Director Nicholas Ma talks to The Contending’s Megan McLachlan about his documentary Leap of Faith and how a line exercise changes the trajectory of the film.
Nicholas Ma’s documentary Leap of Faith follows 12 Christian leaders as they meet over the course of a year to discuss issues within their congregations. But what starts as a slice-of-life tale in Grand Rapids, Michigan soon evolves into something more, speaking to the fissures not only within these communities but our own.
“There was no movie at first,” says Ma. “[Producer] Morgan Neville and I would Zoom with Rev. Michael Gulker [who becomes a focus in the doc], and because there was little else going on in the film world during COVID, we could stick with it and the relationship.”
A year later in 2021, Gulker brought up a concern that sparked something.
“Michael told me that Christianity was fracturing in this country, and this country was fracturing because of Christianity, and he wanted to do something bigger. He said, ‘I want to bring a bunch of pastors together to see if we can live our faith and hold together.’ And I was like, that could be interesting!”
Of course, Leap of Faith becomes more than a test of Colossians 1:17 (“All things hold together in Christ”) and develops into a journey of self-discovery.
Leap of Faith‘s Line Exercise Divides the Group on Same-Sex Marriage
Pastors speak their own language, and Ma says that titrating that was important to the film, as you need to understand enough of it to know what’s going on.
“One thing all of them commented on is that pastors will use language to dodge. It’s a way to sound like you’ve said something specific, but you actually haven’t. It was interesting to watch them contend with that choice. That’s where that line exercise really helped. You’re voting with your feet here. You don’t get to qualify it.”
The line exercise becomes a crucial moment that changes the trajectory of Leap of Faith. Gulker asks the pastors to stand on a line and answer questions, stepping forward for yes, backward for no. When they get to the question about whether they’d officiate a same-sex marriage, the group splits, which surprises the pastors as much as it did Ma.
“That was the antithesis of what I expected, for many reasons. I live in Brooklyn. It’s not really an issue I encounter. My husband and I are very happily married with a kid, and it’s not something I see. But this is the one [thing] they didn’t know how to find their way through. Seeing how hard it is for them reminds us of things that are hard for all of us.”
The other questions in the exercise included those about abortion, race, and whether or not people believe in the literal death and resurrection of Jesus.
“I thought that would be more controversial among a group of pastors!” exclaims Ma. “Everyone was surprised by it, and that’s part of the beauty. We’re not manufacturing that. The harder question from a filmmaking perspective was how to balance the individual stories against the group dynamic.”
“There’s So Much Vulnerability in This Film From Everybody”
In terms of balancing those individual stories, Ma hones in on two narratives. Rev. Gulker reveals that his adopted children identify as LGBTQIA individuals, something that causes personal friction within his beliefs versus his love for his family.
“I came to know what he was struggling with, but I didn’t know before it all started. I know he said he did this work for his family, that wasn’t a surprise for me. But I didn’t know all the details of it. What’s on film is based on trust that’s built before that. I don’t think we knew this was where the journey would take us.”
Another individual story highlighted in the film is Joan’s, a gay pastor who breaks down emotionally after the line exercise.
“For Joan, she’s been in these spaces before. She knows what it takes. The movie is not an inducement to say, find a group of people who disagree with fundamental aspects of your identity and walk right in. I think she knows that if she’s going into this space, she has to bring everything, all of herself. When we screened it for the pastors for the first time, one of the conservative ones said, ‘There’s so much vulnerability in this film from everybody, but a disproportionate share of it was borne by Joan and Michael.’ I think it was a beautiful thing to recognize. Even the acknowledgment makes a big difference.”
‘We Get Told We’re a 50/50 Country, But We’re Really More of an 80/20 Country’
While audiences learn a lot about these pastors in the film, one thing they won’t is their denominations. Ma omits this information on purpose to avoid giving people labels, instead allowing the pastors to speak for themselves. However, the positive feedback Ma has received regarding Leap of Faith expands beyond Christian communities.
“I have heard now of very conservative people thinking about the love commandment in the bible in a very different way. I hear stories of atheists finding a greater peace with more conservative relatives. It’s really resonated within the Jewish community. I think there’s something beautiful about that. We get told we’re a 50/50 country, but we’re really more of an 80/20 country. 80 percent of us would like to live together.”
Leap of Faith is now playing in select theaters in Grand Rapids, MI and Nashville TN, at the Angelika Film Center in NY on October 11, on 10/18 in Boston and Atlanta, and 10/25 in Dallas, Houston, Austin, and Indianapolis.
