Throughout the history of humanity, DRAMA has remained a very powerful and effective tool of communication .it is the celebration of life .

In its communication function ,it has always remained a reflection of events, a recapitulation and promotion of cultures ; an appraisal of socio-political climates , a critique of religions ,a comparison of characters [and temperaments] ,an x-raying mirror of family/domestic affairs ,a panorama showcasing trends of developments across the globe ,a critical tation of values as lived by people in different societies ,a call on people unto consciousness and involvement, a discussion of ideologies and philosophies ,and many more intentions and purpose behind the mind of the playwright which the directors labours to realize through the actors and actress.

In addition ,DRAMA/MOVIE equally [and in most cases] serves the purposes of recreation and relaxation, indeed entertainment incidentally, this is where most viewers stop ,so even when a piece of drama is loaded with any of these other life celebrating aspects, they are completely [or partly] relegated to the background ,This ,of course is as a result of lack of perspicacity and therefore of their uncritical involvement in watching the piece of drama or movies as it unfolds.

The situation is more serious in the case of the Nigerian home movies surging out from the movie industry and spreading out with the quickness of an epidemic to meet the already and daily increasing waiting consumers .Here ,only what meets the eye and the amount of entertainment derived are the only things that matters. Regarding this we observes that:

At times people are so carried by the entertaining dimension of  the movies they watch that the values ,lessons and messages the movie is meant to convey slip-off without being properly grasped”

1.To the necessary question as to what movies are, a practitioner explains thus: Movies are stories of human experience told with the aid of the moving images or pictures .Movie could focus their central theme on a sad human experience, or a happy event, or a mixture of the two ,or a neutral human experience ,or on a comic side of life .In all these ,the moviemaker is always at pains in bringing the message he intends to portray.

2.In purpose, DRAMA and MOVIE are the same thing except that in DRAMA what is performed  on stage is thereafter left at the mercy of human memory, while still existing in books that would ordinary take long hours and days to read. In movies, actions are technically loaded and permanently saved in microwave audio visual records that can be most comfortably kept in homes in hundreds and thousands and each viewed within a few hours.P .T Burns describes movies as …. A photographic projection of continous still images .In contrast to chronophotography ,it is a technical device for achieving the illusion of motion by photographic means .

3.At this point ,we need to add that the Nigeria Moviemaker is fully aware of the sway the sense of sight exercise on the people of our time ,load embellish their movie productions with an endless myriads of things that can most easily catch and entertain the eye in a spell of fantasies .The elaborate explanation of A .practitioners about this development cannot be overlooked.

More than ever before ,the people of our time are increasingly focusing their attention on what the sense of sight comprehends and delights in. the culture of listening and the field of acquisition of knowledge is being speedily replaced by the alluring culture of gazing ,of watching and of feeding the eyes with pictures and images ,For the people of our time too, what they see appeals and makes more meaning to them than what they now observes through any of the other four key external senses of cognition .One only needs to visit the cyber cafes and internet providing business centers town to get a blue print of how attractive knowledge can be when packaged and made accessible by mere gazing on the screen ,on the home scene ,the television –set gets people glued to it to the point of unconscious addition .

4.This situation holds out serious dangers not only for adults ,but more especially for youths and little children who in their undiscerning and unsuspecting disposition sit before the screen to feast their eyes [even side by side with their parents] for hours are unending .In this way a lot of injurious and deadly pills including pornography, sex culture ,immodest dressing ,gun shooting syndrome sagacious discussions and slangs[seeming] triumph fetishism ,the consultation of oracles and shrines and many more have unavoidably become the daily heavy doeses of little and uncritical ,however sometimes most defectively reflected in the Nigeria Home Movies.

Now ,in the name of church that ought to be the conscience of the evil society ,we stand out to show out unaffected solicitude in and through a spiritual touch to the whole situation ,a spiritual approach that must however remain necessarily critical to achieve its intended purpose .

Since it is true that there is more to life and more to every movie than what the eye can see ,what spiritual distilling methods /postures can we adopt and deeply apply to see that the values and lessons communicated in and through such movies would be actually be critically grasped and hence shield ourselves and our children form swallowing hook, line and sinker movies based on what meets the eye? Can anyone validly deny that the huge moral collapse in our children of today ,in homes and In schools is unconnected with what the eyes feeds into the mind via these movies ! What are we Christians doing using the same effective and strong tool of social communication ,[the movie outfit] to drive home Christian messages, lessons and values ? Can the Nigerian Home Movie Industry [NHMI] and the Church have any meeting point in collaborative mission ?

These and related questions informed by a sound Christian spiritual consciousness vis-à-vis the activities of the Nigerian Home Movie Industry must continue to agitate and challenge our minds as we continue to respond to this phenomenon in subsequent editions of this timely magazine.          

