Impassioned debate started even before the Chair of the session, Andrew Graystone, set the conversation going on the second meeting of the stream.


Now and Then
The initial debates focused on the past and the present. Recent changes were discussed, but we must recognise that the media world is already changing, and we must engage with this. We questioned whether 'Religious Programming' is a useful genre title, and what kind of programming is currently available in this - whether it be high-quality 'Songs of Praise', or low-quality podcast sermons. Stress was laid on the fact that the challenge is to be thrown back to Christian producers to generate programme ideas to which controllers can say "I want to put that on my channel".



What options are there other than the mainstream channels?
If we took the BBC and ITV out of the equation, what other media could Christians use to reach their audience:

• Community Radio
• Marketing and branding
• Empower and enable those in the pews, free and equip people to be able to take risks
• Churches improve their 'product' (Sunday services)
• Recognise that we need to use each other's skills, rather than assigning ourselves with an institution
• Encourage and highlight high quality creative material, as C.S. Lewis and Tolkien produced in the past.