I was just thinking about this the other night.
Has the increase of Christian media(i.e. TV, radio, books, conferences, etc.) affected how Churches in America function? Or more specifically, has the rise of Christian celebrities (i.e. Teachers, Preachers, Book Writers, Theologians) actually caused more harm than good?
With radio, TV, and bookstores now being used to promote certain Christians men and women, and to sometimes try to sell Christianity to a consumer-minded Church; how has this affected small, local congregations? Can individual congregations, who often times have few resources, and who have simple men and women serving in them, compete with large(corporation-like) ministries? Do people even need local Churches, when they can find so much knowledge online, and access to radio and video sermons on a daily basis? What about Churches in which the music is played on an organ, and songs are selected from hymnals? How can they compete with so-called Christian Artists?
Is all of this easy access to information/ answers actually an impediment to real theological/doctrinal discussion in local churches? When a question arise in Churches, or there is some type of disagreement regarding doctrine or church regulations, do men and women sit down with their Bibles and search through the Scriptures for answers, or have a theological discussion? Or do they take the easy way out, and search online for someone else's answer, or pick up a book that covers that topic?