          With this kind of shabby preparations in the Christian drama ministries, tangible growth which will have real impact on churches worldwide  will be delayed.  There’s a desperate need for trained individuals who have visions for what drama should be like in the church.  We need people who are willing to invest quality time and energy into producing powerful life transforming drama messages. 

In addition to the above listed factors that makes a good Christian drama message, the following points are very essential.9.       A good drama message should be well-written.  If you want to learn more about this, we have some good Christian drama tutorials and colleges around. Also there are helpful books in libraries written by well-known playwright which you can learn from.10.     A good drama message is well acted and well produced.  If your church drama group or ministry lack skills in this area then go for training.  Disciples institute of christian Drama  will effectively help to bring out the potentials in you for God’s use.11.     A good drama message aims for excellence.12.             A good Christian drama message should not aim at entertainment but soul winning and revival of the body of Christ.     

JESUS film EVANGELISM

 Millions of people all over the world have not yet gotten over the reverberating effect of Mel Gibson’s PASSION OF THE CHRIST a  controversial film that has achieved and unbelievable feat in the Hollywood.          Stakeholders at Hollywood have never seen anything like that before.  They were caught unawares by the unusual outstanding success of the film they all rejected when Mel Gibson was looking around for helpers and financial partners to share the burden with.          Several film studios turned down his request, whenever they knew it was a Jesus film.  They wanted an action film; they did not want to risk their investment.  When there was nowhere to turn to for sponsorship, he looked inward, put his fate in his own hands and dipped his hands into his own account to finance the film on his own.  And that was against Hollywood’s normal rule.  To play safe, some investors must always finance a film, but Mel Gibson found none to join him to do a film for Jesus.          Driven mad by this vision of doing something for Jesus during his career as a Hollywood Mega-star, he laid down his savings, 30 million U.S dollars to make the film.          In Hollywood, 30 million U.S dollars was such a little money for the type of great movies he intended to make.  First, because that amount was not even enough to pay most of the Hollywood super stars who could command much viewers if they were cast in the film.          Therefore, the film would end-up being a low budget film without stars.  Also, it would lack many pre-production and post-production elaborate funfair and publicity gimmicks peculiar to many big budget Hollywood films.          Committing his savings and financing the production of the movie alone on his own was a  big risk, for if it failed and people refused to watch the film, he would go bankrupt and it would take a very long time to recover financially, besides the damaging effect of the production failure would have on his reputation as mega-star and a reputable director.So, everything was a risk.          However, Mel Gibson saw the film project more as ministering to souls than as business.          Operating on a low budget, he kept stars away from the film and instead, by the help of God, went after unpopular faces.  Apart from this, the Lord Jesus he was seeking to glorify raised for him dedicated and faithful crew-members that had skilful hands in Camera works, Lighting and Imaging, Make-up and Costuming, including set designing and special effects.          They were all experienced Hollywood crew, but with a heart to share Mel Gibson visions of making a Jesus film.          The various strange experiences on the film location were what confirmed to both the cast and crew members that they were really making a glorious and uncommon movie for Jesus Christ.          Jim Caviezel, the actor who played the role of Jesus suffered a lot of pain on set.  In an interview with a newspaper, he said, the physical pains of the production forced him into a deeper place in God.  He said “The suffering is the glory”          While hanging on the cross during the shooting of the film, he was struck by lighting, which left his hairs standing straight on him.  He spent many days nearly naked on a cross in bonchilling weather, while everyone else dressed in thick clothes.          While watching the film, during the torturing sequence, the arms of Jesus were spread and tied to the bar of the cross.  Then I watched the cross tip over and the heavy wood fell on Jesus.          I squirmed in fright   And eventually, I thought it must have been a visual effect, that the director would never have allowed that on set.  It was later when I began to read about the movie that I got to discover that, that visual actually happened without any camouflaging effect.  Mel Gibson, the director, actually allowed that 150 ibs heavy wood to fall on Jim Caviezel and his shoulder was broken while the camera kept rolling none-stop.  An assistant director was also hit by lighting during the filming.          Then, Mel Gibson, the director and producer of the movie, who was a Hollywood Mega-star on his own right, and had played lead role in many blockbuster movies like: :The man without a face” (1993), “Brave heart” (1995), “Play back” (1999) for which he won two Oscar Awards, actually did not count himself fit to play any minor or lead role in this Jesus film.  But, do you know the very significant role he played?  If you watch the movie, you will discover that the hands that actually placed the nail on Jesus’ hand and hit it into the wood were taken on close-up, the face of the man was not shown.  That’s it.  