ADVANCING MEDIA EVANGELISATION IN THE DIGITAL AGE: APPRAISAL AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR NIGERIA
Being a Paper Presented by Dr. Cletus Akwaya, Publisher/Editor-in-Chief, DAILY ASSET
At the 3rd National Pastoral Congress in Benin-City 8th – 11th November, 2022
It is a great honour and also a rare privilege to have been invited to be part of this important occasion, the 3rd National Pastoral Congress[1].
I am humbled to be in your midst because this is a rare assemblage of Leaders of the Church in Nigeria. My job appears to have been made easy because the audience is no doubt a knowledgeable one. Let me hasten to clarify even at the risk of disappointing a few that I may not have all the solutions to the very important conversation of digital evangelisation. And this is for the simple reason that this is an emerging and fast – growing field, with the dynamics too frequent to effectively keep track even by the most committed Scholars. It is however, my fervent hope that my little contribution will go a long way to provoke a robust discussion on this very important topic, such that in due course, the Church will find the answers needed to chart a new course in her evangelisation work.
Nigeria is face to face with a digital revolution. And the maxim appears to be “embrace the revolution, or the revolution will consume you”.
The digital revolution no doubt has come with huge benefits. Unfortunately, on the flip side, it does have a good dose of negative impacts on the society as well.
The fact that the “Whole Wide World(www)” has been reduced to a single digital community has exposed many Nigerians to foreign cultures, trends and beliefs with the concomitant adverse consequences, which include erosion of our traditional values of decency in appearance, respect for elders and constituted authority, the fear and worship of God among others. Other alien practices and vices like Gay, Lesbianism Transgender and Bi-sexuality (LGTB) are now unfortunately, but most aggressively creeping into the centre of the nation’s social life.
The upsurge in socio- economic crimes and criminalities like kidnapping for ransom, banditry and armed robbery[2] and the new past time of many young people-Internet crimes aka “Yahoo Yahoo” have added to the moral decay and ills of the Nigerian society.
From the point of view of the Church, the challenge for evangelisation has not only become enormous but more urgent than ever before. The times require of the Church to respond swiftly and in a profound manner to the challenges by equally deploying digital resources in a strategic manger to enhance the spread of the Good News of Christ.
This brings us to the theme of this presentation: ‘Advancing Media Evangelisation in the Digital Age: Appraisal and Recommendations for Nigeria’
Concept of Evangelisation: In simplistic terms, evangelisation is essentially the effort of the Church to spread the Good News of Christ as commanded in the Scriptures. In Matthew’s Gospel, Our Lord Jesus Christ commanded: “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”[3]
This Command was reinforced in the Gospel of Mark: “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.”[4]
According to Evangelii Nuntiandi, “Evangelisation means bringing the good News of Jesus into every human situation and seeking to convert individuals and society by the divine power of the Gospel itself.”[5]
There is therefore, “no true evangelisation if the name, teaching, the life, the promises, the Kingdom and the mystery of Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God are not proclaimed”[6]
Through the centuries and decades, the Lord’s Command (Great Commission) has been carried out via the traditional methods of evangelisation–Masses, conferences, home visitations, crusades, rallies, seminars, group prayers and inter-personal contacts. These methods and more, though still relevant in Nigeria, are however, being aggressively supplanted by the emerging digital platforms, which offer new options to the work of spreading the Good News.
This, I risk to submit is in consonance with the spirit of the Evangelii Nuntiandi, which affirms the role of every Christian and not only the ordained Ministers, or Priests, deacons, the religious, or professional church staff, in spreading the Good News of Jesus Christ.
Digital Evangelisation: The concept of Digital Evangelisation entails the work of spreading the Gospel of Christ through the digital media, which comprises social media, mobile apps and websites.
According to Nelson Musonda, “Digital Evangelisation is the act of teaching and spreading the good news of the gospel through digital media by people known as digital missionaries, digital evangelists, or digital disciples”.[7]
As stated earlier, the increasing popularity of the new media has made it imperative for the Church to catch up with the emerging cyber communities for the work of evangelisation.
The advent of the COVID-19 Pandemic and the restrictions it imposed on people and social interactions around the World and the global economic crisis in the aftermath of the Pandemic lockdowns have imposed more difficulties on families and reduced capacities for physical interactions and made the case for digital evangelisation more compelling.
