Drama Helps Church Address Intense Topics

For a church of about 150 families, it’s a lot of work to perform a drama every week.

But this fall when leaders at Community Christian Reformed Church in Roselawn, Ind., planned a sermon series on the seven deadly sins, they decided to do just that: produce a skit to match the sermon for eight weeks straight.

“Drama is a great way to address a deep, intense topic, to help people see how applicable it is to their life,” said Joel Zuidema, who preached the series. The series title comes from the book Glittering Vices by Rebecca Konyndyk De Young.

The church occasionally plans skits led by its volunteer director of drama, Sara Solis. This was the church’s most ambitious dramatic undertaking yet. The script was adapted from a script used by another church, with a final skit written by a member of the congregation. It was a lot of work, but the all-volunteer drama team pulled it off.

“With the way that Joel preached, combining the theoretical and the practical, and with the drama adding a dose of humor, people were really engaged,” said Kyle Vanderzee, the church’s director of worship and the arts.

“A lot of creative energy built up inside of me,” explained Solis, who has a theater degree. “It’s always fun to hear what people have to say [about a skit],” Solis said. “Even if it’s negative, it means that they were paying attention.”

Last spring, Solis dreamed up a “Pentecost flash mob” in which, following a prayer, people in the congregation suddenly began singing about the Holy Spirit and reading from Acts chapter 2 in different languages.

“Everybody was like ‘Wow, what is going on, this is crazy,’” said Solis. “I like catching people off-guard and even being a little controversial. It makes people pay attention.”

Solis hopes to direct a full-length play at her church in order to bring the gospel to life for people. “It takes a lot to do something like that,” she said. “It’s my calling.”