That was his only role in the movie.  It was Mel Gibson’s hands that nailed Christ to the cross during the crucifixion scene.  He decided to take that decision saying:  “It was me who put him to the cross.  It was my sins that put him there”.          Can you see that those people who made the film:“Passion of the Christ” knew what they were doing?  They were not only acting with their head but also acting with their hearts.  Their spirit was in what they were doing.  They sacrificed a lot to bring the film out.          I believe the Lord blocked off every financial support from Mel Gibson, so that he could rely on Him alone for the success of the movie.          Secondly, if paramount Picture, Universal Studios, Twentieth Century Fox or any of those Hollywood film companies had taken over the production from Mel Gibson, it would not be what it is today.          They all turned him back; they never believed any commercial success could come out of the film made on Jesus Christ.  So Mel Gibson was left-to seek for God’s help and work on the little money he had.  If the big film, companies had accepted to had finance the film, they would have gone ahead to look for star-actors like Tom Hanks, Nicholas Cage or Brad Pitt. Whose pride of their mega-status would have watered down the anointing of the Lord on the movie.          All the cast were all uncommon faces and the film was one of the low-budget major movies in Hollywood, so, all the glory might be to the Lord.  That’s a big lesson to us in Nigeria,  as we prepare for a great evangelical revolution in the film ministry, you do not need to know any popular faces in an evangelical film to make it have a strong impact in the lives of people.  What you need is the vision, the dedication and the presence of God in the production.          Once you intend to make a Christian film that would glorify the Lord, then you had better hand it over to God and allow Him to give you both the message and the messengers.  He would anoint whoever He has chosen.  REACTIONSOn Ash Wednesday, 25th February, 2004, the day the film was publicly released, it was shown all across the United State, Australia, New Zealand and Canada.          And in both U.S. and Canada, it was shown on about 4,700 screens and in over 3,000 theatres with these halls being crowded with anxious audience.          Churches were mobilizing themselves to go and watch the movie.  They were buying tickets enbloc for their congregations and were even buying tickets for non-church goers, using that as an opportunity to win more souls for Christ.          There were instances of people buying booklets of tickets to give to interested people inviting them to come and watch the movie.There was the story of a man who, after watching the movie, rushed to the police station to confess the crime he had denied about ten years earlier.  He had reported that his girl friend committed suicide.  The police had visited the scene of the crime, and after a long investigation had been satisfied that he couldn’t have murdered the lady.However, after watching this heavy movie, he couldn’t live any longer without facing the penalty of his own sin, he went to confess to the police.  The police were amazed and asked to know why he suddenly came to confess after about ten years of the crime.  He told them, he had watched the movie, :The Passion of the Christ” and did not want to go to hell.Can you see the awful impact of an evangelical dramatization?  Can you see how powerful this weapon is in the hand of God?Having gone through this article visit or call DISCIPLES Drama & film Ministries today  for powerful and uplifting drama messages of revival and reconciliation for your church programmes and activities.  As you take this bold step of faith, there shall be a rewarding and positive impact in your church and ministry. “This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God’s people (unbelievers and believers) but also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God”  II Cor. 9:12 (Niv) Yes!  I want to help spread God’s word across the nation by supporting Disciples Drama And Film Ministries Int’l. Please Print Clearly Name……………………………………………….  Title:………………………Address:…………………………………………………………………………..……………………………………………………………………………………..Postage:……………………………………………………………………………Tel: (Home) ………………  (Work) ……………. (Mobile)…………………….E-mail:………………………………………………………………………………I want to support the ministry today’s only           N………………………………..I want to support the ministry weekly only          N………………………………..I want to support the ministry monthly only          N………………………………..I want to support the ministry quarterly only          N………………………………..I want to support the ministry annually only          N……………………………….. I would like to pay by cash          Cheque          Bank Draft             Direct Deposit SlipIn favour of DISCIPLES EVANGELICAL DRAMA GROUPPostage Stamps (Postal Order Not Accepted)Send this form with your donation to THE PRESIDENTDISCIPLES DRAMA AND FILMS MINISTRIES INT’LP. O. Box 9939 IKEJA Lagos State, Nigeria.TEL :234-1-8919614, 234-1-7415217E:MAIL :disciplesdramafilm@yahoo.com

Throughout the history of humanity, DRAMA has remained a very powerful and effective tool of communication .it is the celebration of life .

In its communication function ,it has always remained a reflection of events, a recapitulation and promotion of cultures ; an appraisal of socio-political climates , a critique of religions ,a comparison of characters [and temperaments] ,an x-raying mirror of family/domestic affairs ,a panorama showcasing trends of developments across the globe ,a critical tation of values as lived by people in different societies ,a call on people unto consciousness and involvement, a discussion of ideologies and philosophies ,and many more intentions and purpose behind the mind of the playwright which the directors labours to realize through the actors and actress.

