PREACHING BY FILM

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 533, 10 December 1928, Page 14

PREACHING BY FILM

CINEMA AND THE CHURCH REV. SCRIMGEOUR’S INNOVATION Beginning next Sunday the Rev. C. G. Scrimgeour, Methodist City Missioner, will hold his Sunday evening services in the Strand Theatre. Motion pictures will be shown, the first being “The Kfng of Kings.” Mr. Scrimgeour will take the picture in -sections and will talk on the life of follow" ° ther rel i£ious pictures will * n his sermon on "The Church and the cinema, last evening Mr. Scrimgeour saicl that the day was not far distant when the cinema would be used n ? ore ' videl >' for religious instruction than the text-book. "Some people say that the introduction ot motion-pictures into the church means cheapening a sacred service,” th e missioner remarked. "That depends entirely upon the way in which they are introduced. Some preachers have cheapened the pulpit, but that is no argument for abolishing preachers. The church exists for the service of the community, and when the community ceases to avail itself of that service it is time we asked ourselves why. TEACHING THE YOUNG "There is a good deal of truth in the assertion that we are not reaching the young people of this age, but I refuse to believe that this is because the young people of to-day are pleasure-mad and irreligious. Recent notable young people’s movements, such as the Student Christian Movement, do not grow out of a generation of senseless flappers and light-headed hooligans. Young people the world over are seeking reverently and perhaps independently to solve their problems along the lines of Christ s teaching, and I will defy any reasonable person to say that the young people of this age are not holding thenown in business, industry, education or politics. The church, hampered by age-old machinery, seems to be firmly anchored to ideas of a past decade and stands rigid against any change in her system of worship—hymns, a prayer, a sermon and a collection. The church to me is the highest form of business. It is my Father’s business. It caters for the greatest needs of humanity, the moral and spiritual up-lift, and yet the church very often lacks ordinary business acumen. REORGANISATION OF CHURCH "Any business in the world that finds its product is not meeting the demand should be prepared to spend thousands of pounds in reorganisation, yet the church shudders at any change whatever. I have run pictures on week nights at the mission for two years and now I intend to use religious films, such as "The King of Kings,” for the purpose of religious instruction on Sunday evenings. I am doing this because the present system does not return sufficient results for the time and energy expended. "I see no reason why the theatre should hold a monopoly over the motion picture any more than it should over music. The sooner we take an intelligent interest in this great art, which will one day be the most popular form of education, the better it will be for the church. The objection that films are produced for commercial gain does not concern me at all. The publishers of Bibles and hymn books are just as capable of commercial keenness as are the film producers.”