Cut to the flickering images of children writhing in a spiritual trance on a chapel floor while being hectored about the glory of dying for Christ, and one knows exactly where the first Christian suicide bombers will come from. (Chris Barsanti, Film Journal International)
Evangelicalism's views on science and politics are so polarizing that almost any viewer, whether Orthodox, agnostic, or atheist, is bound to have an elemental reaction from the first shot of six-year-olds weeping in religious ecstasy. (Sara Brady, Premier Magazine)
Needless to say, The Jesus Camp, a new film directed by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady, has created quite a buzz in the world of independent film. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the film, the following is a brief synopsis from the film’s website, www.jesuscampthemovie.com, where you can also find the film’s trailer along with other video clips.
A growing number of Evangelical Christians believe there is a revival underway in America whereby Christian youth must take up the leadership of the conservative Christian movement.
JESUS CAMP, directed by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady (The Boys of Baraka), follows Levi, Rachael, Tory and a number of other young children to Pastor Becky Fischer's Kids on Fire summer camp in Devil's Lake, North Dakota, where kids as young as 6 years-old are taught to become dedicated Christian soldiers in God's army.
The film follows these children at camp as they hone their prophetic gifts and are schooled in how to take back America for Christ. The film is a first-ever look into an intense training ground that recruits born-again Christian children to become an active part of America's political future.
Yesterday afternoon, I watched the film with a good friend of mine. At the ticket booth the guy was quick to comment on our choice of entertainment for the afternoon and informed us that everyone from a “Baptist Minister” to a group of “homeschoolers” had been to see the movie. We were the only ones in the theater until the last minute when we were joined by a man and woman who talked throughout the movie as if they were at a noisy bar. Their comments ranged from, “Oh you’ve got to be kidding me,” to, “That’s sick!” In between the jeering remarks, the woman continually made noises ranging from uncontrollable laughter to something resembling a cat that had just been backed over in the garage. To be honest with you, I’m sure the cat probably felt better with his recent acquisition of tire imprints than this lady felt with her recent acquisition of image imprints. The images on screen were at times enough to cause nausea in doctors who normally spend their days performing colonoscopies.
What were these images? Try six year olds in trances while “speaking in tongues.” Or, try a young boy writhing on the floor in something resembling a grand mal seizure. All of this, of course, was attributed to the Holy Spirit. Or, try children using hammers to smash coffee cups with the word “government” written on them. The purpose of this cup smashing was to “break the demonic bondage in the heavenlies.” Whatever that means?!
Before I continue I think it is important to address the issue, which will be raised, regarding the integrity of the film. Many of you will wonder if the film “accurately portrayed” the ministry being presented in this film. Kids in Ministry International, the ministry of Becky Fischer, has a website that promotes the film and provides an interview with Fischer about the film. She speaks directly to the issue of being fairly portrayed in the film:
Am I saying I like everything in the film and 100% of the way we've been portrayed? Of course not. This movie is merely a snapshot of what we do with children and does not in any way represent our entire ministry. There's no way you can do that in an 84 minute documentary and still have a movie people want to go and see. But we feel it's fair. They show both sides of the issue without making judgments on either side. They let us speak for ourselves, even if you don't get to hear complete thoughts and sentences and concepts.
I am just as sick and tired of secular media painting Christians in a skewed, negative light as every other Christian is. And when I watch the trailer I know what it must seem like to Christians---"Here we go again! One more movie that bashes Christians!"
But I'm asking you to give the movie a chance. At least see it before you make a judgment. I honestly feel it's a fair look into what we do.
Those do not sound like the words of one claiming that the film misrepresents them. Rather, it is an encouragement to Christians that they should go and see the film. As a matter of fact, it becomes obvious that the film seems to be great marketing for her in charismatic circles. Her site also includes comments that she has posted from those who have seen the film and sent her emails. These are not the words of angry Christians who are upset with filmmakers making a joke of Christianity:
“Just saw the film "Jesus Camp" yesterday. It moved us to tears.
Such a powerful film of how to train up our children in the way they should go. Thank you!!”
“My husband, Michael, and I saw JESUS CAMP Saturday evening and left spellbound and in tears. Your ministry is simply incredible and it is a ‘forerunner’ for sure!! We are grandparents of four and pray that one day our grandchildren could be exposed to this type of ministry. We bless you, Becky, and pray that your boldness and enthusiasm to see our children spiritually trained and sold out for Christ will flourish and not wane. You are a gifted woman called to shake status quo in the Church, so .......... go girl in the mighty name of Jesus Christ!!!!!!!”
“When will the next Jesus Camp open because I WANT TO GO TO JESUS CAMP!!! I mean I'll go like half the summer if I need to. And do you do anything with the children after the age of 12? I ask because there aren't organizations that I know of that can compare to what you do with young people today, because what happens to the kids? With teens it's like the organizations say, "Go deeper with Christ!" and things, but 1) most teens might only know a few stories or may know nothing at all, and 2) no one takes that time to explain to us teenagers what they mean to get deep…We teens don't get taught how to do so many things you do like speak in tongues, hear God's ever present steady voice, heal the sick, witness to people....so many things. When will someone come along and teach me how to talk to Jesus through the Spirit?” Sunshine, age 15
I include these comments in order to show the sort of positive response that is stemming from this strand of the evangelical church. What would appear strange and bizarre to the woman sitting in the theater with me appears accurate and “anointed” to the charismatic Christian who watches this film. I personally felt that the film honestly portrayed what I find to be common in most Pentecostal churches.
