Christianity Today International's mission statement is "to engage, encourage, and equip the church worldwide, sharing the depth and transforming power of the Gospel as it permeates all spheres of life." Meanwhile, another power is at work, permeating all spheres of life: Media.

Media saturation may be the most powerful force shaping our daily lives. More pervasive than religious, family, vocational, educational, economic, and political forces, media saturation impacts perception, frames reality, and often distorts the core values upon which our social and cultural foundations rest. Fueled by Hollywood movies and TV programs, videos, DVDs, computer games, and the Internet, this saturation affects how people perceive and understand their real worlds.

Christians are as affected by the assault of media saturation as everyone. The church—and CTI—is positioned to speak to the problems stemming from the entertainment revolution, and to provide helpful guidance for the media-saturated believer. CTI can engage, encourage, and equip Christians to become more conscious of the role of media in their lives, to evaluate entertainment habits and media content with Christian maturity.

Obviously, the electronic media are neither all good nor all bad. It is easy to veer toward either admiration or condemnation of these media and thereby avoid having to exercise discernment. As a people saved and set apart, marked by the Holy Spirit, the church must ask what will make 21st-century Christians culturally distinct. With those marks of distinction in mind, the church must openly engage the entertainment media with confidence. Christianity Today Movies is just one means of accomplishing that end.

Theologian Stanley Grenz notes that theology is shaped by three sources-the biblical message, church heritage, and culture. In his book, Theology for the Community of God, Grenz writes (italics ours), "To speak in a manner understandable to contemporary society, theologians have an ongoing task of listening to culture. … We must pay attention to the forces that shape identity in culture. We must listen intently to the ways in which our culture seeks to express the human drive toward identity-in-community. Thereby we can more capably reflect on the Christian faith commitment in order to sharpen its relevancy for the contemporary setting."

Christianity Today Movies seeks to help believers "pay attention" to the cultural force of cinema, to engage, encourage, and equip Christians to "capably reflect" on this powerful medium.

DISCLAIMER: Articles on our website sometimes link to outside sources, including the official websites for particular films. Christianity Today Movies and CTI do not control the content of these outside sites, and we therefore do not "endorse" or necessarily agree with the content presented on such sites.

For further perspective on how to engage with pop culture, read this CT editorial from 2002.

				Try 3 Issues of Christianity Today FREE! Name Street Address City/State/Zip E-mail Address No credit card required. Please allow 4-6 weeks for delivery. Offer valid in U.S. only. Click here for International orders. If you decide you want to keep Christianity Today coming, honor your invoice for just $19.95 and receive nine more issues, a full year in all. If not, simply write "cancel" across the invoice and return it. The trial issue is yours to keep, regardless. Give Christianity Today as a gift Buy 1 gift subscription, get 1 FREE!

Subscribe to the FREE CT at the Movies Newsletter:    RSS Feed   RSS Help