There are a ton of Christian movies out there…some with really bad theology, some really great, but how do you know the ones that are actually good and worth your time and the ones that are not? What is okay for kids to watch and what’s not?
That’s where this list comes in. These are our family’s favorite Christian movies. I’ll show you what they are, what they are about, why you should watch them, and what your children can learn from them. I’ll also include trailers to the movies, so you can see a teaser and decide if it’s something you would like to watch.
Top 10 Christian Movies You HAVE TO See This Year
No Greater Love
This movie shows the passion behind a husband and wife as they drift apart, but never divorce. The woman comes to faith during their separation, the husband goes on to believe his wife is dead when really, she left. Through God’s miraculous intervention, they meet again and things get pretty intense.
What it teaches your kids:
- EVERYONE, including moms, all make mistakes. Sometimes huge mistakes that cause undue pain and suffering.
- Forgiveness is necessary in life and second chances are a must.
This is one of my own personal favorite movies, however, almost impossible for me to watch at this stage in my life as my husband left our family basically for dead and we ended up in a homeless shelter years ago. It touches too close to the nerve for me, but still continues to be one of my favorite movies. The leading male role is played by Jonathon Turner of Boy Meets World and now of, Girl Meets World.
Purchase this movie here. See the trailer here:
Courageous
Best movie ever. This movie is geared toward men. Showing them that family is important and that being a Christian man is hard, but also necessary to not let go and slide their responsibilities. While this is mainly for men, I find it a huge encouragement to myself as well, because I never want to become complacent in my life either. We are to live life for God in a COURAGEOUS way. That’s exactly what I do on this blog, even though it’s not the ‘popular’ thing to do; God is #1 period.
What it teaches your kids:
- Standing up for God is necessary for the Christian.
- People make mistakes and that we need to guard ourselves like crazy to not walk off the path God has intended for us.
- Being a Christian is serious business. It’s not a “Drill Sargent” lifestyle, we can have fun, but that there ARE rules, both moral and before man/government that we should obey. Things like doing drugs are bad and they have consequences…in the particular case in the movie, jail.
Purchase this movie here. See the trailer here:
Left Behind Series {Kirk Cameron}
The movie series (3 DVD’s) has some pretty intense scenes where you may not want your little kids watching. For our family, I WANT my kids to know what will happen and no it’s not pretty. The world will be judged as sin cannot reign forever.
What it teaches your kids: For whatever reason, this is my kids second favorite movie set. They will literally sit there for 6 hours through all of them and watch intently (with short breaks of course between each movie). The movies take a few addlibs to help the story along, we can’t really know every detail, but theologically, the movies are sound an Kirk Cameron and his wife Chelsea Noble are my favorite actors.
A little background info: Kirk Cameron, an atheist, began dating Chelsea Noble during the end of the taping of Growing Pains. She, being a Christian. Eventually, he would give his life to the Lord in listening to a sermon at church. Kirk Cameron’s sister, Candace Cameron (DJ from Full House) would also go on to give her life to Christ as well, seeing the changes in Kirk’s life. The story is absolutely incredible. In the Left Behind movies, Kirk Cameron would not actually kiss his leading lady when they married because he felt it would be cheating on Chelsea. Super honorable family and one I can’t wait to meet in Heaven.
Purchase this 3 movie set here. See the trailer here:
Flywheel
This is one of my favorite stories. Not because of the lesson that the main character in this movie learned, but because of his heart to do the right thing, even when it’s hard. Almost daily I get emails from readers telling me that I need to take God off my site because it upsets them. They’re right. The TRUTH is upsetting to the wrong person. But, God has me exactly where I’m supposed to be, and for every person who comes, He has them here for a reason.
What it teaches your kids:
- Even when we mess up and do the wrong things in life, we CAN and should go back and make things right.
- The important lesson of how important family is and how a son needs his father in his life.
