“So, you think you want to be a televangelist?”
I certainly didn’t. But here we are!
As COVID began and shut down churches in early 2010, we had to do something for Dorothy. She didn’t have a computer, email, a smart phone and had never been online. 86-year old Dorothy still deserved to get a message of hope and grace during the pandemic, so old-school TV it was.
We purchased six weeks of airtime on a local station (because that’s when the President said it would be over), grabbed a friend who had some cameras and knew how to how to do some digital editing, and WNY Church Unleashed was born. Over five years later, it’s now a worshipping community recognized by the ELCA with a viewership of over 1,000 homes each week and a budget that’s in the black each year.
In fact, the three churches that partner together to produce Church Unleashed could add up their in person attendance each weekend and it’s still half of how many are reached through the TV worship program.
We never wanted to be televangelists. In fact, merely typing the word makes me think of the creepy, unethical, 1980’s TV preachers that would send you a brass dove paperweight if you gave a gift over $500. We’re not them, but we still have an audience that is in dire need of good news and doesn’t do social media, Zoom rooms or care much about your content calendars.
TV is still an avenue for sharing God’s good news.
Is the audience older? Yes. But we continue to hear story after story of parents and grandparents being able to share messages of hope from Church Unleashed with their kids and grandkids. And we continue to hear of kids that visit with their older parents and watch church together. And we continue to hear of families that watch from different places and then call one another after to discuss the sermon or the program itself.
I completely understand that social media outlets are a key piece of our proclamational ministry now and probably forever. But don’t rule out TV. There is an entire market in your area where you serve that still receives their messaging from television. Why not consider adding your message of hope to the mix?
This post is the second in a series of guest posts from the pilot cohort of The Narthex project, a Caffeinated Church partner that is currently accepting applications for sub-grant funding to explore digital tools for ministry.
