Ethical Scripture Engagement

Six Questions Towards Good Stewardship

Question 2 - Identify with content?

by Andreas Ernst

Another factor that influences our media ministry impact has to do with the design of our content. The first point to consider when designing content is choosing topics which are of interest to your audience.

This can be challenging given the objectives of Christian ministry. Holistic development and spiritual growth are not always on everyone’s agenda, nor are they always a felt need. Quite the opposite: Narcissism and meaningless entertainment and distractions are increasingly numbing the minds of media consumers. Nevertheless, it is possible to let God’s transformational principles come alive through the everyday needs and interests of our audiences. In fact, building rapport with audiences through their daily realities not only allows us to meaningfully capture their interest. It also forms the basis upon which God becomes truly tangible and personal in their lives. Myers warns us of the “tendency of some Christians to assume that, since the Bible is about spiritual things, then the domain to which the Bible speaks is only the spiritual realm. [...] While this is good and proper, it unwittingly precludes the Bible from speaking to the material world of science and development” (2011). (To see a full Myers citation go to this link.) He goes on to explain:       

What can we learn from this? Just as every aspect of life ultimately needs God’s presence and transformation, the daily life experiences of our audiences can become mirrors or vehicles for reflecting and transmitting his nature and identity to them.

Jesus drew his disciples’ attention towards the birds and flowers by the roadside in order to teach them important life lessons. In the same way, we need to learn to talk about the things our audiences experience and care about, in order to start conversations with them about God’s presence in their lives. Regardless of whether our audience is interested in agriculture, learning languages, becoming familiar with their political rights, getting to know the Scriptures, how to use pesticides, how to protect themselves from AIDS, how to obtain safe drinking water, or how to respond to corruption in the school system, we must ask ourselves whether our ministry activities and content build on the interests of our audience. As we choose the topics to cover, we must take into account not only felt needs from daily life, but also the religious background and language preferences of our audience, their freedom to engage with a given topic, and their worldview and educational background. All of these factors will help us assess what topics can be discussed and at what level.

Making sure our audiences identify with our content also has to do with their learning preferences. If your content is already informed by the ‘Integrated into media habits’ factor, you will probably already know how to at least get your audience’s attention. However, content choices such as language choices, communication genres and styles, as well as technical aspects and design aesthetics can further boost the appeal of your content.

The choice of appropriate illustrations, font sizes and style, colors, print quality, music, and sound effects, etc. are just as important as considering literacy or phone literacy levels. In addition, religious and cultural values may determine who can offer advice on what issue, which topics are taboo, what languages and music styles are appropriate for what purpose. While some audiences like entertainment based on audiovisual content, others may prefer written information presented in a factual way, at least when it comes to certain types of information.

It is important to note that the two questions ‘Integrate into media habits?’ and ‘Identify with content?’ are very closely interconnected. For instance, content design often needs to be adapted to the media habits of the end users. If for example you find that your content will most likely be listened to by small groups of people rather than individuals, or during rush hour with lots of ambient noise, this has implications for the design of your content. Here’s another example: Say you are planning to share Bible story videos via YouTube because you find out that your audience is regularly on YouTube. However, as you dig deeper into the ‘Identification with content’ factor, you may realize your audience loves music videos and prefers low resolution videos because at work with others they listen to rather than watch videos. The reason may be that only some audience members can afford to buy data, and no one has time to look at the screen anyway. However, as you ask ‘Identification with content?’ questions, you may find out that this group watches these videos in this way for social identification purposes. You may find out that a particular kind of music video is preferred, because it reenforces the religious identity of the group, perhaps even to set itself apart from others at the workplace. How would you go about engaging this audience with this new information in mind? Whatever your approach may be, your ‘Identification with content?’ questions will need to be complemented by insights from your ‘Integrate into media habits?’

If you have any questions for Andreas, feel free to contact him through our website contact from here.