TV EVANGELISM'S EFFECTS ON LOCAL CHURCHES STUDIED

Jim Dufek, an assistant professor of mass communication at Southeast Missouri State University, always held an interest in a modern slice of Americana televangelism.

It's no surprise then, that the topic of his doctoral dissertation was the effect religious broadcasting has on local church attendance.

"I've always had a fascination with televangelism and the people attracted to it," Dufek said Thursday. "I thought this would be a good way to understand why and how people use television in religious life; specifically, the relationship between people who watch religious television and those who attend church."

Some of the findings from Dufek's research were surprising. He and Andrew Pratt, adjunct faculty in Southeast's department of philosophy and religion, will present the material Tuesday night at a program titled "Televangelism in America."

The program will begin at 7 p.m. at the University Center Program Lounge and is open to the public.

Dufek said that last year he completed his study, which included a survey of more than 500 adults in Cape Girardeau, Jackson and Scott City.

The goal of the study was to determine if a number of variables religious television, the importance of religion in daily life, age, education, gender, expression of faith through prayer, reading the Bible, and the importance of interaction with local clergy are related to local church attendance.

Not surprising to anyone who's lived here for long, people in Southeast Missouri generally place more emphasis on faith and their relationship with God than do people in other parts of the country, he said.

"This area also has people that watch religious television more, comparatively, than other areas," Dufek said.

Although national data indicates that the majority of people who regularly watch religious programming on TV also regularly attend a local church, Dufek's study found a peculiar deviation from the norm here.

"There's a small percentage of people in this area who will watch but not attend a church," he said. "There's no other area in the country that statistically will show that."

Dufek said that his doctoral dissertation is long on data and objective observations, but doesn't delve into more subjective interpretations of the information gleaned from the study.

That's where Pratt comes in. Dufek said the philosophy and religion professor has some interesting theories about the effects of televangelism and religious broadcasting on local worship services.

"Andy has some feeling that people who watch religious television expect that same enthusiasm in their local church," Dufek said.

Pratt said he believes "people unconsciously carry a comparison between what they see on television and what they see at their local church." He said televangelists are "very slick personages and have shaped ministry into performance," whereas local church members see their own ministers as real people "with all their faults."

Pratt said part of the colloquium will explore whether television ministers have become standards for ministers at all levels.

"What happens when televangelists are the role models for local ministers?" he said. "I think it can be positive or negative.

"A lot of it depends on the integrity of the people doing it. You can have scandals like Jim Bakker and Jimmy Swaggart, but people of real integrity also can effectively use the medium without scandal."

Pratt said he has found that local ministers, particularly those in conservative or fundamentalist denominations, tend to mimic their counterparts on television through their hair and clothes styles and mannerisms and speech.

But he said it's unrealistic for congregations to expect the same, "glitzy, error-free, perfect" performance from their local pastor as they see daily on television.

"I think there needs to be some recognition that all media is interpretation, and some people fail to realize that," Pratt said. "When they watch a religious service, it's choreographed, rehearsed, and the minister is really a personality, like a news anchor or a talk-show host."

Pratt said unrealistic expectations of the local minister and worship service can lead to disappointments and can affect the way local services are conducted.

He questioned whether Christianity, through religious broadcasting, is moving from a book-driven faith to a "video-driven faith."

But Dufek said he doubts television is the primary source of people's religious teaching and guidance.

"I have found that the reason most people watch it is they find it entertaining," he said. "Closeness to God and building their faith in God is secondary to entertainment with a Christian atmosphere.

"There's also the feeling that the programming kind of accentuates what they already believe."