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 PrintableVersion The last TV evangelistDigital disciples?THE LAST TV EVANGELIST There can be few people as qualified as Phil Cooke to write about the challenges facing Christian media today. He’s a filmmaker with a PhD in theology, a media strategist based in Hollywood, and he’s been involved in religious broadcasting throughout his working life. The Last TV Evangelist is his call to the church to think much more radically about how to engage the contemporary world with the gospel. Christians have always been quick to harness the potential of new communication technologies. However, while the church seized the opportunities brought by the printing press, radio and television, Cooke argues that it has been dozing through the tectonic shifts caused by the new media. He is not suggesting that Christians have done nothing, but that they have been ‘less than effective’. Cooke has two key objections to the religious media mainstream. First, he objects to it being ‘safe’, designed not to ruffle feathers inside the Christian ghetto. The Christian message has never been safe, but is profoundly challenging, frequently provoking hostility from the world. Second, he complains that the church too often uses new media with an old media mindset. Old styles of communication simply do not mesh with new technologies like Facebook and Twitter or even YouTube. It is vital to understand that it is not just a question of old versus new media, but fundamental shifts in the culture. Western society has changed radically in the ways that people gather information, what they do with it, and how they communicate it. And more change is coming, whether we like it or not. Cooke rightly insists that this necessitates a complete paradigm shift. We need Christians in the mainstream media, rather than producing material within, and for, a Christian ghetto. He argues that Christians should be engaging with the secular media; we need to know how they impact people, and how we should respond constructively. Crucially, we need people to inhabit the new media, exploring new ways to communicate the truth of the gospel in conversation with others, rather than simply blasting our message at people to whom we don’t listen. Young people may be thoroughly at home with the multiplicity of media channels and spaces, but more mature people must also learn how to operate in this new environment for the sake of the gospel. There are some important insights into the changing face of the media here, and the implications for churches. The problem is that this is written for an American context. So to find the useful gems, UK readers must wade through a great deal of material that is largely irrelevant to our very different context. Tony Watkins,
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