By David Stravers

America is now in throes of trying to assimilate the first wave of those mature and maturing members of society collectively referred to as ``the television generation.'' That television's effect on American society has been huge is generally agreed upon. That its potential service to America is nearly unlimited is undeniable. Whether television's total effect will be ultimately for good or ill is a matter of considerable controversy. There are growing indications that today's college students, the first to be born into the TV Era, are increasingly turned off by television. It is doubtful, however, that any such reaction will remove television as the central feature of American life that it is today. Television is too firmly entrenched as an American habit. Thus, an idea among the evangelical churches, one which was born during the early days of television's debut, continues to grow and thrive in the assurance of television's firtile future. That idea today is a simple realization that television has a vast and untapped potential for mass evangelism.

Another mass medium, the radio, has already proven its usefulness in communicating religion to the masses. From the 1930's rhetoric orf Father Coughlin to the financially successful reactionism of Carl McIntire, radio has been used successfully to move people's pocketbooks, if not their hearts. The Christian Reformed Church, a relative latecomer in legitimate radio-evangelism, overflows with self-congratulations on the extensive, diversified, and successful programming of the Back-To-God Hour forms the backbone of the Christian Reformed effort at mass communication of the gospel. The felling still persists in some places, however, that the church is missing out in another communications medium. It is thus most interesting to discover that the Back-To-God Hour is presently producing a new series of programs, not radio but television programs, to be aimed at the mass ``post-Christian'' audience.

Dr. Joel Nederhood, in describing this new attempt, compared the programs to the radio spot announcements (originally sponsored by Plymouth Heights Christian Reformed Church) presently being aired over principle motivation behind the attempt is to work ``in the youth culture, rather than over against it.'' Nederhood points out that the sixty-second announcements attempt to work ``through specific events'' to suggest and interest young people in the possibilities of Christianity, ``definitely a soft-sell.'' The Back-To-God Hour television advertisements are patterned after this soft-sell approach to persuasive communication. They will visually reinforce this same type of appeal to the youth culture by such visual ``bridges'' as shots of roaring motorcycles, while retaining essentially the same style of verbal approach as in the radio spot.

Shot Spots

The television spot is certainly not a new idea. Rev. Jay Harold Ellens, pastor of the Farmington Christian Reformed Church, points out that the United Presbyterian Church has ``adapted their theological ambitions to the short-segment spot'' and has been using this technique for some time. Rev. Ellens, who recently published his doctoral dissertation on program format in religious television, explains that the Presbyterians view a program of this type as a kind of leaven to hit the viewer hard and provoke him to a thought process which will eventually lead to new behavior. Paul Stevens, head of the Southern Baptist Convention's mass evangelism efforts, also includes the spot announcement among his repertoire of religious programming.

The thirty of sixty-second spot is the simplest and most easily produced program. There is presently a major effort to go beyond this limited format to a more extensive series of evangelistic programs. The Christian Reformed Laymen's League is now producing a half-hour children's program to be aired weekly under the title ``Blast-off!'' Described by an officer in the League as ``somewhere between hard-sell and Captain Kangaroo,'' the program received its major inspiration from ``Sesame Street.'' Writer-producer Martin Keuning described the program as ``not hard-sell,'' but a fast-moving-thirty-minute presentation consisting of twelve or thirteen two or three-minute segments loosely organized around a central theme.

There is by no means universal agreement as to the suitability of this approach, even among the church's ``experts'' in mass communication. Dr Nederhood cites two major problems in trying to sustain any such major programming effort. The first is that ``the present state of television demonstrates that our culture is incapable of generating sustained talent for long-term programming.'' Nederhood points out that we would be presumptuous as a small church to attempt to do what the entire North American continent has failed to do: provide the talent necessary to produce long-term programs of consistently good quality. Dr Kenneth Bergsma, a consultant for a Detroit media development corporation called Creative Universal, compounded the problem in pointing out that today's general public is very advanced in tastes and attitudes. The average television viewer is used to sophisticated rhetoric and programming, and he will tune our or turn off any program that doesn't meet his standards. Dr Bergsma is more optimistic than Nederhood about eh potential for such programming, but he admits that to achieve it ``would require a total reshuffling of attitudes and resources.''

