Print, Radio, Television, and Social Media: The Changing History of Christian Evangelism in Nigeria

Abstract

Christian evangelism in Nigeria has never been a static enterprise; it has continually adapted to whatever communication technology was available to the church in a given historical period. This paper traces the changing history of Christian evangelism in Nigeria through four broad and overlapping media epochs: the print era of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the radio era that began under colonial and early post-independence broadcasting, the television era that expanded from the 1970s onward, and the present social media era that has transformed how the Christian message is produced, packaged, and distributed. Drawing on Media Ecology Theory and a qualitative historical-analytical method, the paper argues that each new medium did not merely add a new channel to existing evangelistic practice but reshaped the content, authority structures, and reach of the Christian message itself. The study finds that print media laid the literate and institutional foundations of Nigerian Christianity; that radio and television nationalised and personalised the gospel message around prominent preachers and denominational bodies; and that social media has decentralised evangelism, placing the tools of religious broadcasting in the hands of ordinary believers, independent ministries, and para-church movements. The paper also identifies challenges accompanying this media transition, including the commercialisation of the gospel, doctrinal distortion, and a widening digital divide between urban and rural congregations. It concludes that Nigerian Christian evangelism today exists as a hybrid enterprise combining older and newer media rather than one that has fully abandoned earlier forms, and it recommends deliberate media literacy training for clergy, denominational leaders, and lay believers.

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