Fiction as a faith‑builder: How Christian parents can use stories in discipleship

Long ago, before my husband and I had children, we were staying with a family who had teenagers. Together we watched a TV series featuring an alcoholic. I was surprised that the parents allowed their young people to watch it, but the ensuing discussion proved invaluable. 

“Mum, do people really do that when they’re drunk? Can alcohol affect people as much as that? What happens to them in rehab? Is there a cure?” 

The conversation continued. It was easy to see the wisdom of learning certain truths—albeit unpalatable ones—through fiction, in the safe environment of home. 

Most of us enjoy fiction: films, TV, Netflix, box sets, short stories, and novels. We think ourselves into the characters we admire. We become the superhero, the feisty, intuitive scientist, the successful business tycoon/lawyer/detective. Identification with the protagonists engenders the whole range of emotions, and it’s so much the better if our heroes are flawed people like us. My husband watches TV fiction silently, drinking in characters and plot, but I find myself verbalising my hopes and fears: “Why doesn’t he…? She should… Oh no, they’re going to…,” because I’m so invested in the outcome. 

And what about stories and novels? Whether it’s David Copperfield or Demon Copperhead, we need a hero we’ll be rooting for because we believe in him or her. Despite their imperfect characters and many mistakes along the way, we become bound up in our protagonists’ misfortunes, successes, and challenges. An essential prerequisite in any story is a central character we’re rooting for. The significance of this is that, in engaging with characters within fiction, we formulate understanding, ideas, and aims.