Workshop explores discussing TV series and films to bolster adult education
APCE Annual Event workshop outlines one church’s engagement with ‘The Good Place’ and ‘Ted Lasso’

LOUISVILLE — Viewing episodes of popular TV series and even feature-length films can make for meaningful discussions during at your church’s adult education class.

The Rev. Cassie Waits, Associate Pastor of Discipleship at First Presbyterian Church in Marietta, Georgia, led the fascinating and practical “Teaching the Gospel Through TV & Film” workshop offered in person and online last week at APCE’s Annual Event. Waits spoke from experience: FPC’s adult groups have already engaged two thoughtful television series: “The Good Place” and “Ted Lasso.”
“Why not do something fun? The children and youth programs are based on having fun,” church leaders figured, according to Waits, when they imagined a women’s group meeting to discuss “The Good Place” at the same time a group of men were discussing episodes of “Ted Lasso.” When the discussions concluded, the men and women enjoyed a potluck dinner together.
“The Good Place” is a comedy about the afterlife. “Ted Lasso” traces an American football coach who heads to London to manage a struggling English Premier League soccer team. Waits watched episodes of “The Good Life” in advance and crafted discussion questions for the women who attended.
In this clip from “The Good Place,” Waits might bring up, for example, Matthew 25: 31-46, The Judgment of the Nations. “We could ask, ‘Do you think God is an accountant?’” she said. “What does this teach us about sin?”
A character named Chidi is shown teaching a class on how to live an ethical life by cooking chili and stirring in unusual ingredients.
“The true meaning of life — the actual ethical system that you should all follow is nihilism,” Chidi tells students. “The world is empty. There is no point to anything, and you’re just gonna die. So do whatever.”
Workshop participants connected that scene with the Book of Ecclesiastes, Elijah and others. “Have you ever felt that despair?” Waits asked.
Meanwhile, in the “Ted Lasso” group, two men would start their time together competing to see who could give the better recap of the chosen episode. “It was men,” Waits noted.
“Men plugging in was a need at our church,” Waits said. “They were at arm’s distance for awhile before they felt they could share their own lives.” One man had been through AA recovery. “He knew what it was like to sit in a group and be vulnerable,” Waits said.
Over time, the group got closer and closer. On one occasion, the women headed for dinner “and the men were nowhere to be found,” she said. As it turned out, “one man had started crying, and [the others] needed to hold space for him.”
In an early episode, Ted Lasso speaks to the team’s star player, Jamie, about the importance of teamwork: “You just figure out some way to turn that ‘me’ into ‘us,’ phew! The sky’s the limit with you,” Lasso tells Jamie.
“It made me think of the body of Christ. We can’t all be feet,” one workshop participant said.
“Have you ever held someone accountable?” Waits asked. “What does loving accountability look like?”
In this scene between Ted and the team owner, Rebecca, Rebecca confesses she has lied to Ted and tried to destroy the team to get back at her ex-husband, who’d hurt her badly. When she apologizes, Ted says, “I forgive you” because “divorce is hard. It doesn’t matter if you’re the one leaving or you’re the one who got left. It makes folks do crazy things. Hell, I’m coaching soccer, for heaven’s sakes, in London. I mean, that’s nuts.”
“This job you gave me has changed my life,” he tells her. “It gave me the distance I needed to see what was really going on. You and me? We’re OK. C’mon — shake this hand,” he says, and instead she hugs him.
“You know, I think that when you care about someone, and you’ve got a little love in your heart, there ain’t nothing you can’t get through together — you know what I’m saying?” he tells her.
“Have you received or given forgiveness? How did that change things in your life?” are among the discussion questions that come from this clip.
Waits offered a few factors to consider before launching such a discussion series of six or eight weeks, including whether there’s buy-in from church leaders and the congregation, who the target audience is, whether the series or film is suitable for a broad audience, and who will facilitate the discussion.
Potential pitfalls include:
- Insisting on learning at the expense of fellowship
- Focusing on plot vs. how the show invites meaningful reflection
- A mismatch between the show and the study group
- A mismatch between attendance patterns and the viewing schedule.
Waits added one more possible complication for discussion leaders: “Often people are more conversant in popular culture than the Bible,” she said. Learn more from Waits’ handout here.
But above all, “have fun. This is supposed to be fun,” Waits said. “If you have faithful people in the room, they will go where you’re going.”
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