In addition ,DRAMA/MOVIE equally [and in most cases] serves the purposes of recreation and relaxation, indeed entertainment incidentally, this is where most viewers stop ,so even when a piece of drama is loaded with any of these other life celebrating aspects, they are completely [or partly] relegated to the background ,This ,of course is as a result of lack of perspicacity and therefore of their uncritical involvement in watching the piece of drama or movies as it unfolds.

The situation is more serious in the case of the Nigerian home movies surging out from the movie industry and spreading out with the quickness of an epidemic to meet the already and daily increasing waiting consumers .Here ,only what meets the eye and the amount of entertainment derived are the only things that matters. Regarding this we observes that:

At times people are so carried by the entertaining dimension of  the movies they watch that the values ,lessons and messages the movie is meant to convey slip-off without being properly grasped”

1.To the necessary question as to what movies are, a practitioner explains thus: Movies are stories of human experience told with the aid of the moving images or pictures .Movie could focus their central theme on a sad human experience, or a happy event, or a mixture of the two ,or a neutral human experience ,or on a comic side of life .In all these ,the moviemaker is always at pains in bringing the message he intends to portray.

2.In purpose, DRAMA and MOVIE are the same thing except that in DRAMA what is performed  on stage is thereafter left at the mercy of human memory, while still existing in books that would ordinary take long hours and days to read. In movies, actions are technically loaded and permanently saved in microwave audio visual records that can be most comfortably kept in homes in hundreds and thousands and each viewed within a few hours.P .T Burns describes movies as …. A photographic projection of continous still images .In contrast to chronophotography ,it is a technical device for achieving the illusion of motion by photographic means .

3.At this point ,we need to add that the Nigeria Moviemaker is fully aware of the sway the sense of sight exercise on the people of our time ,load embellish their movie productions with an endless myriads of things that can most easily catch and entertain the eye in a spell of fantasies .The elaborate explanation of A .practitioners about this development cannot be overlooked.

More than ever before ,the people of our time are increasingly focusing their attention on what the sense of sight comprehends and delights in. the culture of listening and the field of acquisition of knowledge is being speedily replaced by the alluring culture of gazing ,of watching and of feeding the eyes with pictures and images ,For the people of our time too, what they see appeals and makes more meaning to them than what they now observes through any of the other four key external senses of cognition .One only needs to visit the cyber cafes and internet providing business centers town to get a blue print of how attractive knowledge can be when packaged and made accessible by mere gazing on the screen ,on the home scene ,the television –set gets people glued to it to the point of unconscious addition .

4.This situation holds out serious dangers not only for adults ,but more especially for youths and little children who in their undiscerning and unsuspecting disposition sit before the screen to feast their eyes [even side by side with their parents] for hours are unending .In this way a lot of injurious and deadly pills including pornography, sex culture ,immodest dressing ,gun shooting syndrome sagacious discussions and slangs[seeming] triumph fetishism ,the consultation of oracles and shrines and many more have unavoidably become the daily heavy doeses of little and uncritical ,however sometimes most defectively reflected in the Nigeria Home Movies.

Now ,in the name of church that ought to be the conscience of the evil society ,we stand out to show out unaffected solicitude in and through a spiritual touch to the whole situation ,a spiritual approach that must however remain necessarily critical to achieve its intended purpose .

Since it is true that there is more to life and more to every movie than what the eye can see ,what spiritual distilling methods /postures can we adopt and deeply apply to see that the values and lessons communicated in and through such movies would be actually be critically grasped and hence shield ourselves and our children form swallowing hook, line and sinker movies based on what meets the eye? Can anyone validly deny that the huge moral collapse in our children of today ,in homes and In schools is unconnected with what the eyes feeds into the mind via these movies ! What are we Christians doing using the same effective and strong tool of social communication ,[the movie outfit] to drive home Christian messages, lessons and values ? Can the Nigerian Home Movie Industry [NHMI] and the Church have any meeting point in collaborative mission ?

These and related questions informed by a sound Christian spiritual consciousness vis-à-vis the activities of the Nigerian Home Movie Industry must continue to agitate and challenge our minds as we continue to respond to this phenomenon in subsequent editions of this timely magazine.          

