In a Q&A about the film, Garner, who attended church regularly with her family growing up in West Virginia but lapsed upon arriving in Hollywood, told her audience that she wasn’t used to being open about her faith, but that she “couldn’t not talk about it” while talking about her new movie.

“It’s made me really look at my town of Los Angeles and realise that we don’t talk about faith. It’s not a conversation that we have on set. Whereas in this movie, it was,” said Garner.

“It has become very political. It’s something that, if you’re a person of faith you are so on the outside there’s no way to bridge that with somebody that’s ‘normal’. That’s one thing I love about this film, it’s about a normal, wonderful family who happen to have leaned on their faith to guide them through the hardest things in their lives. But it’s not a movie that is telling you to have faith, it’s just something that’s lifting up people who have faith.”

Jennifer Garner plays Christy Beam in ‘Miracles From Heaven’.

Miracles From Heaven, which opened in Australian cinemas last month, is based on the true story of the Beam family and is an adaptation of a book of the same title written by Christy Beam. When Christy discovers her 10-year-old daughter, Anna, has a rare, incurable disease, she searches for a solution and is a serious advocate for her daughter’s health and healing. But after a freak accident, Anna’s condition disappears and Christy calls it a miracle.

Garner says she was struck by Christy’s personal story when reading the script and “wanted to honour what Anna and her whole family went through.”

But she said once of the greatest gifts of the film was that it sent her and her family back to church. She now goes every week to a local Methodist church with her children.

“That decision was a direct gift from the movie, and for that I’m very grateful,” said Garner.