop.

One of the most common ways churches of all styles and sizes are utilizing film today is through the use of promotional videos that detail upcoming events, opportunities and needs. Another type of short film that’s even more effective is the recap video, which highlights moments of ministry impact and allows the entire congregation to celebrate that impact together.

Recap films, along with life-change stories, also serve a subtle but very real function of illustrating return on investment to members of the congregation who have the gift of giving. These kinds of films show the different ways God is working through efforts of the church in ways that inspire generosity. The drive to produce these kinds of short films also has the added benefit or providing another level of ministry accountability as leaders strive to make meaningful, measurable impacts that can be communicated through films.

Impact beyond your walls

As any 12-year-old with their first iPhone will attest, the explosive growth of social media and mobile technology has profoundly changed the shape of the world. This is a very, very good thing for ministry leadership willing to engage their communities through church filmmaking. Thanks to the establishment of social media and streaming platforms churches can now share their unique media expressions in ways that are easier than ever before--both intentionally and by viewers just stumbling across your content. Better still, access to these platforms ranges from free to easily affordable.

Thanks to the establishment of social media and streaming platforms churches can now share their unique media expressions in ways that are easier than ever before....

Another exciting way that churches are engaging the larger world is through the creation of documentary, movies and television programming designed to communicate truth of the Gospel in ways seekers are ready to hear. A number of churches today, ranging all the way from 100 to 30,000 in weekend attendance, are currently in some stage of production on projects designed exclusively for engaging the world beyond the walls of their own buildings.

To conclude ...

Having established why every church should be integrating film deeply into the core of their ministries, it’s also important to keep in mind the other part of the equation. It’s crucial to remember that your strong filmmaking team needs to be a team. Too often church film teams can be centered on the one-man-band approach. While almost all film teams launch around a single person initially, if that individual doesn’t develop a team the eventual result can be that the effectiveness of the church’s entire ministry impact rises and falls with that one person. Responsible church film ministries are composed of multiple people working together to create work greater than the sum of their parts.

One [of the many] upsides is that building teams fulfills our mandate to be investing in the next generation of church filmmakers.

Deliberate efforts to create larger film teams have a number of positive benefits beyond the continuity of impact. One of these upsides is that building teams fulfills our mandate to be investing in the next generation of church filmmakers. Another benefit is that church film leaders grow in their command of their discipline as they develop others. A leader never really has command of something until they can teach it, and this is especially true in the filmmaking world.

Finally, taking steps to ensure that a church’s filmmaking team is actually a team ultimately serves the greater purpose of equipping the "Capital C" church. Many churches would love to have the capacity to make original media content; it’s up to churches that have that capacity today to develop the filmmakers that will serve in those contexts tomorrow.