The Catholic Church in Nigeria however, responded very slowly to the use of digital platforms even in the wake of the COVID-19 Pandemic Lockdowns as many Priests could not fathom the idea of celebrating the liturgy without the congregation in Church talk less of other evangelical activities.[8]
Digital Evangelisation Platforms
There are various digital evangelisation platforms that the Church can utilise in the spread of the Gospel. Some of the platforms relevant to this conversation will be considered. These include:
- Social Media: Of all the digital assets available to the Church for evangelisation, the social media appears to be the most popular with the people. Familiar social media handles include Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Clubhouse, WhatsApp, Signa, Reddit, YouTube, Photo book, Flicker, etc
The social media handles are easy to use and its popularity growing by the day. However, its positive impact is best maximised through its strategic deployment in terms of the kind of messages and the follow up or continued engagement with the various audience.
- Websites and Blogs: Websites and Blogs offer opportunity for massive information dissemination as a one-stop shop for resource. There is no doubt that Websites and blogs will serve as veritable avenues of evangelisation.
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO):
This tool is found in most websites and is often deployed by online users to access information on the major search engines like Google, Yahoo. Americaonline (aol), Alibaba, etc. It works with key word and content. For SEO to be deployed effectively, the source must use relevant keywords and contents that resonate with the right audience.
Any church organ or leadership that desires to reach an appreciable number of people online must therefore, be conscious of the keywords and content of each message.
- Content: This refers to the whole gamut of materials transmitted online in the entire digital space. It entails the process of writing, editing, and publishing in digital formats or platforms and includes materials like website or blog posts, video or podcast scripts, e-books, whitepapers, press releases, social media copy, etc.
Creating online content for purposes of evangelisation is a specialised and technical area requiring special attention and expertise.
Pastors and Parish priests often make the mistake of pouring their daily or Sunday Homilies online with the view to reaching a large spectrum of the cyber community. Such posts usually attract less attention and generate little or no impact if not properly presented. Online content needs to be created specially in the language or style that appeals to the taste of many online users. In Nigeria, majority of those consuming online content have been identified to be young persons.
- e-mails: The e-mail has proven to be a potent digital platform for evangelisation. Special evangelisation mails could be sent through discussion groups or sent directly into inboxes of the targeted audience. A Pastor, Parish Priest or Chaplain can easily deliver hundreds if not thousands of e-mails in a few minutes to Parishioners, congregation and members of pious societies. The same can be done by lay societies and groups in a Parish Community. The advantages of the email are immense. It’s cheap, fast and efficient.
- Mobile APP: Evangelisation can be conducted through Mobile application devices. The mobile App enables direct communication without a third party interface unlike the e-mail and social media handles. Through dedicated apps, Church leaders can send sermons, schedule of Church activities, catechism instructions, breaking news, etc to the targeted audience and indeed link communities to the liturgy in a live or real-time experience. The singular unique advantage of the mobile app is that members get alerted automatically anytime a new message is posted. What an effective way to evangelise?
- Digital Analytics: The physical Church affords Pastors, Homilists and Preachers to obtain immediate and sometimes spontaneous responses from congregation, some form of confirmation that the preacher is impacting the audience. Although not a universally acceptable practice, church congregations often rise to standing ovations after very impactful Homilies, sermons or retreat messages. This has a way of arousing the Spirit in the Preacher and does increase the inspiration to continue. Such practices also encourage better participation in the Liturgy, retreat, seminar or workshop as the case might be. The impact of direct engagement between the Clergy and the congregation can also be measured by increases in the number of participants at Masses and other functions.
The online Church audience is however, different as Pastoral, Religious and Lay Leaders alike can gauge the acceptance of their messages through the statistics about those reached. It is therefore, important to collate and analyse data as much as possible in a digital evangelisation environment. Such data is useful for creation of relevant content for future use and also helps to identify or define the demographics for each message.
- Short Message Service (SMS): Text messaging is one of the fastest digital means to evangelise. It has the advantage of being read conveniently in a short time. However, its limitation to the maximum of 160 letters reduces its potency for lengthy evangelical messages. Bulk messages might also be expensive but could reach specific people in defined locations.
