Harvester Christian Church, a large church in the St. Louis area, has a busy drama ministry. However, their website’s drama ministry page is a bit confusing to me:

“The Creative Arts Production Ministry His Mercy produces three full stage productions a year, including a Christmas Eve production. These plays are full length, original, musical productions geared to sharing the gospel and the Word of God in a non-threatening manner. They provide the perfect opportunity to invite friends, family and co-workers to our church for a fun evening, and to begin to plant the seeds for the Lords kingdom. All are welcome!

“The Fall of 2006 we will be presenting the musical ‘You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown.’ This show will be done in a dessert theater format.”

I am confused because the first paragraph says their productions are geared to sharing the gospel, while the second says they are presenting “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown.” I am having trouble reconciling those two statements. Specifically, I am not certain how “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” shares the gospel. It is a wonderful production, but I am not sure how it fulfills their goal of “productions geared to sharing the gospel and the Word of God.”

Please, don’t get me wrong: “You’re a Good Man” is a fun musical, and I am not upset that they are willing to use such a production. I just hope they don’t try so hard to repackage it as a gospel presentation that they drain the charm out of the musical. This would be better if it were simply a theatrical presentation, and not a church production. In fact, there ought to be more quality non-church productions by Christians … but that’s another topic altogether. Simply put, this is a good idea with mismatched wrapping.

Besides, were it to be a Biblically accurate production for the church, they would have to change the title. It would not be “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown”; it would be “You’re a Fallen Man in need of Jesus, Charlie Brown.”

(Of course, it does not help that in the spring of 2007 they will be presenting a “Christian rewrite” of Pinocchio. I have already expressed my position on Christian rewrites, so I think it’s clear I won’t be going out of my way to see that production.)