Visual Narratives: Teaching Through Comics

With the reasoning behind the need of teaching illustrations through visual means already stated (click here to read), one means of going about this form of teaching is through that of comic books. Many might instantly think of the comics put out by Marvel or DC Comics. Here me out before turning away in thinking this would simply affect a small sect of the congregation. My thoughts are to use a comic book format to teach the Word of God and lessons in life as well as have it include the church bulletin, devotions, and any other useful information. I’m going to go through each of these ideas to explain how they could be done effectively.

Imagine walking into a church and instead of receiving the typical bulletin, you are given a little booklet that includes a comic involving the sermon for the day and places to take notes. These comics would work alongside what is taught by the pastor. You simply do not just listen to what the pastor says about the Bible but you are able to see the events unfolded in story format. You can see the anguish as David says, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me!” as well as the confidence as he stands in front of Goliath. I’d imagine seeing the facial expressions not only in the bulletin but on the projection screen would add even more to what is being taught. The comic might also include a black and white version of the illustrations for children to color.

Not only do the comics have to deal with what is stated directly in the Bible but it could also include other illustrations the pastor may use to stress a point. The comics would also be interesting enough and teach enough that the person might want to look back at what is shown at a later date or give it to a friend to show what the church is up to. This material would not only be good for the sermon but for Sunday school classes and could also include extra material for one to read in their own time as a devotional.

The comics could also include future events the church may be dealing with like a typical church bulletin but done in a storybook format. Each one could also have a page long comic of a dad leading his child to Christ. This could be used as a way to present the salvation message. Included could also be guides to how to interpret the Bible effectively such as rules to each literary genre.

I hope to one day make an example comic book of how this could possibly be done effectively but it could take some time. Time is indeed one drawback in how effective this could be as a ministry as it would take a while to do this especially if it’s done by a single person. One would not have to do this weekly but could also be monthly, periodically, or alongside each sermon series including the illustrations that would be used during that time frame.

There are many ideas I have in how comic books could be used effectively as teaching tools within the church. One would not have to do so on the grand scale mentioned here but one could also do so on an even grander scale such as using this as a way of teaching youth in a published Bible study. If there are any who thinks this could be useful or have any additional ideas, let me know. In the future I plan to write additional blogs in how other visual medias could be used.