First of all, it’s an honor to be sharing internet real estate with Steve, who is probably one of the primary influences responsible for sending me down the road of using my gifts to serve in the ministry. He was gracious enough to sit down for a few coffee visits while I was directing theatre in Chicago and gave me insight and direction on how I might go about pursuing a career in using my gifts in the church.

And like Steve, I have a huge passion for theatre in the church. (sorry, Steve, can’t say “drama” – it’s a word choice that inadvertently removes comedy from the conversation, and you know me, I loves me some comedy!) And I have seen a decline in the church for the typical “kitchen-sink realism” theatre sketch performed by actors onstage. I have a couple of theories too that I thought I’d try out on you. Let me know what you think.

First of all, I agree with Steve in terms of training. There are just not that many theatre-trained professionals who are ennobled to lead teams at their churches. Those who are want to with the best that they have, and that is sometimes good, but sometimes not so much.

But another factor that I find is that pastors in general are getting more creative. I know, crazy, right? But it’s true: some of them have actually figured out that they are artists too, and instead of sticking to “preaching today” dot com, they are finding inspiration for themselves on YouTube, on WorshipHouse Media. And many times they are crafting messages that move in and out of videos that they have found on their own, be it movie clips or parody videos (even ones, that are, eek! …made by other churches!), and so the need for a five to eight minute pre-message sketch becomes somewhat less, as the flow of the service is already moving in and out of great storytelling through video.

The appeal of multisite for churches is also a major factor. As our church went multisite, we maintained our theatre team, and scheduled actors in the same sketch for the same weekend at multiple locations. For us, our breaking point for both quality and availability of actors seemed to be at around 5 locations. Now we have nine locations across Chicagoland, and most of our original content that could be qualified as a sketch takes place on video. We have worked really hard to staff not only great video editors, but also great storytellers who can write a great sketch and also map out what production elements are needed to make a great sketch come alive on video.

But we also did another thing: We started a theatre company! We found that as our need for actors on the weekends diminished, we had a group of artists looking for a home. We founded Epic Theatre Company and began selecting established plays and musicals as well as creating shows on our own. We asked actors to sign up for a year-long contract to dedicate their serving time to the theatre company, and the company exploded! We found too, that full-length productions were some of the best ways to train actors – that many of our untrained actors were able to reach their fullest potential by virtue of having the extensive full-length show experience. And a great side benefit to your church is that now there is another “front-door” experience that may be the first time a pre-Christian enters your church doors. We’ve already had great success with attenders inviting their neighbors to our productions, and then following them into one of our church services.

However you do it, whatever the tools are, Steve’s right – story-telling is the main thing. And yes, actors and the scripts they bring to life have a place in the church. Each church, that has a passion for the arts, needs to closely examine their own setting to determine the best use for such artists and tools, so that many more will come to know Him as a result.

Eric Bramlett
Creative Arts Director
Community Christian Church
Naperville, IL

Eric Bramlett is the Creative Arts Director for Community Christian Church in Naperville, IL, and has been since 1996. Community Christian Church is a multisite church with locations across Chicagoland and affiliates across the country through the NewThing Network. At Community Christian Church, Eric is responsible for overseeing all large-group experiences from artistic vision through production, for adults, students and kids, and anything else he can think of overseeing. Eric co-authored the book “The Big Idea” with Jon and Dave Ferguson. In addition to his work at Community, Eric has written and staged creative content for NewThing Network, the Exponential Conference, and the Willow Creek Association. Eric’s background is in the professional theatre, with degrees in acting and directing. He has continued to be involved in the Chicago Theatre scene, most notably as an Artistic Associate for Porchlight Music Theatre Chicago, a theatre company he has been involved with since its inception in 1995. Eric loves his wife Kristi and their three kids, Sadie, Dillon and Anna. Eric twitters under the stage name “billshazzar.” If you don’t know what that means, Eric can’t help you.