- Podcasts: This entails the use of audio/visual products to send messages via internet. Podcast has become very popular with internet users and suitable for transmitting homilies, music and related messages for purposes of evangelisation.
Status of Digital Technology in the Church in Nigeria
In spite of the multiplicity of digital assets available to the Church for evangelisation, it is regrettable that much of the Church in Nigeria is yet to embrace the raging digital revolution.
Yet, the speed of digital penetration of the Nigerian society makes it absolutely necessary for the Church to adopt digital evangelisation as the centre of her growth in Nigeria.
Available statistics show that Twitter has about 5.1 million subscribers in Nigeria by 2022 forecast, while Facebook subscribers rose from 27,120,000 users in 2019 to 37million by July 2022. Similarly, the total number of GSM subscribers by all networks climbed to 208.6million by June 2022, while internet subscribers rose to 151 million by June 2022.[9] What these figures point to is that the digital environment has become a necessary space, whose occupation will be competitively sought by politicians for voter mobilisation; the Church for evangelisation; the business community for their brands and the populace for general information and entertainment needs.
In relative terms, the Pentecostal Churches appear to be moving faster in the deployment of digital platforms to reach out to members and potential members of their individual churches.
The Church population is increasing rapidly requiring also newer and faster methods of evangelisation. With a population of about 20 million in 2010[10], the Catholic Church constitutes about 25 per cent of the entire Christians in Nigeria, while Christians constitute about 46-48 per cent of the nation’s over 210million population by 2022.[11]
The Catholic Church is historically a conservative organisation, slow to reforms and changes in her traditions. While some of the Priests are still stuck to the analogue mode in the conduct of Masses and other liturgical activities, some Priests are ambivalent about technology even where they have some measure of computer and IT literacy. In other words, Digital Technology is yet to take roots in the missionary agenda of the Church.
The factors responsible for this include but in no way limited to Poor or absence of IT infrastructure in rural Parishes (Internet connectivity); Absence of electricity; Absence of ICT skills and tools and Cost of Internet subscription.
Whatever the constraints or challenges, the time for transformation has come and the Church cannot afford to wait any longer but embrace the digital revolution for the purpose of evangelisation. It is for this reason that this discussion has become compelling at this point.
Evangelisation Through Traditional Media
The Catholic Church in Nigeria embraced the media as a tool for evangelisation when she founded the first Church newspaper, the Catholic Herald of Lagos in 1924.[12] Since then the number of newspapers published by the Catholic Church has grown to at least 17[13].
Over the decades, the Church has used these newspapers to reach the congregation and other publics with messages about Church activities and even for purposes of evangelisation.
Recently, the Church has commenced investments in Radio and TV stations, the most notable of which are the Catholic TV of Nigeria (CTV) based in Abuja, which broadcasts on Free to Air Satellite; the Catholic Star Radio by the Makurdi Diocese, the Luminous Radio of Gboko Diocese, which broadcast online among others.[14]
The question as to whether the church has successfully deployed these traditional media outlets to further the work of the Gospel is polemic and one’s views will depend on where he stands.
No matter the divide to which one might belong, the underlying incontrovertible reality is that the Catholic Newspapers, the Radio and Television stations have a plethora of problems that tend to slow down the pursuit of the goals for which the outfits were established.
These challenges range from lack of finances, relevant tools, technology, skills and expertise to properly defined audience, readership or listenership and the lukewarm attitude of Parish Priests, Religious and Lay Leaders to the overall role of the media and its place in the Church’s missionary agenda or evangelisation.[15]
And I hasten to observe that these factors are even more prevalent in the digital age and the Church will be confronted with same if not more in the effort to embrace digital evangelisation
Digital Platforms for Liturgy and Evangelisation: Recommendations for the Catholic Church in Nigeria
The steps towards open embrace or adoption of digital platforms for evangelisation should be calculated and well measured to avoid unintended adverse consequences. The Church in Nigeria has diverse sociological, historical, demographic and geographical formations, which reflect in her progress and growth.
Against this background therefore, it is difficult to have a wholesale recommendation of one or two Digital methods of evangelisation for the entire Church in Nigeria just as it is difficult to deploy certain digital methods in absolute isolation or exclusion of others.
It therefore, follows logically that each Church Community or leadership can adopt the platform best suited in the environment or that is amenable to the local circumstances and conditions.
