Emmanuel Oluwadola
The Media and Publicity Unit of The Redeemed Christian Fellowship, Adekunle Ajasin University Chapter has organized a semester programme tagged “Media and the Church (MATCH ’23)” to equip students with essential skills needed in the media space.
The 2-day programme which was held at the Church auditorium on the 6th-7th of January 2023, hosted students of the institution from various Christian denominations where registered participants have access to practical knowledge.
Participants were exposed to several skills such as Photography, Videography, Graphic Design, Video Editing, Data Analysis (Excel), Content Creation, and Social Media Management.
Funsho Oni, one of the co-hosts, who conveyed the overview of the skills mentioned that the vision of the programme is to see Jesus Christ being amplified through the media, hence, the training of people who will influence the media positively.
Also, the incumbent Media Coordinator, Ruth Oladipo stressed that the programme was inspired by God, as the Church stands as a medium through which humanity can be brought to Christ. She further noted that the Church should influence the media and not the other way around.
“Our vision is to raise media personnel who will stand for Christ in this perverse world, to defeat the strategies of the Devil using media as a tool to capture the souls of men. The training will continue even after our tenure,” miss Ruth declared.
One of the facilitators, Oluwaferanmi Emmanuel who anchored the Web Design class took the greenhorns through the basics and some parts of intermediate and advanced Web Designing, while he further expressed the joy of imparting knowledge to students like him.
“I am so happy about this privilege, the response of the participants was encouraging and I think the Church would be able to make a profound influence and impact on the media when members of the Churches are built to have a strong faith, because it’s themselves they carry to social media,” Oluwaferanmi commented.
“The Church Can Bring New Phase To The Media” Participants React
Taiwo Longe, a member of RCCG Breakthrough Assembly, Akungba termed his participation as a step forward in his career to become a photographer.
“I love photography and videography. Of course, this is a step forward in my goals because every piece of knowledge gained is very useful.
“Also, the media has been used over time for different purposes that are ungodly. But the Church can bring a new phase to the media. Especially, social media is not just meant to spread evil practices,” Taiwo noted.
Another participant, Ayinde Deborah affirmed that she was invited by a friend and that the training for her is worthwhile commenting on the facilitators’ expertise in respective fields of knowledge.
Analysis training section
“Our facilitators are experts even though they’re students. I had the chance to learn and relearn new things about Data Analysis. I learned how to analyze, collate and combine results, and many more. I’m a final year student, this will as well help me in my final project,” Deborah disclosed.
For Covenant Omolere, a 200-level student from Glorious Campus Fellowship, the training has helped him to improve his preceding knowledge about Video Editing and has gained more ideas on how to edit videos using his smartphone.
Reacting to the theme, Covenant reiterated that, “when the church gives room for vocational training on media usage, it will change a lot in the media space because we will have more people who are knowledgeable in this field and this will help the media to develop.”
Ilori Peace Ayoola who participated in the Graphics Design section applauded the organizers for putting up such a programme, while she, however, suggested that the programme should continue.
“I learned all the principles of graphics design, one of which is that colour is very important because it gives the design meaning. But I would suggest that this kind of programme should continue probably, yearly or once a month to enlighten and empower students.”
“The Church can change the narrative in the media by constantly educating members on the rightful use of the media to project Christ in all that they do,” she said.
