East Carolina Uses TV to Promote Stewardship
Diocesan Press Service. August 31, 1972 [72122]
WILMINGTON, N. C. (DPS) -- The Episcopal Diocese of East Carolina has demonstrated that the mass media can be used successfully to promote its stewardship program.
The Diocese purchased 30 minutes on three commercial television stations which serve the Diocese to present a program in color for the promotion of the Every Member Canvass throughout the Diocese. The telecast, which was arranged by the Department of Stewardship and Communication, was shown on a Sunday morning from 10:30 to 11:00 on stations in Wilmington, N.C., Washington, N.C., and Norfolk, Va.
Arrangements were made for color television sets to be placed in parish halls or naves of all 69 parishes and missions in the Diocese, which includes the eastern third of North Carolina. Each congregation made its own arrangements for a local appeal in connection with the telecast to promote its own Every Member Canvass.
The program, which cost less than $1,000 to produce and air, featured slides, music, film, drama and appearances by the two Bishops of the Diocese -- the Rt. Rev. Thomas H. Wright, Diocesan, and the Rt. Rev. Hunley A. Elebash, Bishop Coadjutor. The narrator was the Rev. Frank F. Fagan, rector of St. Stephen's Church, Goldsboro, N.C., and communication chairman of the Diocese. The producer-photographer was Mr. Robin Smith, Columbia, S.C.
The purpose of the program, which was video taped in Columbia, S.C., and Washington, N.C., was to increase diocesan giving. The tithing principle was presented through pantomime as a guideline for giving.
The Diocese had set a goal of 20 percent increase over the previous year's giving, though the actual increase was only 10 percent. The increased pledges, however, made it possible for the Diocese to enlarge its program, including the restoration of its quota payment to the national program of the Episcopal Church and increasing the minimum mission clergy salary to $7,000 per year.
"The television venture," Father Fagan said, "was successful in demonstrating to the Diocese the use of this medium on a mass scale at a pre-arranged time to communicate. We are definitely planning to use it in next year's canvass, and perhaps in other ways. "