This is just about the hardest question to answer in the world of Christian drama. It is not make any easier by the fact that different religions and beliefs have different perspectives and approach to it.
Nevertheless, there are things that are true, regardless of the tongues, tribe or nations. Let me start by looking at the nature and purpose of drama.
Drama is theatre. This is where most Christian drama ministries/group go wrong. Drama is not sermon.
However, this does not mean it can not contain a message. But it does affect the way the message is passed across to the audience.
So what do I mean by “Drama is theatre”? Drama is dramatic; it portrays the human condition such that it identifies with what is going on. Let me also say that drama is all about the human condition, with it’s failure, triumphs, weakness, glories, tragic time and it’s hilarity.
This is why the Bible is so dramatic in nature that it reveals the human condition in all its starkness God is very dramatic: Consider the burning bush, the opening of the Red Sea, the Pillar of Fire, the Holy Spirit as a flame, the Crucifixion of Jesus. How much more, dramatic can one get? God is not a dramatist just for the sake of effect. What he does is to get our attention, so as to prepare us for the message that follows in order to make the message more understood. Sometimes that message is very subtle (Like the word to Elijah in the quiet breath of wind).
Sometime a panorama that fills the skies (as did the angel at the birth of Jesus), sometimes it’s very funny (as was the behavious of Balaam’s ass or in the parable of the log of wood in the eye), sometimes it calls for a great sacrifice (as with Hosea’s marriage to a woman he knew would go and prostitute herself). Most of the messages were not particularly clear at that time (that is, many of Jesus parables) it was only after they were understood.
What can we apply to our drama from this?
1. Work on people’s emotions.
2. Explore the full breadth of the human condition.
3. Let your audience see the reality in what you are dramatizing, making use of costumes, make-ups and properties on stage or set.
4. Don’t try to resolve the issue every time; do not strive for neat endings.
5. Consider different ways of approaching the subject; don’t always go head on.
6. You are not on stage or set to preach a sermon rather, you are there to minister through drama.
7. Don‘t forget to find out whether you are reaching out to the audience i.e. getting feedbacks. Listen with open ears when acting and don’t be afraid to let our preconception be challenged.
8. Note: The essence of drama is tension. It can be comic tension or dramatic tension. You could almost say that without tension, there is no drama, and sadly most Christian drama messages suffers from this. In other-words characters are wooden, the situation has little relevance to everyday life outside the church, the dialogue is filled with Christian jargons, there is no art, and no sense of real encounter.
Because of this, Christians drama has ruined it’s reputation over the years. Hence, it is not taken seriously by the circular world of theatre.
With this kind of shabby preparations in the Christian drama ministries, tangible growth which will have real impact on churches worldwide will be delayed. There’s a desperate need for trained individuals who have visions for what drama should be like in the church. We need people who are willing to invest quality time and energy into producing powerful life transforming drama messages.
In addition to the above listed factors that makes a good Christian drama message, the following points are very essential.
9. A good drama message should be well-written. If you want to learn more about this, we have some good Christian drama tutorials and colleges around. Also there are helpful books in libraries written by well-known playwright which you can learn from.
10. A good drama message is well acted and well produced. If your church drama group or ministry lack skills in this area then go for training. Disciples institute of christian Drama will effectively help to bring out the potentials in you for God’s use.
11. A good drama message aims for excellence.
12. A good Christian drama message should not aim at entertainment but soul winning and revival of the body of Christ.

