'Voyage of the Dawn Treader' website reaches out to pastors

A Christian website for The Voyage of the Dawn Treader has been made available to support pastors who want to preach on important themes found in the third movie instalment of the Narnia series.

NarniaFaith.com provides church pastors with sermon outlines, youth study resources, and even lets them sign up for movie screenings in their area.

Grace Hill Media, which is taking charge of the movie's publicity to faith audiences, said the response to the website and screening for pastors had been "very enthusiastic".

Preaching on the movie is an opportunity "to deepen the church's understanding of temptation, grace, forgiveness and transformation all through the prism of C S Lewis' vivid and deeply theological imagery," says Dr Richard Mouw, president of Fuller Theological Seminary, in a video endorsement on the site.

The sermon outlines are written by megachurch pastors Ken Foreman, senior pastor of Cathedral of Faith; Jim Burgen, senior pastor of Flatirons Community Church; and Christian leaders like evangelist Luis Palau and filmmaker Dr Phil Cooke of Cooke Pictures.

Due out in theatres on December 10, Dawn Treader is the first Narnia production under 20th Century Fox and Walden Media. In 2008, Walt Disney Pictures pulled out of doing a third film based on C S Lewis' popular novel series after the second movie Prince Caspian brought in less than stellar results than The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

In the latest movie adaptation, Lucy and Edmund are staying with their cousin Eustace Scrubb when they are all transported back into world of Narnia through a painting of a ship at sea. Actor Ben Barnes is back as King Caspian, with Skandar Keynes playing Edmund Pevensie, and Georgie Henley as Lucy Pevensie.

Actress Henley is featured in a video on the Narnia Faith site to promote Operation Narnia, a partnership with Samaritan's Purse's holiday programme, "Operation Christmas Child." Through the programme every year, shoe boxes filled with Christmas gifts are sent to needy children around the world.

In addition to resources for pastors and ministers, the website gives Narnia fans an intimate look at C S Lewis through the eyes of executive producer Douglas Gresham, stepson to the renowned Christian apologist.

"He was a more than a master of Christian thought and theology, more than a prolific scribe and scholar, he was a also very warm and considerate husband to my mother and a wise and loving stepfather to me," says Gresham.