The provocative documentary Lord, Save Us From Your Followers premiered last weekend in select cities throughout the U.S. I’m really excited about this project because of the conversation it starts. I think the title makes it accessible and intriguing to non-Christians, and hopefully not too offensive to Christians.
The movie explores which expressions of American Christianity are consistent with the Gospel of Jesus, and which aren’t so much. What I really appreciate about this film is that it aims to get people excited about the conversation, because I think it’s one that everyone wants to have. You know, the one about how well the Church is doing at representing the person of Jesus Christ.
I think the only reason it’s not happening more is because it’s scary; religion and politics are still the “Big Two” taboo dinner topics in our culture. And I think they’re taboo because they tend to stir up the greatest amount of passion in people. Since passion leads to conflict, and sinful people suck at handling conflict well, it seems the that culturally popular thing to do is to just label it a taboo topic and only discuss it on internet forums where we feel no relational consequences for berating someone’s deeply-held convictions with our uninformed opinions. We allow anonymity to dehumanize. It feels safe…but when has dehumanization ever been safe? In fact, it’s just about the deadliest thing I can think of.
I pray for and genuinely believe a day is coming in this country when that trend is reversed; when the more passion a topic stirs up, the more it is talked about in the context of close relationship instead of reserved for the pundits who slaughter and fanaticize the topic in social media. I think meaningful conversation is the most precious thing we’ve outsourced in America, and we’ve left it for people who want ratings, not understanding. So in the interest of bringing meaningful conversation to real relationships between Christians and non-Christians, I’m really pumped about the potential for this film. You can check out one of the trailers here:
You can see many more trailers on YouTube and the website if you’re interested.
Lastly, for all of my friends back home in Illinois, be sure to check this film out when it debuts Friday, October 9 at the AMC Cantera in Warrenville. And bring your unchurched friends. I think it might create some really great conversations. To my Michigan contingent, see what you can do about getting this to a theater in Ann Arbor…I think it would be cool.
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