JESUS film EVANGELISM

Millions of people all over the world have not yet gotten over the reverberating effect of Mel Gibson’s PASSION OF THE CHRIST a controversial film that has achieved and unbelievable feat in the Hollywood.
Stakeholders at Hollywood have never seen anything like that before. They were caught unawares by the unusual outstanding success of the film they all rejected when Mel Gibson was looking around for helpers and financial partners to share the burden with.
Several film studios turned down his request, whenever they knew it was a Jesus film. They wanted an action film; they did not want to risk their investment. When there was nowhere to turn to for sponsorship, he looked inward, put his fate in his own hands and dipped his hands into his own account to finance the film on his own. And that was against Hollywood’s normal rule. To play safe, some investors must always finance a film, but Mel Gibson found none to join him to do a film for Jesus.
Driven mad by this vision of doing something for Jesus during his career as a Hollywood Mega-star, he laid down his savings, 30 million U.S dollars to make the film.
In Hollywood, 30 million U.S dollars was such a little money for the type of great movies he intended to make. First, because that amount was not even enough to pay most of the Hollywood super stars who could command much viewers if they were cast in the film.
Therefore, the film would end-up being a low budget film without stars. Also, it would lack many pre-production and post-production elaborate funfair and publicity gimmicks peculiar to many big budget Hollywood films.
Committing his savings and financing the production of the movie alone on his own was a big risk, for if it failed and people refused to watch the film, he would go bankrupt and it would take a very long time to recover financially, besides the damaging effect of the production failure would have on his reputation as mega-star and a reputable director.
So, everything was a risk.
However, Mel Gibson saw the film project more as ministering to souls than as business.
Operating on a low budget, he kept stars away from the film and instead, by the help of God, went after unpopular faces. Apart from this, the Lord Jesus he was seeking to glorify raised for him dedicated and faithful crew-members that had skilful hands in Camera works, Lighting and Imaging, Make-up and Costuming, including set designing and special effects.
They were all experienced Hollywood crew, but with a heart to share Mel Gibson visions of making a Jesus film.
The various strange experiences on the film location were what confirmed to both the cast and crew members that they were really making a glorious and uncommon movie for Jesus Christ.
Jim Caviezel, the actor who played the role of Jesus suffered a lot of pain on set. In an interview with a newspaper, he said, the physical pains of the production forced him into a deeper place in God. He said “The suffering is the glory” While hanging on the cross during the shooting of the film, he was struck by lighting, which left his hairs standing straight on him. He spent many days nearly naked on a cross in bonchilling weather, while everyone else dressed in thick clothes.
While watching the film, during the torturing sequence, the arms of Jesus were spread and tied to the bar of the cross. Then I watched the cross tip over and the heavy wood fell on Jesus.
I squirmed in fright And eventually, I thought it must have been a visual effect, that the director would never have allowed that on set. It was later when I began to read about the movie that I got to discover that, that visual actually happened without any camouflaging effect. Mel Gibson, the director, actually allowed that 150 ibs heavy wood to fall on Jim Caviezel and his shoulder was broken while the camera kept rolling none-stop.
An assistant director was also hit by lighting during the filming.
Then, Mel Gibson, the director and producer of the movie, who was a Hollywood Mega-star on his own right, and had played lead role in many blockbuster movies like: :The man without a face” (1993), “Brave heart” (1995), “Play back” (1999) for which he won two Oscar Awards, actually did not count himself fit to play any minor or lead role in this Jesus film. But, do you know the very significant role he played? If you watch the movie, you will discover that the hands that actually placed the nail on Jesus’ hand and hit it into the wood were taken on close-up, the face of the man was not shown. That’s it. That was his only role in the movie. It was Mel Gibson’s hands that nailed Christ to the cross during the crucifixion scene. He decided to take that decision saying: “It was me who put him to the cross. It was my sins that put him there”.
Can you see that those people who made the film:
“Passion of the Christ” knew what they were doing? They were not only acting with their head but also acting with their hearts. Their spirit was in what they were doing. They sacrificed a lot to bring the film out.
I believe the Lord blocked off every financial support from Mel Gibson, so that he could rely on Him alone for the success of the movie.
Secondly, if paramount Picture, Universal Studios, Twentieth Century Fox or any of those Hollywood film companies had taken over the production from Mel Gibson, it would not be what it is today.
They all turned him back; they never believed any commercial success could come out of the film made on Jesus Christ. So Mel Gibson was left-to seek for God’s help and work on the little money he had. If the big film, companies had accepted to had finance the film, they would have gone ahead to look for star-actors like Tom Hanks, Nicholas Cage or Brad Pitt. Whose pride of their mega-status would have watered down the anointing of the Lord on the movie.
All the cast were all uncommon faces and the film was one of the low-budget major movies in Hollywood, so, all the glory might be to the Lord. That’s a big lesson to us in Nigeria, as we prepare for a great evangelical revolution in the film ministry, you do not need to know any popular faces in an evangelical film to make it have a strong impact in the lives of people. What you need is the vision, the dedication and the presence of God in the production.
Once you intend to make a Christian film that would glorify the Lord, then you had better hand it over to God and allow Him to give you both the message and the messengers. He would anoint whoever He has chosen.

REACTIONS
On Ash Wednesday, 25th February, 2004, the day the film was publicly released, it was shown all across the United State, Australia, New Zealand and Canada.
And in both U.S. and Canada, it was shown on about 4,700 screens and in over 3,000 theatres with these halls being crowded with anxious audience.
Churches were mobilizing themselves to go and watch the movie. They were buying tickets enbloc for their congregations and were even buying tickets for non-church goers, using that as an opportunity to win more souls for Christ.
There were instances of people buying booklets of tickets to give to interested people inviting them to come and watch the movie.
There was the story of a man who, after watching the movie, rushed to the police station to confess the crime he had denied about ten years earlier. He had reported that his girl friend committed suicide. The police had visited the scene of the crime, and after a long investigation had been satisfied that he couldn’t have murdered the lady.
However, after watching this heavy movie, he couldn’t live any longer without facing the penalty of his own sin, he went to confess to the police. The police were amazed and asked to know why he suddenly came to confess after about ten years of the crime. He told them, he had watched the movie, :The Passion of the Christ” and did not want to go to hell.
Can you see the awful impact of an evangelical dramatization? Can you see how powerful this weapon is in the hand of God?
Having gone through this article visit or call DISCIPLES Drama & film Ministries today for powerful and uplifting drama messages of revival and reconciliation for your church programmes and activities. As you take this bold step of faith, there shall be a rewarding and positive impact in your church and ministry.