Purchase this movie here. See the trailer here:
What If… {Debby Ryan}
Another PureFlix movie, so again, not 100% theologically sound. God doesn’t send angels who become humans to send us back to another world to figure out our mistakes. With that said, it is a fun movie to watch that has many great lessons in it. One of which being to make sure we always make the best decisions we can in life because, we can get off God’s path super quick, with one seemingly small choice.
What it teaches your kids:
- Kids need their dad in their life. Without their dad, it’s a much harder life. A father is very important to a family.
- Men, more easily than women, seem to become workaholics, putting their job and money above their family.
- Family is the #1 most important thing on this Earth and I whole-heartedly agree!
Purchase this movie here. See the trailer here:
Fireproof
Another Sherwood Pictures movie (highly recommend any of their movies) starring Kirk Cameron, a fire-fighter on the brink of divorce. He doesn’t love his wife, and can’t because he’s not saved. “You can’t give love if you don’t have love to give,” his dad tells him, and real love, sacrificial love, only comes from Christ.
What it teaches your kids:
- In our day and age, even amongst Christians, divorces are rampant. This movie teaches about Biblical love and what a husband/wife team should and shouldn’t look like…how their hearts should and shouldn’t be.
Purchase this movie here. See the trailer here:
Facing the Giants
This is a great movie about a couple who is trying to get pregnant and cannot. The husband is veering off the path God wants him on in many ways and is not honoring God FIRST in his life, therefore, is in the midst of His loving chastening. He learns that he has to put God first, not last, and that life isn’t about winning games or anything else, it’s about glorifying God and reaching others. My message is the same. I do not blog to become rich, make money, and die. I blog to CHANGE…people’s…life! What good does it do if I make a good living, but those readers that are not saved all die and go to Hell because I never told them about God?!
What it teaches your kids:
- God is not bound by our rules. He can do whatever He wants, whenever He wants to and our little minds cannot even fathom His greatness. He is too big for us to understand in our human form. When we get to Heaven, we will understand, but right now, on this side of Heaven, we cannot.
- We should always be following Proverbs, where it says to trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean NOT on your OWN understanding.
- It also teaches that we are to NEVER give up. Yes the road is bumpy, it’s hard, and we feel like giving up. It looks as if we will never get where we want to go, but Christians don’t give up. God strengthens them beyond human ability. The other day I was asked how much sleep I got in the first year and a half of my blogging career. I said about 4 hours a night on average. It’s true. I worked day and night to help my family and still BE THERE for my kids. 4 hours a night of sleep for that long is not humanly possible without God’s sovereign hand. Today, I get sleep, the season is over, but God’s power and might and strength is all around us….and in us and He does miraculous things!
Purchase this movie here. See the trailer here:
Wemmicks
These are cute cartoons created by Max Lucado. There are 4 cartoons and each one teaches a different topic. This is one of my personal favorite movies of all-time.
What it teaches your kids:
- God is sovereign.
- In my personal favorite story, You Are Special, this cartoon teaches that it’s more important what God thinks about us than what others think about us. If I only had this information growing up, I would not have gone through HALF of what I did in my childhood. Every child should watch these cartoons!
Purchase this 4 cartoon movie set here. Trailer is not available.
Hermie Series
This is a really cute series in which bugs in a garden talk. Although not 100% theologically sound (we can’t hear God’s voice audibly as they do), these are fantastic cartoons that teach kids godly morals. Unlike VeggieTales (who took God OUT of their cartoons to get on TV–let me go on record saying I’m not a fan of theirs), these cartoons are something that you can enjoy teaching your kids morals WITH God at the center of the story because really, without God, morals don’t really matter!!!
What it teaches your kids:
All kinds of things from…
- Lying
- Stealing
- Fighting
- Overcoming fears
- Being prideful
- Obeying rules
- Being generous toward others
- Sharing
- …and dozens of other principles in the DVD’s.
There are a ton of these DVD’s, and we have all of them to date (unless a new one came out that I don’t know about).
Purchase these movies here. See the trailer here:
*please note: 1 movie from this list was deleted because their core values/actors in a sequel went secular.
What’s your all-time favorite Christian movie of all time? Why do you like it? What’s the latest Christianity film you have watched?
