"Digital Media Strategies in a 21st Century Church"

Celina M. Yebba

I am a graduate student at the University of Central Florida, working towards a Master of Arts in Rhetoric and Composition. Prior to graduate school, I was assigned to a civil engineering squadron in the United States Air Force, and was deployed to Afghanistan as a member of the 560^th RED HORSE. My research interests include digital evangelization and social media composition.

Contents

Abstract

Introduction

History of Christian Media Use

History of Christian Media Use Cont.

Religious Use of Digital Media

Religious Use of Digital Media Cont.

Conclusion

Works Cited

Religious Use of Digital Media, Cont.

A specific evaluation of the effectiveness of the CCH campaign in Chicago was conducted in 2012. The intention of the three dioceses that participated in the project was to increase evangelical range in their area. To do that, the three dioceses purchased television advertising time to show commercials produced by CCH, and they all provided additional guest service training to their parish staffs. To evaluate the success of the program, priests of parishes that had participated in the campaign were surveyed 1 year after the program concluded. Surveys showed that, “One half (50%) reported seeing a positive change in parishioner fervor or devotion at Sunday Mass; 61% perceived an increase in people using the Sacrament of Penance; and 44% reported an increase in people inquiring about marriage validations" (Cieslak, 2012, p. 127).

The Church of of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS)  is another denomination of Christianity that has found success through digital evangelization campaigns. Church Elder David F. Evans is the digital technologies specialist for the website Mormon.org. He has put forth a tremendous amount of time and resources to ensure that the media campaigns on the Mormon.org website would become an effective tool for conversion. I also observed this site and noted that, like Catholics Come Home, the content was highly engaging. I found the most effective element of the website to be the application "Missionary Chat." This feature gives the user an opportunity to actively engage with missionaries 24 hours a day, and though subjects are limited to evangelization and conversion, the user still experiences a personal interaction with a church missionary. When the user's chat session is complete, they are asked if members of the LDS church could visit their home to continue the dialogue in person. The results have been extremely effective. Mormon.org launched their chat room in 2008, and at least 5,000 people are estimated to sign on each month to engage with missionaries. Perhaps one of the interesting aspects of this application is that it allows Mormon missionaries to connect with people in countries where Christian evangelization is illegal, like in countries that are predominantly Islamic (Pellot, 2013).

Another successful aspect of the Mormon.org site is the “Meet Mormons” campaign. Practicing Mormons have the opportunity to submit a profile and picture to be used as a witness statement on Mormon.org. Thousands of profiles are listed, and a user can select to review the profiles of Mormons by gender, age, ethnicity, previous religion, location, or by a random search. These profiles show members of the church answering questions like “Why I am a Mormon,” and “How I live my faith.”  The “Meet Mormons” campaign presents every Mormon with the opportunity to evangelize while simultaneously giving curious onlookers an honest and personal look into the lives of practicing Mormons.

The last major feature of the Mormon.org website that I analyzed is the "I'm a Mormon" ad campaign. This multi-million-dollar video-series campaign draws users in by allowing them to observe how Mormons live lives similar to non-Mormons. These three- to five-minute video segments allow users to observe the testimony of Mormons from every state, every age, and every background; however, unlike the “Meet Mormons” campaign, which is a completely user-based application, “Meet the Mormons” videos are professionally produced and published, and the church selects the members that will be featured (Pellot, 2013).