'Make me a Christian' Review

A review by Charis Gibson on the Channel 4 series.

28 August 2008

After two weeks of Make Me a Christian, the thought of watching the final episode was about as appealing as being bashed repeatedly in the face with a large leather-bound King James Version.

But curiosity about whether it could get any worse got the better of me in the end, so I gritted my teeth and switched on.

Unimaginatively enough, the series had been rather pre-occupied by sex: or rather, extra-marital sex as bad, bad, bad, giving off the impression that Christians think and talk of little else.

To be fair to the Christian mentors, the producers made sure the issue was going to be high on the agenda by presenting them with some pretty lusty mentees, from womanising charmer Kevin to lap-dance club owner Faye, who blamed a spicy fajita for getting her so heated up that she couldn’t spend one night out of her boyfriend’s bed.

There were some redeeming moments. When the focus switched from dos and don’ts to serving on the streets and in a soup kitchen, the whole mood of the programme changed as the volunteers got a glimpse of the love and humility Jesus modelled.

But the overwhelming message was that Christianity equals rules. Thou shalt not look lustfully at a girl (especially if you also happen to be a girl), thou shalt not share a bed with thy pregnant girlfriend and thou definitely shalt not teach one of the other volunteers how to pray to Allah.

Week three – aka let’s wrap the series up by showing how everyone’s changed for the better week – was mercifully better viewing as the volunteers seemed to be genuinely impacted by the mentors' teaching.

“Fornicator” Kevin raised his hand during the altar call at a Pentecostal service and confessed his philandering to his girlfriend as the consequences of his philandering hit home. Laura, whose homosexuality had been a bone of contention throughout the show, spent a day at a retreat thinking, praying and pouring through a well-thumbed Bible.

Anti-Christian biker Martin stopped raging for long enough to enjoy a stint serving the elderly with the Salvation Army and even compliment Christians who serve.

And volunteer Aaron’s mum, who spent the series railing loudly against Christianity, mellowed enough to talk to Catholic priest Father John while waiting for results of a cancer scan. She received the sacrament of the sick and the programme ended with her heartily singing Amazing Grace, with a voice-over saying she was given the all-clear the following week.

So it was warm, fuzzy feelings all round for the volunteers. But, if the previous weeks had been hell-fire Christianity, the ending felt like Christianity-lite.

And there’s the flaw of the format. The programme was all about “making” somebody a Christian by getting them to adhere to Biblical principles.

Cramming this into less than three hours of conflict-driven entertainment didn’t leave much screen time for discussion about why these principles are even important, let alone looking at the importance of a relationship with God, so the resolution felt hollow.

It was compelling TV, but a pretty upside-down view of the gospel.

The Rev Joanna Jepson, one of the mentors, was clearly disappointed about the way she was portrayed, telling the Telegraph that the programme had been designed to make Christians look obsessed with people’s sex lives. Producers Wildcard denied her allegations.

"Christian behaviour is only possible after a spiritual transformation,” she said.

“We were encouraged to take part on the understanding that we were dealing with a group of people who genuinely wanted to embrace Christianity. But that was clearly not the case."

But simply fuming at the way our faith was presented doesn’t address a key underlying issue.

No doubt the mentors agreed to take part in the programme because they saw that a production company was trying to the break the mould of the dull, formulaic Christian-audience broadcasting we see too often on our screens.

In fact, my team gave advice, unfortunately to deaf ears, in the pre-production of Make me a Christian to try to help them find ways of genuinely communicating the Gospel message to a popular audience.

Make Me a Christian might have been painful viewing for a Christian, but bland and dull Christian programmes are even more painful for the average non-Christian.

If it inspires television bosses to start thinking that religion can attract mainstream audiences, and the church continues to engage to help with content, we might be able to see some genuine innovation that will see the Gospel hit primetime.

Charis Gibson, Senior Press Officer, Evangelical Alliance

Evangelical Alliance Press Office - 02072072115