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Uganda: Attending Church Via TV
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New Vision (Kampala)
10 May 2008
Posted to the web 12 May 2008
Thomas Pere
Kampala
A CHOIR member once quit the team and stopped going to church. When her pastor stumbled upon her and asked her why she quit, she said: "To be safe from gossip, I now follow the church's programme on Lighthouse Television."
Christians are increasingly resorting to radio, television and the Internet for spiritual nourishment. They get all the services the regular churchgoer gets: counselling, Sabbath prayers and Bible study. Computers and mobile phones have made it even easier. Televangelists write their account details on the screen for their audience to make financial contributions. They also advertise books and video tapes to make their gospel message even clearer.
Patrick Nsubuga, an employee in a renowned corporate company, says: "I believe God can be found in Church, just like in any other place. Spending hours in Church is a waste of time."
The Rev. Dr. Solomon Nkesiga, the Principal of Kampala Evangelical School of Theology, says the media enables the viewer to read, see and hear, but there's no intimate connection. You also miss Holy Communion if you don't go to church, he says.
He says only misguided people can substitute Sabbath and fellowship with gadgets.
"Reliance on gadgets limits your participation and makes you become individualistic. Since the televangelist cannot easily follow up his audience, spiritual growth is retarded. You will only receive, but cannot ask questions," he adds.
However, televangelism is a blessing to busy people, prisoners, travellers and communities that lack churches.
Fr. Seamus Horgan, the Secretary of Apostolic Nunciature at the Vatican Embassy in Mbuya, says: "The Acts of the Apostles bears witness to the way of worship of the first Christians. Acts 2:42 says the new converts devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, the breaking of bread and the prayers."
He says the members of the early Church were aware of the need to pray together. "It is impossible to be an independent Christian. To be baptised into Christ means to be baptised into the community of believers, into the Church.
They say: 'No man is an island', but I believe no Christian is an island. Faith is not a private matter. We cannot be joined to Christ while we are being cut off from His body, which is the Church," says Horgan.
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Horgan says the radio, Internet or television can help those who, because of illness or other reasons, cannot attend the Eucharist on a particular Sunday. But, he adds, this should only be a temporary alternative.
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