The soon-to-be-released independent documentary Leap of Faith deals with a question that will likely be familiar to many members of the Calvin community: “whether we can disagree and still belong to each other in a divided world,” according to the film’s press notes.
The film, directed by Nicholas Ma and produced by Morgan Neville, focuses on a kind of soft experiment facilitated by The Colossian Forum, an organization whose mission is to help churches and other Christian organizations deal with conflict in a Christlike manner. Twelve pastors from churches across Grand Rapids — and with a range of theological, racial/ethnic, and political backgrounds — commit to meeting together several times over the course of a year to discuss pressing topics such as race, economic inequality and sexuality.
The organization came to Ma’s attention in 2021, when a Wall Street Journal article highlighted The Colossian Forum’s role in helping churches navigate conflict over political issues. Ma said the organization caught his attention because it felt “different in this world where it seems like we’re battling for the hearts and minds or opinions of other people. Michael [Gulker, director of The Colossian Forum] was trying to offer something different, a way of being together, but also holding difference.”
The resulting documentary, which is the first feature documentary Ma has directed, is not the first time Ma and Neville have collaborated on a documentary. In 2018, Ma and Neville worked together to produce Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, which portrays the life of Fred Rogers, host and creator of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.
One reason the film’s driving question may feel familiar is that it deals with places and people close to Calvin. In the lead-up to Synod 2022, Calvin worked with The Colossian Forum and its resources to facilitate small group discussions on sexuality among faculty and staff. The Colossian Forum founder Michael Gulker is, himself, a Calvin grad.
According to Gulker, The Colossian Forum came partly as a result of his own struggles to resolve conflict in his congregation as a young pastor. Raised in the CRCNA and now ordained as a Mennonite pastor, Gulker found himself attracted to what Stanley Hauerwas, Alisdair MacIntyre and various other Anabaptist authors had to say about peace and reconciliation. Gulker became increasingly convinced that “whatever work was to be done, whatever positions that we held, they had to be held accountable to love of God and love of neighbor.”
After his time as a pastor, Gulker — with the encouragement of friends and acquaintances, including Jamie Smith, professor of philosophy at Calvin — began looking at “conflict as a spiritual practice or a spiritual discipline, where the goal wasn’t winning, but the goal was deepening love of God and love of neighbor,” said Gulker. This led to the formation of The Colossian Forum in 2011.
Although necessarily the filmmakers’ intent, the documentary itself is centered around the pastors’ conflict — both internal and external — over sexuality. While other issues — such as race and class — come up early in the documentary, it becomes clear by the second half of the film that sexuality is the issue where the pastors disagree most strongly. The documentary could have benefited from giving a little more introduction to the pastors themselves, perhaps something similar to its brief but effective introduction to Grand Rapids and the city’s church culture. Overall, however, the film serves its purpose well, offering a hopefulness for recognition of humanity — and Christian faith — in those we disagree with.
“I think it’s easy to think that someone’s wrong if you don’t know them, but when you know them — you may still think they’re wrong — but you understand them, and you understand yourself better,” said Ma.
Leap of Faith will be released in select theaters — including Celebration Cinema GR North — on Oct. 4.