“This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God’s people (unbelievers and believers) but also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God” II Cor. 9:12 (Niv)

Yes! I want to help spread God’s word across the nation by supporting Disciples Drama And Film Ministries Int’l.

Please Print Clearly

Name………………………………………………. Title:………………………
Address:…………………………………………………………………………..
……………………………………………………………………………………..
Postage:……………………………………………………………………………
Tel: (Home) ……………… (Work) ……………. (Mobile)…………………….
E-mail:………………………………………………………………………………
I want to support the ministry today’s only N………………………………..
I want to support the ministry weekly only N………………………………..
I want to support the ministry monthly only N………………………………..
I want to support the ministry quarterly only N………………………………..
I want to support the ministry annually only N………………………………..

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In favour of DISCIPLES EVANGELICAL DRAMA GROUP
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Drama is seen as  a  literary piece that embraces the socio cultural life of a race ,

Theatre  is  the medium of expression for dramatic piece using all the various theatrical contractions , music , dance , songs , props , costumes , makeup , lightings – that gives clearer meaning to the idea conceived by the playwright [ dramatist ] with a considerable attachment to the  socio – cultural and historical life of a people in a given place [a stage ] and time for the educational growth and entertainment of a particular audience  .

Drama is catalogues as the impulse for the existence of theatre while stage , radio , film ,and television serve as the media of the theatre ,and the society ,  vis -a –vis , the audience is left with a variety of choice among the various communication channels available in this process .

Drama and theatre are considered as parallel , complementary an alternative engagements since both of them sees society and its history and culture as the pivoting tool to their existence especially in study  [scholarship] and practice [professionalism] .for instance , sociologists , historian playwright , director , administrator , designer , musician , choreographer , dancer , voice expert are needed for the sustenance of both drama and theatre ,and these are member of a soceity with history and culture .

Drama is an imitation of human action

Drama is a history told in action by actors who impersonate the characters of the story – The characters may therefore be anybody –living or dead ,animate or inanimate ,forces seen or unseen .

Drama is a picture or representation of human life  in that succession and change of events that we call story , told by means of dialogue and presenting in action the way successive emotions involved .

Drama is a symbolic representation of life in both words and  action .

Drama is a composition in prose or verse intended to be performed on stage in the full glare of audience.

A thorough understanding of what actually constitutes a dramatic experience requires  a probe into the philosophy of arts and science , which in a way ,has helped to reposition the theory and criticism of drama  from the Greek classical periods to date . The concept of dramatic in action and experience is borne out of the strong  desire to free oneself from the shock of a philosophical experience . An experience that is dramatic could be a personal awareness of the events happening in an individuals environments . Dramatic experience differs from one individual to another . In a nutshell ,drama is far more than our dramatic experience neither should one be seen as  an alternative or substitute from the other . But it may be said that drama could have an emotional effects on reader or audience ,and this may be described as a dramatic effects .

The primary objective of every creative adventure is to express or share feelings , thought  and idea in order to advance the intellectual growth of individual and for wider horizon of the society in terms of consciousness and knowledge of development and peaceful  co – existence .Dramatic themes over the ages , has gone beyond the delicate and abstract relationship between the mythical and  spiritual ethos of Greek and medieval eras to the realistic and ideological bents of the contemporary  age .

The religious origin of drama provided a springboard for the thematic concerns of the Greek  , Roman and medieval  classical drama .

Theme  is however  , the central or dominant idea  in a literary piece . In a simple language  ,theme is the subject of the discourse : a general topic of discussion and in some cases , it is referred to as the  Thesis [Thrall et al : 1961 : 486]of a creative piece .Drama ,though is designed to entertained the audience through its stage  performance and or reading but with the innovation in the dramatic construct ,the matic preoccupation  has  to be a great challenge to both the dramatists and their critics .

It would however ,be a misplaced argument if we subscribe to the fact that all plays have single theme to explore based on the overall meaning conveyed to us by the characters in the play ,especially those we consider as the major or the protoganists and the antagonists there could be more than a theme in play , depending on our understanding of the socio-historical and perhaps the psychology of the playwright as reflected in the individual characters and their social events in the play .

Therefore, a play is seen sometimes as having major or main theme or subtheme . The subtheme or meaning did not become a force to be reckoned with before the Elizabeth period when shakespear’s distinguished sub plot from the main plot , whereas a critical look at the Greek plays , especially those of Aristoplanes , provides us with a great variety of themes ,for instance , in Lysistratic the major idea entrenched there in is for the campaign to be brought to an end ,but a closer look revealed that domestic ,economic and political empowerment of women folk are also proposed in this play .

Characters and characterization [the dramatic flesh and bones] The dramatic vision of a dramatist can only be brought to live by the characters in his play through their actions .Characters are the embodiment of virtues and vice in the dramatic treatment of a theme ,in the historical and conventional analysis of a dramatic piece character study may not completely provided the thematic impulse of a play but it is stepping –stone toward the hermanentic interpretation and understanding of the socio-psychological motives [and motif] of drama .

