Editor’s note: We recently posted a Leadership Weekly Q-and-A with a church leader who developed a children’s ministry program utilizing characters and concepts from the Harry Potter book series. At issue is the use of pop culture as a means of sharing the gospel. Given the inclusion of the young wizard, we expected to receive letters, and we did. Some focused on the witchcraft angle; most addressed the issue of culture and evangelism. (One suggests an open bar as a means of drawing a crowd to church!) Read on for a sampling we’re calling “Harry Potter and the Half-baked Rants.”
The idea of the Vanguard church using the popularity of Harry Potter as an opportunity to reach the community is an exciting one. … As a youth minister in the 70’s, we used Halloween barns with scary scenes as a part of the activities and no one thought a thing about it in our community. Just try one now and some [Christians] will release the attack dogs on you! Congratulations for making a difference by using culture and glorifying Christ.
Steve Randall
I understand the idea of being culturally relevant. My question is what did they see as results? Did they do follow-up? Were there conversions? Are folks still coming? Just wondering what the long-term influence is.
B. Neuen
I lead a five-day church camp in our conference for fifth and sixth graders. This was our third year and it is an AWESOME experience! The name of the camp is “Disciples or Muggles?” The Harry Potter books really lend themselves to good vs. evil and we are able to do so much with the theme and discipleship. We have averaged 60 kids each year!
Teri Johnson Brookings, South Dakota
I am a youth minister. We have also done outreaches that minister “through” this culture. …but where is the line drawn? The means does not always justify the end! I wonder … what cost will these kids who were introduced to Christ through Harry Potter incur? Did we send the unconscious message that Jesus and Scripture are not “cool” enough to be spoken of directly, so we must drape it in the context of wizardry and magic? The difference between the bride of Christ and the world apparently diminishes every day.
P. Shannon
What a shame that Christians have to resort to fooling children into coming to VBS by making it seem like a movie or book in popular culture. …Too many times, the church sells out and tries to appeal to the world using the world’s temptations and wrapping them up in “Christian” packages. This is wrong. It doesn’t really matter if this was popular or not—what does matter is that the Potter VBS program was using as its “Bible” the Harry Potter books. This is heresy, plain and simple.
Tom Collins Omaha, Nebraska
I am very much in support of the use of popular culture to draw people to Christ. When the Harry Potter books began I was on a mission to condemn the books, until a child asked me if I had read the book. Now, I feel very different.
As Christians we can be very judgmental about what the world has to offer. Christ taught us to that we are to live in the world, just not be of the world. Finding ways to bring people to Christ through everyday living sometimes we need to get dirty and dig deep for His message even in a Harry Potter book.
Cindy Dean
With regard to the use of “pop-culture” I find it interesting that there is available a myriad of Christian books on Lord of the Rings, Simpson’s and even Charlie Brown and yet it is Harry Potter causing the stir. Don’t we, the corporatised western church, have a great knack of finding the needle in the needle stack and then pretending it is the only needle of consequence?
It is not simply “using pop culture” that is an issue; it is that contemporary churches want to be the “church of society” far more than to be the church of Jesus Christ. You see the church of society is an acceptable organisation but the church of Jesus Christ is an affront to the spirit of this age. …The theologian Jurgen Moltmann highlights in his book The Crucified God three types of churches: the conservative church shaped by tradition, the contemporary church shaped by adaptation, and the church of Jesus Christ shaped by the cross.
My position is this; it matters little whether we use Harry Potter or Charlie Brown to connect with our community. Charlie Brown is no more Christian than Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, or The Simpsons. Are we to simply choose the lesser of two evils or are we to stand in contradistinction to the world in which we live?
Michael Fewson Perth, Australia
I want to say that if all Christians took the attitude of Vanguard, evangelism would be much easier. Jesus taught by using the same language of His day and compared/made analogies using what was “popular” when he walked the earth to bring his message to people of THAT time, why shouldn’t we do the same.
Pam in St. Petersburg, Florida
I bet we could get a lot of people in our church to tell them about Jesus if we had an open bar for all after the service. We could stamp their hands so we would know who stayed for the service. The ends do not justify the means.
Lamar A. Black Hampton, Virginia
Wasn’t there a guy named Jesus years ago who used things that were going on in culture to spread the gospel? The religious, legalistic people of his day had issues with that, too. He was constantly “out of the box” for them and they fought Him all the way to the Cross and the grave. But as I recall, that method seemed to work pretty well, didn’t it?
Mike Willis Babson Park, Florida
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