Thus arises the second problem cited by Nederhood, finances. ``Sesame Street'' costs eight million dollars to produce. The cost of producing Back-To-God Hour spots ranges from $500 to $1,000 per minute. Ellens cites the figures of fifteen thousand dollars to both produce and market a complete high-quality spot, with the cost of sustained lengthy programs proportionately higher. ``Blast-off!'' has partially circumvented prohibitive cost by recording on the cheaper video-tape (rather than sixteen-millimeter) and contracting WZZM-TV to underwrite the basic production cost of twenty thousand dollars. So far, at least, two other stations, both in South Dakota, have agreed to air the program free of charge. The question is whether the church can depend on an agreeable producer to step in and underwrite a sustained financial burden. The Southern Presbyterians, who prefer the more lengthy format to the spot, are prevented from doing more than ``spot evangelizing'' for financial reasons. According to Ellens, the over-selling of the television medium as a panacea for mass evangelism in the 1950s led to a ``credibility gap'' between the religious programmers and the supporting denominations, often resulting in significant budget restrictions. Now the spot is heralded as at the format of the Seventies. An additional barrier is the traditional refusal of broadcasting companies to sell time to denominations (Billy Graham is exempted as a ``national institution''). The way around the refusal seems to that of Paul Stevens who produces programs of such consistently superior quality that they are willingly aired by various networks.

While generally pessimistic about such efforts as ``Blast-off,'' Nederhood recognizes the possibilities which occasional special programs and documentaries have. Ellens opposes the spot announcement as attempted by the Back-To-God hour for several reasons. First of all, it is not a durable format because ``although it may be an effective leaven, it is not a very specific package of insight.'' Perhaps the only hope is to air enough spots which together will ``add up'' to something worthwhile. Another consideration is that of increased competition among denominations. Stations will be picking and choosing among those spots offered and this will demand more time and money to produce spots of superior quality. ``Anything less than perfect is worthless because you won't get it on the air.''

Perhaps the most significant objection is that the spot often ``projects a self-defeating image.'' It pictures, by implication at least, ``some poor guy who just hasn't yet caught on'' to Christianity. The spot may seem fine to the church people, but it will be immediately turned off by the person it is aimed at - the disenchanted, uninterested non-Christian. Such a spot might be compared to the popular tract of the 1930s and 40s: the image is frivolous, moralistic and, thus, self-defeating.

This problem is definitely not limited to the spot of evangelical programming. It exists in any attempt to reach the unchurched with the Christian gospel. As Dr Bergsma noted, ``People today have a fantastic capacity to tune you out before you can even get to them.'' Therefore, the relevance of Christianity needs to be delicately handled. Bergsma advocates a very persuasive soft-sell approach which would seek not to ``evangelize'' but to ``persuade.'' By seeking a slow acceptance of the Christian message. Spots have one advantage in that they are too short to be turned off (physically), but too many of them lean toward the hard-sell approach and are immediately turned off mentally. Ellens favors the documentary because it is the mood of the times: confrontation, and ``confrontation is also the nature of the Christian gospel.''

``Blast-off'' is not exactly the style of programming that either Ellens or Bergsma would prefer. Because it is being used in connection with ``Orbit,'' a children's Bible study program, it is necessarily of a more ``Sunday-School atmosphere.'' The Laymen's League plans a follow-up program in which every child who writes in will be contacted by an adult Christian and hopefully enrolled in the Home Bible Club. The club hopes to draw inner city children on a city-wide basis, and emphasizes personal involvement rather than theological teaching. Although this fundamentalists orientation is a more direct approach, it carries the disadvantages which a more subtle soft-sell would not have.

Dr Bergsma agrees that the best market for mass evangelism is children. Both Bergsma and Ellens were involved in a previous venture in children's programming entitled ``No Kidding.'' The program was intended as a teaching exercise in which Christian values were communicated, not intellectually but through feelings, personal needs and spiritual and emotional attitudes. It was aimed at the ghetto child, and the theological format ``came out very consistently and specifically with a progressive reformed orientation.'' More closely resembling ``Sesame Street'' than ``Blast-off,'' it communicated Christ's teachings in a way which was definitely ``a very soft, gentle sell.'' Although the attempt died for lack of funds, the hope still remains that the church may in the future recognize the potential for such programming on an extended basis. In Reverend Ellens' words, ``We must not view television and radio as panaceas for evangelism. The media is not suited for this. However, it is a very excellent opportunity for a ministry to the present mindset and cultural value system.