What legacy do you want to leave your children? Will they remember you for your career achievements, your hobbies, or something more profound? While those aspects are part of life, consider what they will say about your spiritual leadership. Will they reflect, “My dad knew a lot about sports and work, but more importantly, my father loved Jesus and showed us how to live by faith”?
Cultivating a Christian family involves intentional discipleship, and this extends to the entertainment we choose to bring into our homes. Even something as seemingly simple as family movie night can be an opportunity to model Christian values. Let’s explore how choosing and engaging with Christian Family Movies can contribute to a spiritually rich family life.
Modeling Faith Through Media Choices
The media we consume impacts us, and our choices speak volumes to our children. Just as we model confession and repentance by saying “I’m sorry,” we can model discernment in our entertainment choices.
Confession and Repentance in Movie Selection: Consider movies that portray characters grappling with mistakes and seeking forgiveness. Choosing films that honestly address human flaws and the need for redemption can open conversations about these important themes within your family. Instead of avoiding difficult topics, select movies that show characters learning from their errors and seeking reconciliation, mirroring the Christian journey of confession and repentance.
Personal Testimony Through Storytelling: Movies are powerful storytelling mediums. Seek out christian family movies that share stories of faith journeys, overcoming adversity, and the impact of faith in everyday life. Sharing these narratives can be a form of personal testimony within your family. After watching, discuss the characters’ faith and how it resonates with your own experiences. This can demonstrate that faith isn’t “strange” or “uncool,” but a real and relatable part of life, depicted even in media.
Love for God’s Word and Prayer Reflected on Screen: While not every christian family movie will directly quote scripture or show prayer explicitly, look for films that embody biblical values like love, compassion, sacrifice, and justice. Discuss these values as they appear in the movie and connect them back to biblical teachings. This helps children see that God’s word isn’t confined to church walls but is relevant to all aspects of life, even entertainment.
Repeated Practice and Healthy Rhythms with Movie Night
What kind of “normal” do you want to create in your home regarding entertainment? Is it passive consumption, or intentional engagement? Family movie night can be more than just downtime; it can become a rhythm that reinforces your family’s values.
Just as Deuteronomy 6 encourages us to weave God’s commandments into the fabric of daily life, we can intentionally use movie nights to discuss faith and values regularly. Make it a practice to not just watch christian family movies, but to discuss them afterward. Ask questions like: “What did we learn about kindness from that movie?” or “How did the characters show their faith in action?”
By making thoughtful movie choices and engaging in post-movie discussions, you create a healthy rhythm of media consumption that aligns with your Christian values. This repeated practice helps shape your children’s understanding of faith and its relevance in the world around them.
Conclusion
Choosing christian family movies intentionally is a small but significant way to model Christian discipleship within your home. It’s not just about avoiding “bad” movies, but actively seeking out and engaging with films that can inspire, teach, and spark conversations about faith. By making these choices and creating healthy rhythms around family movie time, you can leave a legacy where your children remember not just what you did, but how you lived your faith, even in your entertainment choices.
