The Christians is a play by Lucas Hnath, presented by The Wayward Artist and first performed in 2015. It ran at Irvine United Congregational Church November 14–23, 2025. The production starred five actors who played the parts of Pastor Paul (who oversees a megachurch), his wife, his associate pastor, a church elder, and a young single mother who is deeply involved in the church.
The play starts with Pastor Paul giving a sermon and sharing a story about a fourteen-year-old Black boy in Africa who runs inside a burning house and emerges holding a twelve-year-old girl. Sadly, the boy’s body catches on fire, and no one is there to help him. He dies.
Because the boy wasn’t baptized, most people in that congregation believed he would go to hell. Pastor Paul questioned that belief and said the young hero would not go to hell. This caused an uproar in the congregation, and eventually many members left, and the megachurch was no longer mega.
I don’t know if anything in this story is true, but the debate over who’s in and who’s out is eternal. (Is that a pun?)
When I was a child and through my teens, I might have agreed. As an adult, I realize that concept was foolish for several reasons:
- There is no such place as hell. For me, it’s a mental state. I’ve been there.
- I don’t believe in a god who lives above the third firmament of a flat earth in many mansions, with Pearly Gates, Saint Peter, and judgment. This is fiction that only exists in people’s imagination.
- In the twenty-first century, exploration into outer space and new information should end the church’s outdated and unbelievable theology.
This provocative play forces audiences to confront these issues, and, at the end, they get a chance to react to what they have seen and heard. The church needs to do much more of this. The era of preaching at people without allowing them to respond is nearly over.
The pastor in the play sprang his newfound truth on the church without warning. A smart pastor will educate his congregation beforehand with new and provocative ideas. In The Christians, the pastor’s wife became furious with her husband, leaving the impression that their marriage was over, as was Pastor Paul’s power.
For me, the play presented many challenges:
- Any church that relies on its pastor’s authority instead of Jesus’s will often decline once the pastor leaves. We humans are replaceable. The message of Jesus must surpass any pastor’s influence. It is the power of agape (unconditional love) that should draw and retain people in the church.
- A church that doesn’t permit its congregants to doubt or question every aspect of it is a church doomed to fail. People only strengthen their faith when they wrestle with it.
- A church founded on outdated theology, rules and regulations, and preaching Old Testament legalistic doctrine is a church without a future.
I love provocative presentations, whether in a sermon, play, reading, art, or liturgical dance, because I believe we are never too old to embrace and encourage change in an ever-evolving world. The proof is in the pudding. The Christians played to sellout crowds. Unfortunately, the Sunday morning worship service is dull and repetitive, barely attracts new people, and has many empty pews.
Isn’t it time to make worship more exciting, provocative, and ever-changing?
PeaceLoveJoyHopeKindness
Bil
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P.S. People often ask me provocative questions about current events, both religious and secular. I have found that some of these questions are being asked universally. I’ll be periodically alternating regular articles with one of those questions and my answer. I invite you to send me your question to bilaulenbach@yahoo.com.
Photo by Barry Weatherall on Unsplash