- National Action Plan on Digital Evangelisation: The Church in Nigeria can and should adopt a national plan of action, which overtime will place her in a position to effectively and efficiently deploy digital platforms to propagate the Good News of the Gospel of Christ. Accordingly, it is highly recommended that a National Action Plan on Digital Evangelisation be launched by the Church. This plan will have timelines and develop clearly defined activities as well as evaluate or measure the progress made and the Milestones accomplished.
- Choice of Digital Method: One or a combination of the nine digital platforms (SEO, Social Media, SMS, e-mails, Apps, Content, Data Analytics, Podcasts, Websites and Blogs) earlier discussed can be adopted for evangelisation in any given environment or circumstance. Whichever choice is made, the Social Media appears the most attractive and is hereby recommended. This is because of its massive appeal to younger persons, the relatively low cost to its deployment and its real -time delivery of messages to recipients. Irrespective of the choice made, there are definite steps the Church has to take if it must reap the full fruits of digital evangelisation. Since some digital platforms can be used in tandem, a combination of approaches like a Website/Blog, Content and SEO are encouraged and recommended. The website operated by a Church community will support online registration and documentation of all Parish members with all relevant information like emails, phone contacts, house and office addresses for continued engagement and serve as useful source of information to the public and indeed as a critical tool for propagation of the Gospel of Christ.
- Catholic Media Foundation
There is an urgent need to establish a Foundation for the Catholic Media in Nigeria. This initiative should be coordinated by the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria and should serve as a funding platform for the Catholic Television, the Newspapers, Radio stations and the Digital Media, which together will serve as vehicles for furthering The Church’s Media (digital) evangelisation activities. The Foundation shall also coordinate training of Journalists and media workers and research activities that support evangelisation.
- Acquisition of Tools/Equipment: The very basic step in the digital environment is acquisition of basic ICT tools. These include Cameras, Smart Phones, Laptops, Desktops, Scanners, Photocopiers and Projectors by the Parish, Chaplaincy, Church Community, Societies or Evangelisation Teams.
- Training: Aggressive training of Priests, the Religious and Lay leaders on Computer education and IT skills is recommended. In this direction, it is necessary for each Diocese to establish a Diocesan Computer/IT Centre at a central location to support the training of personnel, where none exists.
- Digital Evangelisation Office: The Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) is hereby called upon to adopt a resolution for all Dioceses to establish Digital Evangelisation Teams either as a Directorate or part of the existing Social Communications Directorate. There is need to have a dedicated team of designers, content writers, social media experts and digital marketers, who will oversee digital evangelisation on a sustainable basis and mainstream same as part of the Church’s administrative and evangelisation structures at the Diocesan level. Since digital evangelisation is a highly technical activity requiring expertise and specialisation, it could hardly be done effectively by adhoc personnel or staff.
- TV Production (Mini) Studios: A smart studios is necessary for production of visuals like news items, documentaries, jingles, clips, profiles, etc necessary for digital evangelisation. There is therefore, the need to establish a TV production centre for each Diocese to handle electronic recording and production of visuals for all Diocesan liturgical activities/evangelisation. The recording and production of Masses and other parish activities for mass distribution through USBs, CDs, VCD or online sharing (e-copies) can be undertaken by the Studios.
Owing to cost of equipment, such studios can be established at the Diocesan level and where resources permit at the Deanery level and in the long run, cascade to the Parishes.
- Projection of Liturgy, Scriptural Passages and Messages: The Liturgy is the cornerstone of missionary work in the Church. Therefore, Sunday Readings, Hymns, Common prayers and Announcements during Masses and other religious meetings should be projected to the congregation for easier understanding. The use of projectors compliments message delivery and understanding, where Public Address Systems are not in place or inadequate. Projectors are also necessary for crusades, rallies, seminars and other outdoor evangelical activities.
- Cinema and TV Viewing Centres: This model of media evangelisation predates the digital age but remains relevant in the Church’s evangelisation work. Thus, TV and Cinema activity should be given premium for the rural Parishes/communities where there is no access to Satellite TV and in some instances Terrestrial TV signals are absent. Such Centres might open at weekly or other reasonable intervals where documentaries on the Catholic Faith and other relevant evangelical materials can be shown to local viewers.