In the Greek classical plays characters are both human and gods :mortals and immortal .

They are the symbolic representation of the personalities ,in the society ,created in the imagination of the playwright .A study of dramatic characters is done on the basis of what they say and do ,what other characters say about them ,what they say about themselves and what the playwright says about them . this is an established approach to character study but beyond the text ,the contemporary study has applied ,both sociological and psychological of the characters traits to the real life personalities in other to x-ray plausibility of their dramatic action. A dramatic reminder to this however , the progressive force[protoganist or hero]and the opposing force[antagonist or villain]interplay in a dramatic conflict and each of these could be represented by both human and cosmic phenomenon . therefore ,the strength and weakness of  both the protoganist and antagonist are determined by their social status and their overall importance in the play ,the individual peculiarities of the characters must be distinguished in the course of analysis against the  backdrops of their contributions to the development of dramatic action and theme .

DRAMATIC STRUCTURE VERSUS PLOT

The structural import of a play is significant in determining the dramatic effect of a playwright intends to achieve .An awareness and a conscious utilization of structural element of dramaturgy heighten the creative and intellectual essence of a play .In the Greek tradition these structural element physical division of plays into acts ,scenes or movement and the use of language –were made as rules foe a “good” play [see Aristotle’s poetics]whereas the nineteenth and twentieth century playwright saw this division ,not in strict terms with the Greek theory, but as an ideological projective mode ,for instance ,Brecht’s plays are ideologically motivated and the structure of his plays is motivated by the demand of his message .

OTHER DRAMATIC CONSIDERATIONS

A textual interpretations of any play requires a basic understanding of the various contradictions that led to the dramatic aesthetic and intellectual import of a play. Dialogue and language ,dramatic periods and conventions are very vital to the establishment of the literary and ideological content of a play .The dramatic import of a play is imbued with the status and environment of  .In Greek tradition ,dialogue is a reflection of the tragic  debate in a play, it is the most distinct feature of drama,for it dictates the dramatic action and conflicts ,apart from the philosophical and general idea ,conversation between two people ]which plato described as the strength of social debate ,dialogue[“embodies certain literary and stylistics values” [Thrall et al op . cit : 139] that are reflective of the  creative and intellectual consciousness of the writer .A textual and structural analysis of any dramatic dialogue reflects the following :

[1].It advances the action in a definite way and is not used as a mere ornamentation .

[2]It is consistent with the character of the speakers ,their social positions and special interest .it varies in tone and expression according to the nationalities ,DIALECTS ,occupations and social levels of the speakers.

[3]It gives the impression of naturalness without being an actual ,verbatim record of what may have been said ,since FICTION .as someone has explained ,is concerned with the ‘’semblance of reality ‘’not with reality itself.

[4]It presents the interplay of ideas and personalities among the people conversing :it sets forth a conversational give and take –not simply series of remarks of alternating speakers [5]It varies in DICTION ,RHYTHM,PHRASING,SENTENCE,LENGTH e.t.c according to the various speakers participating .The best writer of dialogue know that rarely do two or more people of the same cultural character background meet and converse and the dialogue they write mark these differences .

[6]It serves as the hands of some writers to give relief from and lightness of effects to passage which are essentially serious or expository in nature . [ibid:139 –140].

It is rational to sum up the above attributes of dialogue in dramatic discourse as all embracing just as it is a reflection of the psychological and intellectual state of mind of a dramatist represented by a character in his plays .A   conventional study in drama is rooted in the analysis of dialogue especially in terms of what “what the character says about himself” and “what the character says about him” against the playwright description of such character through  stage  direction . Dialogue dictates the fluidity and action of a play .

Above all this , every dramatic piece is meant for stage performance ,and the performance quality of every play is ,sometimes determined by the dynamics of dialogue especially on how it can evoke a living action and emotional response from the actors and the audience respectively .

A good study ,based on periods and conventions ,is of great value to the intellectual understanding of the variables in the dramatic development. over the ages, These variables have contributed to the   creative innovations ,and the metaphysical  complexities in drama and theatre .it is however good to note that every age has its own dramatic pattern and composition ,influenced by the socio-political environment ,and its literary traditions.

The contemporary drama is both ideological and experimental ,and multi-stylistic in presentation as the historical , classical , romantic , realistic ,naturalistic styles of old .However ,a dramatic environment or setting [locale] also has a great grip on the substance of dialogue ,language ,imagery[symbol] and the story-events[narrative] in drama .The exercise of dramatic action must be aligned with a society and a territory recognized and populated by human beings and other character element in a play.  

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