By Brandon Shields
Managing editor
First Assembly Church of Jackson is hosting a special event for two nights early next week, and everyone is invited.
“Eric Metaxas wrote a book a few years ago called ‘Letter to the American Church’ that sold a lot of copies and did very well because it was a great book to read,” said Garry Martin, the pastor of First Assembly Jackson. “And they’ve made a movie from the book, and we’re showing that here at our church.”
There will be two showings – Sunday and Monday night.
The movie is set to start at 6 p.m. each night with doors opening to the church’s ministry center at 5 p.m.
“We’re not charging anyone to come in and see the movie, but we will have hot dogs, drinks and a few other concession items available at a cost,” Martin said.
Metaxas is an author and podcaster, and “Letter to the American Church” was a book that focuses on the life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who was a Christian pastor that ministered in Germany during the Holocaust who opposed Adolph Hitler and the Nazis and was eventually killed trying to overthrow the government.
“The message of the book and the movie was how the church went silent in Germany in the 1930s and Marxism and Socialism took over there,” Martin said. “And this book was written in the style of a letter to the American church looking at the German church as an example of what can potentially happen if we as the American church continue to stay silent.”
Martin said he’s one of many across the country who fears the United States could be in the early stages of a similar movement.
“The church is becoming more and more silent in our culture, and we’re retreating within our walls more and more,” Martin said. “But anyone who thinks a church is a building has it all wrong.
“The building is where the church meets. When the church is truly being what she’s called to be, it gets outside the building and is ministering to the world and pointing the world to Jesus Christ.”
Martin is hopeful that the availability of the movie will bring people out and spark a revival among those who watch it.
“Sometimes we all need reminders, and I think we need a reminder right now,” Martin said. “For example, when COVID happened and church was shut down for a few weeks, a lot of people fell out of church and they haven’t returned yet.
“We as a church need to wake up, and either those who haven’t returned need to come back or the church needs to reach out to them and draw them back. I hope some who see this movie will begin to be a part of that again.”
Brandon Shields, brandon@jacksonpost.news
