New Beyond Today TV Studio Set Installed
Preaching the Gospel in the Internet Age
By Jack Oakes
The UCG TV studio is an example of where most of the Church of God (COG) community are going wrong. Their thinking on preaching is still stuck in the 1980’s or even earlier. They are not adapting their preaching to current times.
T
UCG Beyond Today TV Program shows no increase in the growth rate of subscribers since the use of their new TV Studio which started in January 2019. 
Fig 1 UCG Beyond Today YouTube subscribers.(1)
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TV ratings are on the decline, especially among young people.(2) The 4 main US TV networks combined audience declined by 4.8 million viewers or 16% in the 4 years from 2014 to 2017.(3)Popular current affairs programs such as 60 Minutes ratings have declined from the 20’s up until the mid 1990’s to as low as 7.7 in 2015-16 to recover to 12.5
To take an old-style talking heads TV format, supplant it into social media such as YouTube, does not fix the problem of declining TV audiences. COG’s need to reassess how they preach.Let me quote from Professor Peter Horsfield, Professor of Communication at RMIT University in Melbourne Australia who previously worked for the United church (a mainstream Australian Protestant church). He sums it up this way.
“When you look at the history of Christianity, it has been a history of writing based and printing based institutions organised around power structures and sustained by having elite leaders who are educated in writing and printing. Most of the mainline denominations are fundamentally print based organisations. They operate institutionally out of bureaucracies for example.” (5)Sound familiar? Herbert Armstrong’s background was print advertising. Horsfield goes on to say -
What digital media has done is that they have not only challenged the way in which churches communicate, they have actually changed the fundamental media environment which previously sustained the sort of organisation that Christianity has had. It is changing quite considerably and that partly explains the decline in the number of people in mainline churches now. And the increasing age of members because churches still address a culture that is now a past culture.(5)Horsfield is writing about mainline Protestant churches, but he could just as well have been talking about COG’s.
The Bible Project uses short animated videos to reach its audience; not talking heads.
In comparison to the Good News TV station subscriber growth of 7,400 or 17% since January, The Bible Project has grown by 280,000 or 24% to 1.45 million subscribers.
The Bible Project YouTube station is growing much faster than UCG Beyond Today TV Program. The Bible Project added 280,000 subscribers compared to 7,400 for Beyond Today between January and August 2019.  
Fig 2 UCG Beyond Today YouTube compared to The Bible Project subscribers.(1)
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Another example of YouTube success is the conservative commentator Denis Prager.
Prager changed his YouTube format to animation-based mode in 2013. This change resulted in a increase in subscribers.
Prager changed his YouTube format to animation-based mode in 2013. This change resulted in a increase in subscribers.
“This year [2015] 1we will have more than 50 million views as confirmed by YouTube and Facebook,” Prager says in an email to The Daily Signal, adding that “the largest single demographic of our videos are people under 35 years of age.”(7)COG’s more specialised message will never have the mass appeal of a more general Bible message like The Bible Project. However, it would have been more effective for UCG to spend their members/donors $1 million on a different format to talking heads such as an animation-based model.
My plea is for COG’s review their media preaching and move into the twenty first century.
References :
(1) I regularly accessed the Beyond Today TV and The Bible Project YouTube stations on the internet to progressively record their subscriber numbers. I realise this is not the only platform UCG use, nor am I aware of any advertising support they may have used to support their YouTube results.
Subscribers usually indicate an interest in the station. Views on the other hand can be fleeting and hard to evaluate their quality of interest.
Subscribers usually indicate an interest in the station. Views on the other hand can be fleeting and hard to evaluate their quality of interest.
YouTube Subscribers
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Date
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Beyond Today
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The Bible Project
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25-Jun-18
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32,110
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878,364
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19-Jan-19
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43,426
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1,174,863
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19-Aug-19
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50,841
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1,454,823
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(2) Why Traditional TV Is in Trouble. No Choice for Marketers But to Rethink TV Ads. New York Times May 14, 2018 Sapna Maheshwari and John Koblin
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/13/business/media/television-advertising.html [Accessed 18 August 2019]
(3) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nielsen_ratings. [Accessed 18 July 2019].
