The Church

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1 hr 33 min

The Church

Pastor Ian Gallagher appears to have it all: A loving wife and family, a church that adores him. But all is not as it seems. Pastor Ian’s world is about to change, and he’ll face challenges that threaten his family, his church, even his fitness to lead his congregation.The first crisis begins when a member of Pastor Ian’s church leaves his wife to move in with his girlfriend. But when the member decides to bring his girlfriend with him to church, a series of events is set in motion that threatens to split the congregation, and expose a dark chapter of Pastor Ian’s past.

Cast:

Anna Toner, Cheryl Scungio, Chris Quinn, Clayton Myers, Irv Becker, Johnny Alonso, Justin Mather, Kara Quick, Richard Cutting, Sharon Graves

Genre:

Drama

Rating:

Dove "Family-Approved" - Recommended for ages 12 and over.

Worldview
Cautions
Film

Pastor Ian Gallagher is a bit radical. He fires blanks from a gun in a service to make a point that death can come at any time. He is plain spoken and mentions a relative he believes is in Hell after his refusal to accept Christ. He even has a secret in his past which he would rather his parishioners not find out. Yet, as many interesting characters are, he is a multi-faceted character, displaying great patience for a church member who flaunts his sin and his refusal to accept the church's discipline. Pastor Ian also counsels various members and lives like a pauper so as to not let his assistant minister go from his position, as the church finances are extremely tight. He also does his best to win his dying brother to the Lord.
The film tackles some issues head on, such as the pastor's daughter lying to him and her mother, and dating a young man who (although she doesn't know it) is dealing drugs. The film offers hope and the story is realistically portrayed. Richard Cutting is quite good as Pastor Ian as is the actress who plays his wife. We gladly award this movie our Dove "Family-Approved" Seal and recommend it for ages twelve plus due to its mature themes. This movie makes you think, and as we all know, not every movie does that!
Sex: A man in the church is having an open affair with another woman while still married but the pastor and the church deal with it, seeking his repentance; a couple kisses; pastor counsels a woman whose husband has left her and she compliments the pastor, saying his wife is a lucky woman.
Language: Fricking-2; An angry church member calls the rest of the church "Narrow minded simpletons"; Crap-1; H (as a place)-3; G-1
Violence: A pastor fires blanks from a gun during a sermon to make the point death can come at any time but it frightens some congregation members; a man is shot on the street with just a small amount of blood which is seen; it is learned a major character has domestic violence in his past.
Drugs: A man sells drugs in the story but a young woman leads him away from that life; there is talk from a man of selling drugs to kids but he doesn't do it.
Nudity: Teen girl wears short skirt.
Other: Teen girl wears naval ring although she knows parents don't approve; the pastor's brother refuses to accept Christ and says God doesn't answer his prayers and wonders if God exists; girl lies to parents; two people die in the film and there is grief.
- Reviewer: Edwin L. Carpenter
- Source: Video
- Writer: Keith Ward
- Director: Robert G. Christie
- Producer: Keith Ward, Stacie Jones
- Review provided courtesy of The Dove Foundation.