CONCLUSION:
The digital revolution is fast becoming the way of life in Nigeria. Hardly a day passes without a phone owner or digitally active citizen making use of one or more digital methods to communicate.
Although the benefits are numerous, the Catholic Church in Nigeria is yet to embrace the new reality in the same manner as perhaps the Pentecostal Churches. There appears to be the fear of the unknown hanging around this new reality.
Although the Holy Spirit ultimately makes conversion possible, in human terms, the Church is made more attractive to the youth population through the use of digital platforms in evangelisation. That the traditional media, i.e Newspapers, TV Stations and Radio stations have also adopted massive use of digital platforms to reach even more readers, viewers and listeners underscores the importance of the digital revolution.
Media Houses like NTA, AIT, Channels TV, Radio Nigeria, Thisday, Daily Trust, Daily Asset, Punch, Vanguard, Guardian, etc are active in the digital space.
The political class is not left out as almost all the political parties have adopted one digital approach or the other or a combination of some to market their candidates to the electorate in the on-going campaigns ahead of the forthcoming general elections.
Similarly, Various Businesses are doing likewise in the race to for greater market shares for their goods and services.
Against this background, the Church risks being left behind in the fast changing experiences of the digital revolution.
Regardless of the challenges earlier mentioned, the benefits of the Digital media to evangelisation are too attractive and too numerous to ignore.
The time to start therefore is now. The Church cannot afford to wait any longer.
Thank you all for your attention.
[1]The National Pastoral Congress was instituted by the Catholic Bishops Conference to among other objectives “deliberate on effective ways of fulfilling in contemporary Nigeria, the Mission entrusted by Christ to the Church: to promote ecumenical and interfaith dialogue and to foster the relationship between the Church and the State”
[2]The Catholic Church has been so much hit in recent times. Some many priests, Religious and Lay leaders have been abducted and killed. Churches have been attacked and scores killed, etc.
[3]Matthew 28:19-20
[4] Mark 16:15
[5] Evangelii Nuntiandi (Evangelization in the Modern World, Apostolic Exhortation by Pope Paul VI on December 8, 1975
[6] Ibid.
[7] Nelson Musonda, Founder of DelMethod is Digital Evangelisation Specialist.www.delmethod.com accessed 0ctober 25, 2022
[8] The Eucharist is the Centre of Worship in the Catholic Church. The participation of it requires physical presence. Virtual Masses were therefore, seen by many priests as strange –The New Normal.
[9] NBS Statistics on GSM Subscribers in Nigeria
[10] The Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria reckons that Catholics number between 20 and 23million.
[11]Wikepedia.org-accessed 22Nd October, 2022)
[12]www.catholicherald.org.ng.
[13] The papers include Good Shepherd- Published by Abuja Archdiocese(Weekly) published since 1988; The Cross News – Kaduna Archdiocese(Monthly) established in 1993; Catholic Herald – Lagos Archdiocese(Weekly); Catholic Star Makurdi Diocese(Monthly);Catholic Link-Port Harcourt(Monthly); Trinitas – Onitsha Archdiocese (Weekly); The Way – Otukpo(Monthly); Word of Life – Jos Archdiocese(Monthly); The Missionary-Warri Diocese(Monthly); Citizen’s Advocate – Abakaliki Diocese(Monthly);Katolink – Osogbo Diocese(Monthly);The Christian Outlook – Nnewi Diocese(Monthly); Leader Newspaper – Owerri Archdiocese(Weekly); The New Chronicler – Ilorin Diocese; The Partner – Ijebu-Ode Diocese; The Promise – Auchi Diocese and Shepherd Communications – Nsukka Diocese(Monthly)
[14] There are other radio stations as well. In addition, Lumen Christi and AIT, though privately owned TV stations have been very useful to the Church in Nigeria for media evangelization.
[15] For a more detailed understanding of the state of the Catholic Newspapers in Nigeria see: The Problems and Prospects of a Successful Church Newspaper in Nigeria. Being a Paper Presented by Dr. Cletus Akwaya, Publisher/Editor-in-Chief, DAILY ASSET Newspaper at a Workshop for Catholic Media Practitioners Association of Nigeria (CAMPAN), Abuja, 19th April, 2021.
