I Can Only Imagine
Directed by Andrew Erwin, Jon Erwin
TheoScope Rating
Worldview · content · moral framework
Plot
10-year-old Bart Millard lives with his mother and abusive father Arthur in Texas. One day his mother drops him off at a Christian camp where he meets Shannon. Upon his return from camp, Bart finds his mother has left and movers are removing her belongings. He angrily confronts his father, who denies that his abusiveness was the reason she left. Years later, in high school, Bart and Shannon are dating. Bart plays football to please his father, but is injured, breaking both ankles and ending his career. The only elective with openings is music class, so he reluctantly signs up..
Discern Score Breakdown
30%
30%
25%
15%
Audience Suitability
Kids
Under 10
Teens
10–17
Adults
18+
Family
Mixed ages
Content Flags
I Can Only Imagine is a biography of MercyMe frontman Bart Millard, tracing the painful childhood and family brokenness behind the best-selling Christian song of all time. It is an unusually honest and theologically grounded film by the standards of Christian cinema, with genuine redemptive power and strong performances from Finley and Quaid. The domestic violence content makes it unsuitable for young children but highly valuable for older teens and adults willing to engage with the full weight of what grace and forgiveness actually cost.
Pastoral Take
This is a film that earns its place in your home and is worth watching as a family with children roughly 12 and older — the domestic abuse scenes are not graphic, but they are emotionally real, and younger children may find them frightening or confusing without significant parental framing. Parents should be prepared to talk honestly about what abuse looks like, why Bart's mother left, and what genuine forgiveness costs — this film does not let those questions go unanswered, but it does raise them unflinchingly. The redemptive power here is genuine and theologically grounded in a way that is rare in Christian filmmaking, and it offers one of the most compelling on-screen portrayals of adult conversion you are likely to find anywhere.
Discussion Points
- 1When Bart finally visits his father and sees how completely he has changed, he struggles to believe it's real — he even says something like 'this isn't you.' Have you ever found it hard to believe that God could really change someone? What does the Bible say in 2 Corinthians 5 about what it means to be a 'new creation'?
- 2Bart's football coach tells him early on that he sees something in him worth fighting for. How do you think those words affected Bart, especially growing up with a father who mostly made him feel worthless? Can you think of someone in your life who has spoken words of worth into you — and what does it mean that God speaks that way about all of us?
- 3At the end of the film, Bart chooses to forgive his father even though his father never asked for it in those exact terms. Do you think forgiveness requires the other person to ask? What does Jesus say about forgiveness on the cross, and how does that change how we think about what Bart did?
- 4The song 'I Can Only Imagine' came out of Bart not being able to find words big enough for what he believed heaven would be like. If you tried to write or describe what you imagine being in God's presence would feel like, what would you say? Does thinking about that change how you see the hard things in your own life?
- 5Arthur's change didn't happen all at once — the film shows him reading the Bible, going to church, and slowly becoming a different man over years. Why do you think real transformation usually takes time like that, rather than happening overnight? What does that tell us about how God works in people's lives?
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Cast
John Michael Finley, Madeline Carroll, Dennis Quaid
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