Page 82 - Key Words in Religion Media and Culture

Community 65

Giving testimonies clearly fulfills an important role in mutual support and
encouragement among migrants. Through testimonies, individual believers
are able to share their concerns with others in the congregation and thereby
receive mutual support both material and spiritual through the combined
efforts in prayer.

Media ministry, actual institution (ministry), and community
Taisto Lehikoinen also refers to attempts in the study of religious media
communication to distinguish between “media ministries” and actual or
church-type institutions or ministries as I designate the latter (Lehikoinen
2003: 250–3). There is a tension, he notes, between mediated ministries
and actual church ministries, a tension that he crystallizes into the following
questions: “Do media ministries serve as constructive religious suppliers
for already churched people? Or do media ministries and church ministries
compete against each other in ways that erode the authority of church bodies?”
Lehikoimen concludes by referring to the established view, arguing from a
Western viewpoint that “active consumers of religious media are also active
members in their local congregations” (Lehikoinen 2003: 251). He refers to
Peter Horsfield, who echoes the mainline position that the electronic church
cannot be a genuine Christian community (Horsfield 1984: 52–63). In the
developing world, there are very few ministries that are predominantly media
based. Most media-based ministries are representatives of actual ministries
or churches, so members are actually encouraged to “participate” together
with their families in the ritual of viewing as a continuous aspect of church
life. The influence of religious media on non-Western communities is thus
very strong and far reaching.
The questions raised by Lehikonen arise because of the ability of
religious media not only to influence religious orientation but to generate
religious communities. It is not uncommon for members of media-generated
communities to divert financial resources—tithes and offerings—away from
their regular church communities to the ministries of television, radio, and
book evangelists who may be reaching them at their points of need through
those media. In the words of Lehikoinen, “Media ministries have been a
successful new form of mediated religion, which guarantees their influence
and continuity, because they can fulfill genuine religious needs through
the use of media” (Lehikoinen 2003: 252). Generally giving, including
tithing, offerings, and donations, is a big theological practice in Pentecostal-
charismatic religion. The sacramental value of seed sowing so passionately
regarded by Oral Roberts has greatly influenced the theology of giving in
this type of religion across the world. In the Western world where ministry
could be completely media based, the strength of the religious community