Breaking down barriers with the magic of laughter

Tom Elliott, a 21-year-old magician, has put on comedy magic shows at pubs and clubs, festivals, churches and art centres around the UK.

He believes his magic shows provide a simple means of communicating the Gospel message and now he is encouraging churches to think about the creative means they could use to share the Good News with others.

“It’s really important we engage with creative communication,” he said. “We’re surrounded these days by so many things that can divert people’s attention and we’ve got to match the quality of people around us because otherwise we don’t get the respect from non-Christians.”

Elliott has been sharing his faith creatively since his early years growing up in the Gloucester Salvation Army church.

He first used a puppet show in his church to share his faith and later learned magic through a close friend. He went on to join the Christian Fellowship of Magicians and trained under Wayne Dobson, who performed at the Royal Variety Show in 1989.

Despite all the fun, entertaining and amusing the audience is only a part of what Elliott does. More important to him is that the people who see his shows hear the Gospel message.

“I use magic and comedy to build trust and a relationship with the people I’m communicating to so they trust me and start to know me and by the time I give them the message they’re relaxed and they’re willing to listen to me because I’ve earned that respect,” he explains.

“The strength of my act is it's something different. It's like a night out at the theatre and a night out with friends. But it's really important that they know that there's going to be something of the Gospel there. They know that I'm a Christian communicator but that doesn't stop them from coming, because they feel very relaxed."

Now Elliott has put his experiences down on paper and is trying to reach more Christians with his message through his new book, ‘God and my Banoffee Pie’.

“I’m a big fan of banoffee pie, so I thought I’d release a book talking about my two favourite things on a very different level,” he said.

“[The book’s] full of lots of funny stories from my life, from being on the road, but with a Gospel message.”

The foreword to the book has been written by popular evangelist and magician, Steve Legg.

He shares: “I used to believe I was Christianity’s answer to Frank Spencer. That was until I read this book from my pal Tom Elliott.

“I can now breathe a sigh of relif as I now realise I’m not the only person in the world who stumbles from one embarrassing situation to another with a frequency and intensity that defies the very law of nature.

“Tom’s first collection of short stories is funny, embarrassing and sometimes profound.

“They’ll make you laugh out loud, think and reflect which can’t be bad.

“You’ll also get a taste of his strong Christian faith which inspires him to inspire others.”


Online: www.laughingwithtom.co.uk