Should Churches Be Movie Houses, Too?

Last updated on: January 30, 2015 at 12:55 pm by Paul Asay

Should Churches Be Movie Houses, Too? 2015-01-30T12:55:56-06:00 Paul Asay

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Have you heard of the movie Hoovey? Probably not, I’m guessing.

Hoovey is a little Christian flick directed by Sean McNamara (Soul Surfer) and starring some familiar actors (Cody Linley from Hannah Montana, Lauren Holly from NCIS and Motive, Patrick Warburton from the greatest car rental commercial of all time). It’s not a breakthrough in Christian cinema, but it is a sweet, competent story worth some attention—at least in Christian circles.

It opens Jan. 31, but it’s probably not playing at a theater near you. Distributed by Rick Santorum’s EchoLight studios, it’s screening only in what are called “EchoLight Cinemas,” otherwise known as churches. EchoLight’s website allows you to search for a screening within a 100-mile radius, and when I searched for Hoovey screenings around Colorado Springs, the search results came back with a big, fat zero. Oh, EchoLight has some participating churches in Colorado, apparently, including two in the Springs. But none are apparently showing EchoLight’s first 2015 release. While EchoLight says it has more than 500 churches on board, my understanding is that Hoovey may play in just a handful of them.

Patrick Warburton deserves more. And so does the movie.

EchoLight is trying something pretty new with this church-based distribution. It has already released two films—One Generation Away and Christmas Candle—through the network. And the concept of creating your own network of church-based theaters seems, at first glance, like a great idea. After all, it’s hard for Christian movies to get into secular movie theaters. There’s so much competition and, I’m sure, lots of politics in play. There are other potential avenues, but renting theaters through, say, Fathom Events can be quite expensive. A secular Hollywood production might spend as much on M&Ms as a Christian outfit would on an entire film, so a church-based distribution model might just be common sense—and good stewardship besides.

And churches can be decent venues for movies. Sure, they might not have an IMAX screen or cupholders, but many sanctuaries are tricked out with the latest audio and video bling, and they’ve all got plenty of seating. (I’ve been to a few churches that actually are movie theaters.) In addition, a built-in target audience shows up every Sunday, making it a perfect conduit for marketing and promotion—pitches from the pulpit, fliers in the restroom, casual word-of-mouth by the coffee machine.

But unlike movie theaters, churches have other demands for their space: Weddings. youth groups. actual church. They’re not going to set aside their sanctuary for a couple of weeks for any movie—not unless Elijah starred in it himself. And from what I can see, the churches have full discretion over when—and if—they show a movie at all. (One Dallas church won’t show Hoovey until March 27, for instance. Eight other “EchoLight Cinemas” in the Dallas area don’t have a premiere scheduled.)

And then there’s this ancillary issue: When you show movies in church, your audience is, naturally, going to be made up of church-goers. There’s little chance that someone who really needs to hear the message is going to stumble into the sanctuary by mistake. This is not to say that Christian movies playing in theaters draw scads of secularists, but we can at least see a demonstrated desire to reach out to the broader culture. Screening Christian movies in Christian churches seems the very definition of preaching to the choir.

Perhaps EchoLight’s model has more promise than I can see. I’d imagine it’s a new model, and it could be that some kinks need to be worked out—or, who knows, when the numbers trickle in, maybe everyone will be thrilled with how it’s working now. But from the outside, the model I see seems a bit flawed.

When Santorum took the reins at EchoLight, he talked about what a powerful conduit entertainment can be when it comes to shaping the culture. He told The Christian Post that Christians had “abandoned the playing field” of entertainment, and he was excited about running back onto the turf.

“We’ve not engaged in that battle and say, y’know, we want to compete for these ideas,” he told the Post. “We want to produce quality content. We want to influence the young people. We want to influence the country, instead of trying to protect our kids from the bad stuff that’s out there.”

Hoovey qualifies as quality content. But it’s hard to influence the culture much when the culture can’t see it.

Previous Post

January 28, 2015

Who's the Best Bond of Them All?

Next Post

February 2, 2015 Boyhood: Chasing After the Wind

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category books celebrities Editor's Choice games movies music news sports superheroes television Uncategorized

Select a Month May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 December 2025 October 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 September 2023 March 2023 February 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 December 2021 October 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 October 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What Christian group follows the Augsburg Confession?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Methodists Pentecostals Lutherans Presbyterians

Books by This Author Books by Paul Asay

See All Titles »