"That he might present It to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that It should be holy and without blemish- Eph.5:27
The Founder, Foundation, Head and Owner of the church is glorious, holy, spotless and healthy, therefore His body; the church must be holy, spotless and healthy. However, one of the ways to bring vitality and health to the church of Jesus Christ is drama evangelism and as such any drama that will bring growth, life, vitality and health to the church must do the following:
1. Soul-Winning
The most effective way to evangelize the unbeliever at this end-time is through Christian drama. Whenever and wherever an anointed and healthy Christian drama is presented, either on stage or in film, the hearts of sinners are touched. The drama message will expose the way of salvation to them and make them decide for Christ promptly. The sinners are able to see their lives being acted out live and this will make it easy for them to cry unto the Lord in repentance for the salvation of their souls. There is always massive turn-out of people at altar call for salvation after powerful and healthy drama ministration - Acts 2:37-38
2. Revivals:
The fire of revival is rekindled and ignited in the lives of believers through power-packed, revival-sparking and healthy drama messages in the church. The power of God through the drama is able to revive sleeping and lukewarm Christian from their spiritual slumber and lukewarmness into aggressive revival in the spirit and set them on fire for God. (lsa 57 :15; Eph. 5: 14-15).
3. Restoration:
With healthy and powerful drama ministrations in the church, a lot of carnal, backsliding and compromising Christians are restored back into the faith. Such people are able to see their spiritual state and how far the devil had made them to stray away from spiritual truth which had made them compromise with the world of sin. This realization will make them cry unto God for forgiveness and restoration.
There have been instances where the whole congregation burst into tears and cried for forgiveness while watching healthy drama messages in the church. (Lamentation 21; Psalm51:12).
4. Enlightenment and Escape:
Healthy church drama enlightens and opens the eyes and understanding of both believers and unbelievers to the cunning moves of the devil. They are able to see the secrets, plans and strategies of the devil, how he holds people in spiritual bondage and how they can be free from his grip. and oppression. (Ephesians 1: 18).
5. Teaching:
Healthy church drama helps to teach complex Christian truths and topics in simple, understandable and easily comprehensible way. For example, subjects or topics like holiness, hell, heaven, tithing, giving, curses, obedience etc. are being wonderfully handled through drama (II Timothy 3: 16).
Sometime ago, a Pastor in Iju-Ishaga area of Lagos invited us for drama ministration in his church after he had taught series of lectures on 'giving'. According to him he had even invited some word ministers to preach on the same topic, yet the way people gave in his church did not change. On the appointed day of drama, the lord inspired us to just minister a 20-minutes playlet on the need for giving and the consequence of not giving. Today, to the glory of God, the way people give in the church has changed positively.
There was also a church whose members were not going out for evangelism, but after watching a powerful drama message on the need for every believer to evangelize, their orientation changed and they have SI' Ice been going outtor evangelism en-masse.
6. Church Planting:
Healthy drama in the church has been helping the church in no small way in the area of church planting. Men of God who have embraced the concept of Christian drama have been giving glory to God for the wonderful effects it has had in their bid to plant branches of their church. Many do this by organizing open-air crusades that will feature stage drama and / or film shows. And it has been discovered that the number of souls won at altar-call are usually more on drama or film show day(s) than the day(s) of ordinary preaching.
Two reasons could however be adduced to this. One, drama or film shows has a magnetic force that draws people, because many love to watch or see things. Two, people see themselves and their lives in the drama or film practically and vividly acted out. Various testimonies of salvation of souls through film shows at crusades abound everywhere and this has made church planting easier.
7. Healing and Deliverance:
There are various instances of people being miraculously healed while watching healthy Christian drama in the church. So also a lot of people have testified of being delivered from demonic bondage and oppression while watching drama ministrations.
For example, a Sister was delivered from the oppression of spiritual husband in a church at Ebute-Meta, Lagos . While deliverance was being conducted on a Sister in one of the scenes of the drama we ministered in her church that day. According to her, as the Sister on the stage in the drama fell down, she too fell from her seat and while rolling on the floor, she saw a huge black creature came out of her and the Lord told her that the black creature was the spiritual husband oppressing and driving away prospective suitors from her.
So also, a lot of people have testified to being delivered while watching 'The Captives ofthe Mighty' - a film by The Mount Zion Faith Ministries, "Never Say Never" - a film by The Peacemakers and many have been delivered from under the yoke of curses after watching 'Unknown Curse' - a film by EVOM. (Isaiah 49:24-25).
8. Encouragement and Hope:
Healthy drama in the church helps to bring encouragement to those who are discouraged and down in the spirit and also brings hope to the hopeless.
We ministered in one Assemblies of God Church in Lagos one Sunday morning, and after the drama, a brother came to me and asked: 'Sir, do you think there is still hope for me?' 'Yes of course' I answered, though I didn't quite understand why he asked the question. He then went on to narrate the story of his life, which was exactly like the message of the drama we had just presented. He confessed that he had come to the church that day for the last time because he had made arrangement to travel to his home town in the East the following day to go and commit suicide since things had never been alright for him. Since his childhood. 1 prayed with him and handed him to the minister in-charge for more prayers and counseling. Few months later, I learnt he got a good job and his hopeless situation was turned around for good. ( Jeremiah 17:5; Colossians 1:27).
9. Supporting Pastors and Strengthening Churches:
Healthy Drama in the church has also been helping in divers' ways to support pastors in their messages and ministrations. A lot of pastors now use drama ministration in place of sermons during Sunder services and special programmes. Such pastors will just round-up the drama with a short message and prayers. Some have been engaging their Drama groups in 'Pre-sermon Drama'. And the resultant effects have been tremendous. Many ministers often refer to powerful drama or films they have watched to support, illustrate and drive home their messages while preaching. This has in turn helped the church to get the message clearly and has strengthened the members. (Ephesians 3:16).
10. Spiritual Preparedness:
When healthy drama messages that speak on the coming of the Lord are presented before the children of God, the consciousness of the fact that Christ's second coming is imminent is brought back to their memory, thereby making them spiritually healthy and prepared. (I Cor. 15:51-52).
* Evang. Adekusibe could be reached at peacedrama4god@yahoo.co.uk.
