I just read an article that summarises perfectly the importance of using references to movies, songs and culture in our evangelism. It talks about how God’s redemptive story turns up again and again in movies and songs, and how using these references is especially effective in building bridges with unchurched people as these films and songs use their language and they are familiar with them. It reminded me of a similar strategy used by Campus Crusade for Christ in Eastern Europe called Story of the Soul. David Henderson, who pioneered Story of the Soul said that every song or movie or piece of art is talking either about a desire that needs to be fulfilled or a hurt that needs to be healed.

This is also something of what we are trying to do at the moment in Hong Kong. We are starting in developing tools to start evangelistic conversations, like the article says, we have good tools that do a pretty good job of “sealing the deal” but we are running up against more and more difficulties in making connections with students, especially those who don’t have a church background. That is why we are working on tools like short films, and other story-based ideas to initiate conversations with students.