(4)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/60_Minutes. [Accessed 18 July 2019]
(5) The Medium is the Message. ABC Radio RN. The Spirit of Things. 23 August 2015 Professor Peter Horsfield. Professor of Communication at RMIT University, Melbourne, Peter was Dean of the Uniting Church Theological Hall, Melbourne, from 1987-1996 and Lecturer in Applied Theology at the United Faculty of Theology in Melbourne. From 1997-2005, Peter was a member of the International Study Commission on Media Religion and Culture. Author of many books including “From Jesus to the Internet: A History of Christianity and Media (2015)”.
https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/spiritofthings/the-media-is-the--message/6703146 [Accessed 18 August 2019]
(6) The Bible Project was started in 2014 by Timothy Mackie and Jonathan Collins who originally met at the Multnomah Bible College. Their stated goal - ” The Bible is one unified story that leads to Jesus, but we don't always treat it that way. At The Bible Project, we make animated videos that explore the books and themes of the Bible.”
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVfwlh9XpX2Y_tQfjeln9QA [Accessed 19 July 2019]
(7) How Dennis Prager’s Conservative Online University Reaches Millions Madaline Donnelly November 04, 2015. The Daily Signal
There is so much that could be said or written. However, I’m not sure that even the most effective and up to date methodology would make other than negligible difference in selling the message of Armstrongism. Think Black Panther, Branch Davidian, or Peoples’ Temple. Like them, Armstrongism is a movement that was time and date-stamped in so many ways, and also has a massive PR problem in that there is so much negative information just a few mouse clicks away for those who wish to perform even perfunctory due diligence. How many times does the core-hook of prophecy need to publically fail before any organization with the letters C, O, and G is totally discredited regardless as to whether they are even associated with Armstrongism?
ReplyDeleteI find it amazing that there is any growth whatsoever in UCG’s YouTube Channel, even considering the fact that UCG is perhaps the most bland of all the ACOGs. They’ve toned down many of the historical negatives of the movement without adding attractive positives to counter or replace them. It is the positives that attract members. People want to align themselves with organizations and philosophies that improve their quality of life, their feelings of security, and their ability to cope and thrive in a changing world. Not something weird, full of negatives, and embarrassing practices that must constantly be explained away.
Animation. Hilarious! If Bob Thiel had been anywhere near effective in using it, perhaps we’d be calling him a visionary! Seems from the article that animation is one of the emerging trends, possibly due to the popularity of video games, avatars, and such. Perhaps the next mega-evangelist to emerge will be a cartoonist! I shudder to think of the acid-trip video games that could be based on Dave Pack’s “new truths”
BB
Have you not heard of the phenomenon of unchurching ? It is a growing movement of christian believers in God who don't have faith in the church buildings and overall church organisations anymore.
ReplyDeleteWhat were the television ratings for the first century church??
ReplyDeleteIt must have been very high, in order for the church to grow that quickly and change the world!
Even if the UCG changes their format they need to shake off Armstrongism and put HWA out to pasture for good.
ReplyDeleteThere are many aspects to their connection to Armstrongism that will hinder any future growth. Now I'm not saying that UCG should go the way of the current Grace Communion Int. I'm sure UCG can still hold on to the Sabbath, clean and unclean foods, and some of their core beliefs without any of the major radical changes that the WWCoG did back in the day, after all there are many Christians not associated with Armstrongism who hold to the Sabbath and the food laws, etc. There are some things they need to scrap such as British-Israelism and the German/Assyrian connection which has be proven by history, archaeology and of course DNA to be proven as false. They need to start focusing more on Jesus and His ministry, teaching forgiveness, grace, etc. There is too much to list that needs to be changed as to have any affect on the UCG and their program. I'm not saying that the UCG should water down any doctrine to start teaching smooth messages, they can still stand fast and be grounded in the word of God and get the message of salvation out to the masses, but they need to be more Christ centered and less Armstrong centered. The UCG does have to tools to be a great ministry if they wanted too but as long as they cling on to HWA they'll remain stagnant.
A new television studio . . . they are just rearranging the chairs on the deck of a ship that is slowly sinking to the bottom of the ocean. It will make the leadership feel better because they are at least doing something. When you are desperate, you try anything.
ReplyDeleteI've said it before and I will say it again, Jesus set the example of how to perfectly spread the gospel, and it was not through the means of some fancy TV studio.
ReplyDeleteIt requires getting your hands and feet dirty, which none of these men want to do, so it will go till the true gospel spreader returns.
Tonto - the first century church had 100% of the possible TV audience.
ReplyDeleteSince that was zero, they used synagogues plus preached anywhere there was an audience.