If I chose to respond to everything I took issue with theologically it would wind up being too much to sort through. My biggest concern as I watched this movie was the lady in the theater and countless others like her throughout America. She, and the man she was with, had just been exposed to a strand of Christianity that is extremely foreign to the New Testament.
I wondered what thoughts went through her mind as Becky Fischer strolled across the screen offering up her contaminated theology. At times the movie appeared to be a comedy, at other times a horror film. It was very comedic when Becky proclaimed to these young children that people are too fat and lazy to fast because they don’t want to give up a meal—funny material from one that is more than a bit overweight. It was funny to see a cardboard cutout of George W. Bush brought into the service with a big American flag draped behind him while the children were told to speak blessings over the President as the woman leading the service “spoke in tongues” and laid hands on the cardboard cutout.
Of course you couldn’t make a movie about Christian children’s ministry without the typical jab at Harry Potter. Only this time it was more than a jab. Becky remarked that Harry Potter would be put to death if he lived “in the Old Testament” because he was a warlock. Perhaps my favorite of all was the radio host who spoke about the evangelical Christian view of global warming. What was that view? “Rape this world, rape this earth, cut down these trees, use up all this oil, it doesn’t matter because Jesus is coming back to destroy this world!” Time doesn’t permit explaining the red tape on the mouths of the children, or the homeschooling mom convincing her kid that global warming is a liberal ploy, or the God doesn’t like to go to dead churches theology stating that depending on how they invite God decides whether He’ll come or not. You get the drift.
The movie, brilliantly made, was a ninety-minute nightmare that soon ended. When the lights came up I was left realizing that the nightmare was a reality. This wasn’t a movie that I walked away from saying, “Wow! I’m glad he saved the world at the last minute.” This was a movie I walked away from realizing, once again, how screwed up the American Church is. The freak show on film is a reality in churches across America. The evangelical authors that peddle this miserable brand of theology are on bestseller lists in every evangelical bookstore in America, not to mention daily television and radio appearances. Good theology has gone out of print and theological churches have gone out of business. Why? They don’t entertain. They are not exciting. They are irrelevant. Whose fault is this? It is the fault of pastors and the seminaries that train them.
Seminaries are, for the most part, terrible at understanding the culture in which ministry is done. While the seminary may be an expert in teaching the thinking and theology of great men of the past, they gravely mistake that we still live in the past alongside those men. They fail to understand issues of contextualization and missional theology that is rooted in a deep understanding of the gospel. As a result, they produce pastors that are as culturally irrelevant as the schools they attend. Our churches are filled with pastors who understand the gap theory, but fail to see the gap between their church and the cultural context it exists in.
The truth is that no one takes the theologically astute church any more serious than they take Becky Fischer serious. The theologically astute church reaches other irrelevant theologically astute people who exist in a Reformed Christian sub-culture while Becky Fischer reaches people who exist in an experience driven charismaniac sub-culture. But note, they both reach those in a “sub-culture.” Those who are involved in the culture in a more broad sense of the word are paying attention to neither one. Pastors must study theology in order to understand the gospel, but they must also study culture in order to understand the people to whom the gospel must be preached.
Missionaries have known this for years. They have studied foreign cultures in order to understand the prevailing philosophies and customs inherent to the indigenous people they have been sent to. This can be no different for the church in America. Pastors must be missiologists who understand the language and thought systems of the people in their culture in order to preach the gospel in a language that is understandable. The problem by and large is that pastors have not considered the missional nature of church and have instead considered modern tactics of marketing in order to grow their churches to the size of a small country. All good marketing targets a certain segment of society with the product being offered. Most churches that operate through typical principles of church growth, market themselves to those in particular sub-cultures leaving the people in the broader culture complete unreached.
It really doesn’t matter to most pastors. As long as they can impress their friends with the size of their church they are perfectly content to grow through inbreeding. The result is that most churches with good theology grow through adding people with already good theology looking for a church with good theology (although I am not convinced of how good theology is if it lacks mission at its core). Churches with bad theology, like Becky Fischer and her ministry, grow through adding people with bad theology. The only difference is that they are unaware of their poor theology, yet are experts at reaching others with poor theology who are looking for a freak show because it is “anointed.” The cycle goes on and on.
What is the answer? Seminaries that are willing to come out of the dark ages in order to train pastors capable of contextualizing the gospel in their culture. Those who are already pastors must be willing to do the hard work of studying—both theology and the cultural context in which they are doing theology. It doesn’t do any good to answer questions that people are not asking. We must discern the questions being asked and how the gospel answers those questions. If church leaders are unwilling to do this, then they must accept their position in the shadow of irrelevance. They must not look in disgust at a film like The Jesus Camp without looking with disgust upon themselves due to their own laziness. They must not be offended at the mocking and scorning of secular society. They are not mocking and scorning the gospel, but the church that represents that gospel. They are mocking the evangelical ultra-right wing conservatives who have placed their hope in the Republican Party rather than the Kingdom of God. They are mocking a powerless church that has more faith in the American Flag, hanging in its sanctuary, that they have pledged their allegiance to instead of the King before whom all nations bow.
A film like this is not simply an expose of the strange happenings in the Pentecostal Church. It is an expose of the way the Church is viewed as ignorant, irrelevant, and powerless. It is an accurate film. It is an accurate assessment.
