You’ve had this discussion many times with your pastor. You’ve gotten criticism after criticism from deacons and elders of your church. You’re getting pressed from all sides that every time your Drama Group performs that there has to be a “message”. This could have many meanings. It could mean that they want every skit you perform to be a dramatic sermon. It could mean that they think that the only service that they believe the Drama Ministry can perform is to be evangelists in special events outside the church and never be brought into the church. But you’ve been itching to do this hilarious comedy show for a fall festival but no one wants to hear about it. You start to wonder, “Is my drama ministry’s real job just to ‘preach’ to people?”
I’m reminded of the time in the early church when the apostles found that there was a need to feed the widows and orphans in the church. They were too busy to do this job themselves so they had the group of believers nominate men from their numbers to do it. Thus the first instance of deacons was born. Several secular theatre groups are set up with a mission statement. Most of them are non-profit organizations that have a specific function or need to fill. Most Drama ministries are set up that way too, although sometimes unknowingly. In a perfect world a group of theatre artists or drama enthusiasts get together to form a group that has a significant ministry to the congregation and the outside world. In the real world as Church Drama people we all know that usually the pastor or director of music walks up to you and says something to the effect of, “we want a drama group and you’ve been in community theatre once or twice so you can be in charge of it.” To tell the truth too many times drama groups are formed just because a church wants to keep up with the other churches in the community that have them. If that is the case for you what does that mean for you? What can you do about it?
· Determine your Drama Group’s mission: What need in the church are you fulfilling? As much as it is an artform theatre is also a tool. It’s much easier when it has a purpose. Ask yourself these three questions.
o What are three needs that our drama group wants to fill?
o What are three ways that we are going to fill this need?
o What are three effects that the congregation will experience because of this ministry?
The Greater Love Players is formed to show Christ’s love to the members of Angel Valley, emphasize the value of Christ’s self sacrifice, and give members of Angel Valley Church the opportunity to minister to the greater community. Through theatrical performances, puppet shows, and personal testimony Angel Valley will become aware of God’s love for them, the opportunity of a relationship with Christ, and hope that a new life in Christ brings.
As you see in the example above the three lists are blended together to form the backbone of your group’s ministry. By looking at this mission statement you can easily see that the fictitious drama ministry wants to do, how they’re going to do that, and what they want to happen because they’ve done it. Now if it’s easy for the outside observer to see that then it should be just as easy for the ministry to see that too. With a mission statement like this you can easily look keep your ministry on track. Now when you get those requests you can say, “that’s not what we do,” or , “that’s not why we’re here”.
The second part to this is that you need to discuss this with the pastor and anyone else that should be involved. Discuss your lists and your mission statement with them and how that compares to what expecations they have. That way you can have all of the discussion up front and not when you've already invested both time and money in the endeavor.
My hope is that, by getting a foundation started your drama ministry can withstand the stormy seas without falling apart.
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