HWA was very good at marketing. When radio was king, he was king of radio.
His first attempt at TV fell flat. With GTA doing the programs, he became king of religious TV, and was able to keep that up when he gave GTA the boot.
If the Internet had been around in his day, he would probably found a way to dominate religious programs there too.
HWA's motivations appeared to be personal wealth and fame. Since WCG was a non-profit corporation sole, he succeeded by living a long life, and dying rich and famous.
The leaders of the splinters are not nearly as capable, and some may actually believe some or all of what they teach. Only 2 splinters have rich leaders, the rest are upper middle class with a lot of tax free perks.
Somewhere, Bob Thiel saw these numbers about animation messages and said, "I told you so."
ReplyDeleteThe annual Comicon shows are amazingly now, and very popular. Many graphic genres fall under the Comicon umbrella, including the gaming industry which seems to have had its genesis with Generation X, and has continued into the Millennials. I actually have three customers involved in producing comics, but none that I know of in animation. Much of the artistic styles in the limited edition, collectable comics is shared in the type of animation popular in the gaming industry. It just reaches out and grabs people of a certain age and mindset.
ReplyDeleteThe problem is, while yes it could be used for evangelism, much of it is pretty much the antithesis of Christianity. Scantily-clad buxom women, antireligious symbolism, and extreme violence are often part and parcel of the package. They are the hook that helps the product sell, and are incompatible with any sort of gospel message, especially the Armstrongite half a gospel. The examples of Bob Thiel's animations that we've seen here would be considered lame, and would not register or resonate with the typical audiences for today's animation.
Imagine an animated gaming update of Basil Wolverton's apocalypse, with modern teenagers Rashim and Tanika starving, struggling, and and suffering in the midst of it all. Gradually, they discover and employ many of the alleged keys historically provided by Armstrongism, and fight many battles to impliment them in their lives. They progress to different levels of existence as they discover the sabbath and tithing, and clean foods. Gradually, in the midst of the tribulation, they begin to teach these things to their friends and family. On the final level, Jesus returns, and restores sanity. Contact information is provided for UCG, who have additional answers. Would the kids buy into that? Or would it become the butt of jokes, like the infamous Jack Chick comics which used to be parodied and lambasted in National Lampoon, which was the real publication that young people doted upon?
The problem is that people are generally more sophisticated today than they were at the peak of the Plain Truth and World Tomorrow, and they see through overly simplistic "solutions" that end up resulting in mind-control. If there is any framework in which Armstrongism can be successfully employed and promoted, it's going to require much research and thought in order to develop. Someone will need to begin with a clean slate, and the splinters are too loaded down with past baggage to accomplish that. When there is no longer a need to financially support the old ministers from the WCG, perhaps someone will be able to reimagine the philosophy and to successfully remarket it.
BB
BB said: “...the infamous Jack Chick comics...”
ReplyDeleteI loved those tracts as a kid! :-) My best buddy in primary school actually had a stack of ‘em and we’d read ‘em all the time. I’ve since collected heaps of ‘em myself! (Check out Kurt Kuersteiner’s
“The Unofficial Guide to the Art of Jack T. Chick: Chick Tracts, Crusader Comics, & Battle Cry Newspapers” at https://www.amazon.com/Unofficial-Guide-Art-Jack-Chick/dp/0764318926).
I was Catholic and my mate was Baptist. It was JTC’s conspiracy theory literature that opened my eyes to the cons of Catholicism, which possibly—and unfortunately?!—may have contributed to the appeal of Armstrongism later down the track. Oh well you live and learn! :-)
My favorite Chick comic was “The Sissy”.
ReplyDeleteOn the cover is a picture of a badass truck driver driving down the road in a cowboy hat, puffing on a butt, and the caption reads:
“Duke thought Jesus was a sissy, until a trucker explained to him the horrible price Jesus paid so his sins could be forgiven. Then Duke saw that Jesus had more guts than anyone who ever lived!”
BB
1.10 PM
ReplyDeleteUpper middle class do not believe in, or use mind control. They do not employ abusive cult techniques.
These splinter leaders do have the appearance of upper middle class, but it's only a Pharisaic veneer.
Preach the Internet age gospel? Whatever the xcogs think that gospel is, and they are striving to get, earn, their salvation by their works, they won't preach Paul's words in 2 Corinthians 5:19 "To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them..."
ReplyDeleteBut, time will tell...
John