Stranger Things, Binge-Watching, And What the Church Can Learn From a Powerful Story

What makes Stranger Things so compelling is that the story twists and turns, maintaining suspense and practically begging you to binge watch it. My own wife, who admittedly doesn’t like that style of television, had to watch to the end, not because she wanted to, but because she had to know how it turned out. Stranger Things proves that a compelling story has the power to draw you in.

Does today’s church have a compelling story to tell, or have we become too predictable? Is your church like Stranger Things, telling a story that keeps people coming back week after week because they want to see what happens next, or is it like a soap opera, where people can pop in once every six months and get caught up on the plot line?

If the story we tell doesn’t draw in the masses, then it’s an indictment on our poor story-telling skills, because we have the most compelling story in history to tell, a story with the greatest twists and surprise endings. It’s a story of humanity gone rogue, of a God who loved anyway, of the divine made flesh and dwelling among us, of God living as a servant rather than a king, of a Savior who willingly died for our transgressions, turning his greatest defeat (the cross) into our greatest triumph (the empty tomb). And it’s a story that’s retold in the life of every believer today, as the power of the resurrection is manifested in transformed lives.

But how do we communicate this life-altering story of the gospel? Do we present it with the allure of a encyclopedia entry or the page-turning suspense of a John Grisham novel? Do we approach it like a PBS documentary or the pacing of a hit show like Stranger Things? Is your church telling an unpredictable story in predictable way? What keeps people coming back? Are people taking a pass on the church today because they assume they already know everything you’re going to say?

Is it possible to retell 2000 year old story (that’s also the most widely told story in humanity) and communicate it in a compelling way? Absolutely. It all depends how you approach it. The most compelling part of the story isn’t the facts of the resurrection. Those facts have been known for millennium. The most compelling part of the story is how that resurrection continues to impact people today through changed lives. Every person who believes in the resurrection of Jesus has been transformed by it, and every believer has a compelling story to tell.

What kind of stories is your church telling? Are they predictable? If people are skipping out on your church it might be because they think they already know everything you’re going to say. Maybe it’s time to tell the same story in a more compelling way.