A new TV series will launch next week designed to get Australians to take Christians seriously. Towards Belief will screen on Australian Christian Channel, and several other international channels including Shine TV New Zealand, U Channel Indonesia and Al Hayet, an Arabic-speaking satellite programme.

The producers of the new series Towards Belief say they decided to listen to their audience first.

Stage one of their project was the Australian Communities Report which uncovered a surprising fact: of the top ten issues that block people from faith, half of them were about the church.

Issues such as the church being seen as an obsolete institution, the church’s involvement in religious wars, the hypocrisy of the church, especially demonstrated in cases of sexual abuse, as well as the vexed issue of homosexuality, were on the top of the list.

The usual issues that block people from faith were also included in the responses: difficulty with believing in the miraculous, why people suffer, believing what the Bible says and issues concerning science and faith.

The research was conducted across Australia in October 2011 by McCrindle Research, based on a nationally representative survey of 1,094 Australians with three focus groups: baby boomers, Gen X, and Gen Y.

“The research for the series clearly demonstrated that 25 per cent of Australians are open to Christian faith,” said series presenter Pastor Karl Faase. “What they need is to have their significant blockers dealt with seriously & honestly. The list of guests on the Towards Belief series are great minds with vast experience and broad knowledge; their ability to cut through the belief blockers is unparalleled in the Australian community.”

Pastor Faase, who is CEO of Olive Tree Media and Senior Pastor of Gymea Baptist Church, invited some of the world’s leading Christian leaders, speakers and academics to be interviewed for the programme; each one gives a reasoned response to each blocker.

These leaders include:

• Prof John Lennox, Professor of Mathematics at the University of Oxford; John is interested in the interface of science, philosophy and theology;
• Rev Nicky Gumbel, Vicar of Holy Trinity Brompton, London; Nicky is the author of the Alpha course which has been running since 1990;
• Os Guinness, author and social critic, who has written and edited over thirty books;
• Prof Stanley Hauer was, named “America’s Best Theologian” by Time in 2001;
• Dr Greg Clarke, CEO of Bible Society Australia; and
• Joel A’Bell, Lead Pastor of Hillsong, Australia.

“It was an incredible privilege to sit with each of these significant Christian leaders and hear their reasons for belief,” Karl said. “In each case we were given a sample of their personal story of faith and why they had committed their life to Christ.”

Towards Belief will be aired as a 10-part series on Christian television stations in Australia, NZ, UK, Korea, Indonesia and Canada, and can be purchased as a DVD set.

towardsbelief.org.au