A theological reflection on the Steps of Faith television program of the CPU Chaplains Office

Abstract

This Special Paper studies the effects of the television program “Steps of Faith” (SOF) of the Central Philippine University (CPU) Chaplain’s Office on its viewers and participants of the show who were mostly students at Central Philippine University. The specific objectives of this study are: 1) to determine the motivation of students in their study; 2) to ascertain the level of awareness of the students on issues related to their faith and Christian accountability; and 3) to determine the participation of students in the church.

The methods used in this study were descriptive and analytical. This study utilized the official records of the Chaplain’s Office and came up with a questionnaire to be answered by CPU students who participated in the SOF show. There were 380 students who answered the questionnaire.

The major findings of this study are the following:

1) 88.2% of the respondents were aware of the subject matter discussed before watching the show. After the show, 98.2% of the respondents became more aware of the topic discussed in relation to their faith and 97.6% were able to identify their Christian accountability related to the issues discussed in the SOF program.

2) The overwhelming majority (98.7%) of the respondents were motivated to study more and 97.6% of the respondents were inspired to study after watching the SOF program.

3) The SOF television show has also challenged 92.6% of the respondents to be more involved in their church activities and 87.1% were willing to discuss SOF related topics to their churches. SOF program inspired 90.9% of the respondents to do voluntary work in their church and 92.9% were challenged to participate more actively in their church ministries.

4) The impressions of guests and participants of the show suggest that the SOF program should be continued because it gave relevant information related to burning issues of the day; it served as a means to challenged Christians to deepen their faith and put it into action; and it was a significant avenue to reach out and evangelize people.

This study has proven that the majority of the respondents became more aware of the issues presented in the SOF programs; they were motivated to study more and to be more active in their church activities after watching the SOF program.

In view of the findings, it is recommended to the producers of SOF to continue the program. Secondly, the SOF program should find ways to inform the viewers of the topics to be discussed prior to the show so that the viewers would be ready and be more active participants of the SOF program. Finally, the SOF program should find ways to encourage viewers to discuss the issues presented in SOF to their churches so that they would become active partners of SOF in informing and evangelizing those church members who were not able to watch the SOF show.