Christian Media Practices on Poverty Reduction and its Implication for the Development Discourse of the Nation
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Date
2014-12
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Ethiopia is one of the oldest nations in which Chri stian religion has a long standing history in the
world. The understanding of the Word of God among the majority of Chri stian religion followers
is yet less, giving room for myth and culture mixing into Christianity. Accordingly, the impact
(good or bad) is reflected in the culture, politics and even economy of the nation.
The study examines the practice of Christian media in relation to development by ex ploring the
major development based teachings of the Bible, starting from indi vidual transformation of
thinking to communal development establi shed through a sustainable development culture. The
theoretical frameworks that underpin the study are participatory development communication
and li beration theology. The study is organized in descriptive design and qualitative research
method; where by purposive sampling technique was used to select the interviewees and the
Bible teachings for the data. The data is organized, presented and analyzed under five parameters
namely; mind transformation through the word of God, poverty/ prosperity mentality, living
righteously, serving the Lord with the calling and blessing, and media usage and role.The major findings in the study indicated the Bible teachings can transform the mind against the
popular thinking that highly hinders individuals and communal development. The study further
showed that reali zing the impact of Chri stian religion in the long standing hi story of the nation, a
strategic development communi cation method needs to be implemented so as to transform the
nation towards one great agenda, i.e. poverty erad ication.
The development focused Biblical teachings can also impact the general public if they are
communicated strategically in the secular media as the Chri stian values are proved to be good
and acceptable universally. A case in point could be the bestselling on leadership and personal
development/se lf-help books, articles and other materials including the web, published by
prominent authors officially sourc1l1g the Bible for their wisdom. The study concluded the
Chri sti an teaching practice have much to offer in bringing transformation whereby a
development culture can brought up. The media in these regard playa major ro le in transmitting
and creating a room for dialogue based on the Chri stian values which are proved to be
uni versally true and acceptable.
Based on the findings and conclusions, suggestions were given on how Chri stian teachings and
values could be incorporated in the development agenda of the nation and how the media could
help to achieve the goal.
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Keywords
Christian Media Practices, Poverty Reduction, Development, Discourse of the Nation