Reverend Stephen Semenchuk, rector of Dapto Anglican Church has said that the Christian movie, Amazing Grace will need the church to promote it since he doesn't anticipate people being drawn to it.
Reverend Semenchuk told the Sydneyanglicans.net that Amazing Grace can be compared to the film Luther, which is a movie about the German reformer, where although it is a great film but evangelistically, "It was a dead loss."
However some Christians see the movie differently. Pastor Peter Rahme, the senior pastor at the Inner West Baptist Church in Sydney said this movie will present a "Golden Outreach" opportunity for the Christian community.
He said: "Just as The Nativity Story last year, and The Passion of the Christ in 2004, Amazing Grace this year presents the Christian community general and local Churches in particular, with a golden outreach opportunity."
This film re-tells the story of William Wilberforce a pro-active Christian leader and a productive concerned parliamentarian, who, after 20 years of faithful campaigning to abolish slavery, finally succeeded in 1807 in passing an act of parliament in all British colonies.
Starring Welsh actor Ioan Gruffudd as William Wilberforce, and Albert Finney as John Newton, Amazing Grace was released on February 23 in the USA and March 23 the UK, to mark the bicentennial of the passage of a key bill in the battle against the slave trade. The Australian release will be on July 26.