Using drama in worship, ministry and the life of the church

I appreciate what you are saying, Ann, but sound systems, tapes, CDs, printed tracts, hymnals, videos, televisions and the Internet were not around at that time, as you say. The gospel can now be spread via radio, television, the Internet, and the rest, but it can still be preaching. Offering baskets? We don't know, and it is not important. The offering is, but not the receptacle in which it is collected. Baptismals? If that is what we here call "baptistries", there was no need where the apostles were. And they didn't have church buildings to house the baptistries. But they did baptise, and they did so by immersion. That is the important part, which has not changed. Whether in a pond, a river, the sea, a lake, a swimming-pool or a baptistry makes no difference.

But drama is in a different category all together. It did exist at the time of the apostles. The Greeks and the Romans both used it widely. Yet when Paul preached to Greeks, he didn't say, "Now Timothy and I will perform a play."

 

A dramatic moment, yes, but surely not drama in the sense of putting on an act? Peter was not pretending to be someone he wasn't (as actors and actresses do). Besides, wasn't the title of the thread "Using Drama in Worship"?

 

Did He? If you mean His parables, why did He use them? His disciples asked exactly that question, and we have both the question and His answer in Matthew 13.10-13:

10 And the disciples came and said to Him, "Why do You speak to them in parables?"
11 He answered and said to them, "Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.
12 "For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.
13 "Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.​

 

Mr. Lamb,

And hence, sometimes the mysteries of heaven can be released via forms of drama. Sometimes people see more clearly and hear to understand.

 

So I guess Jesus would have used this DVD huh? http://www.livingwaters.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=624

or what about the magic tricks Comfort uses.. like the curved illusion...

Jesus would have used those?

 

God has blessed us with technology that can be used for communicating the Gospel. I am all for that. We are using computers right now, something that has been used to disperse the Gospel in great ways. But to say that using drama is just another medium through which we can communicate the Gospel, like computers or DVD's is overlooking the fact that during Jesus' time there WAS drama. Yet we don't read about the APostles getting together for a dress rehearsal and praying 'O Father, Bless this performance and allow it to bring many to you.' We just don't see it in Scripture. Rather, they preached and God saw fit to bless their efforts and to bring many of his elect to faith.

 

Christianyouth, are you primitive Baptist?... if not, you would make a fine example of one...

 

I just googled them, they seem VERY biblical. Thank you for the advice, TT. :thumbs:

 

I hope you didn't think I was slurring you... our conversations over the last few days reminded me of some conversations I have had with Pinoy on here...

And He is PB...

From what I have read from you, I believe your beliefs line up pretty close to theirs...

:wavey:

 

I don't know about Christianyouth, but I'm not. (As far as I know, we don't have "Primitive Baptists" over here, though we do have Primitive Methodists - it was a Primitive Methodist chapel in my home town of Colchester where C. H. Spurgeon was converted). However, I agree with CY on this.

 

Most of scripture, both OT and NT is in a narrative, story telling form, with dramatic forms and elements, heroes and villians, protagonists and antagonists. Jesus' own illlustrative method of parables are all essentially dramatic elements. Responsive readings are participative role playing worship elements. Most sermon illustrations are really monologues.

Drama can a very effective aid in formal group worship services.

 

I read someone like Jeremiah, who often would "live out" object lessons that were pure truth from God Himself.

Drama in worship should be pointing to God's truth; it should never detract from the Gospel.

the way I see it: God used a donkey...I ain't gonna limit Him.

 

I wonder if "story telling" is the correct phrase here? Yes, there are stories in Scripture - I hesitate to use the word "fictional", as it might be taken to mean that I doubt the veracity of the Word of God. I am thinking of things like the time the Sadducees came to Jesus and told him about a women who had had seven husbands, one after the other. Yes, it is possible, but it seems more like a story they had made up to trap Jesus. The parables of Jesus clearly had a factual basis - shepherds did have sheep and lose them, people did hire workers in the market place, and so on. Jesus used such things to illustrate His teaching to those who believed in Him. But you say, "both OT and NT is in a narrative, story telling form." What story telling is involved in the 10 Commandments, in the account of the Exodus, in the accounts of the Saviour's crucifixion and resurrection? Surely they, and much more in Old and New Testaments alike, are accounts, not story telling.

I agree that there are "heroes" and "villains" in many of the bible accounts - the book of Esther is a good example of this. But to use that as a reason for having drama in worship is like saying, "All elephants have four legs. All tables have four legs. Therefore, an elephant is a table." Or in this case, "Dramatic performances have heroes and villains. The bible has heroes and villains. Therefore bible-based worship can or must include dramatic performances."

I cannot agree either that responsive readings involve role-play. Before my conversion, I had been brought up in the Church of England. The services were very liturgical, and included a section called "Versicles and Responses". The clergyman would say or sing the first part, and the rest of us would say or sing the second. I remember the first:

Clergyman: "O Lord, open Thou our lips".

The Rest: "And our mouths shall shew forth Thy praise".

Since my conversion, I have been in churches which sometimes used responsive readings. The pastor read verse 1, the rest verse two, the pastor verse three, and so on. But no idea of role-play.

As for sermon illustrations being monologues, true or not, where does that get us? A monologue just means that one person is speaking. Yes, it can be used in reference to the performing arts to mean a speech or a play involving a single actor, but its more generall meaning is wider than that. Anyway, if preaching becomes a "performance" in the same sense as a thetrical production, is it really biblical preaching?

 

We do know that the Apostle Paul quoted a line from a play in one of his epistles. Author of the line was Menander and the line was
1Co 15:33 Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.

 

True, and he also quoted poetry in Acts 17.28. However, quoting a line from a play or a poem is not the same as performing a play or reciting a poem.

 

No, but the mention of one line from a play in the New Testament sure lends credibility to the argument that Drama could legitimately play a part in Church Worship.

 

Puh-leeeze! I was going to read the entire thread before commenting, but I couldn't get past this wrestling match with the Scriptures (which, by the way, is typical of the Modern Worship movement). The most casual observer can see the difference between theatre and a real event and the absurdity in trying to link the two.

I checked no drama should be used in worship? Why? Two reasons.

1. Because drama is not a fruit or gift of the Spirit. The Spirit has given gifts for the edification of the church, and He divides the gifts to men severally as He will, and drama ain't among them.

2. God hates pride and exhibitionism (which is what people mean when they say "perform" and "entertain").

As to the discussion of Scriptural examples of the methods of the Early Chruch. . .Keep in mind that Theatre was a sophisticated and advanced art form in the 1st Century, and was highly esteemed by the Romans and the Greeks. If it were an acceptable tool for evangelism, there can be no doubt that there would be a record of either Christ or one of His apostles either engaging in the act or at the very least endorsing it.

But on the contrary, they shunned all these seemingly wise and powerful methods of communication. Why? Because God rejects them. Why? Because no flesh will glory in His Presence. (1 Cor. 1:29)

People forget that things like music and drama are natural talents*, not spiritual gifts. Anyone, saved or not, can excell in them if he works at it, and there are few art forms that appeal more to the natural man than these. These, more than any, should be checked in the worship of Christ.

*For an interesting discussion about musical talent itself, see the article, Musical Talent, Real or Myth? http://www.musica.uci.edu/mrn/V8I2S01.html