New Fox Unit to Produce Christian Films - Los Angeles Times

Fox knows Christians have money to spend. They wouldn't do this if they weren't fairly certain that Christians were willing to part with their money and this would be a profitable venture. Maybe it will be good for the proclamation of the Gospel if Christian themed films are mainstreamed into theaters. Some might say that is the case with Christian music. Fox's willingness to venture into this area shows the amount of discretionary cash Christians apparently have. Christians spend great sums in Christian book and music industry, now they are going to spend it on moveis too. Yet many churches and Christian ministries are out there struggling for cash. I wonder what it would take to get a piece of that large discretionary income pie. Certainly part of the issue is that many churches and ministries are struggling gain donations because they are largely ineffective and outmoded and the leadership doesn't recognize it. In other words, the donors do not perceive the charity as worthy of their dollar. Another issue is the benefit gained. Apparently there are a lot of Christians who believe that they will get a larger benefit to their life from going to a movie than from making a donation at church or other charity. (And if that movie was preceded by a romantic dinner and followed with gettin' lucky, then I see their point.) My guess is the biggest issue relates to the theological underpinnings they were taught regarding giving. Many churches are teaching tithing -- giving a straight 10% of one's gross or net income -- but also teaching that the other 90% is yours to live on and do whatever you want with. I'm not sure I agree with that second part. Most churches would be flush with cash if all their people tithed and that's their goal. I think they -- we -- need to be taught that it's 100% God's. I think he'd like to have a little more influence as to where both the 10% and 90% go. We just can't continue to spend more and more of our money on Christian movies, music, concerts, books, cruises, etc. and spend less and less on the eradication of world hunger and world evangelization.