Communicating faith through radio and podcasts

16 Aug 2022

Church communicators from the Lutheran communion talk audio

Church communicators talk audio

The LWF Global Communicators Network will host its third quarterly event, “Church communicators talk audio” on Thursday 18 August. Photo: flickr 

(LWI) - Highlighting the work of four  communicators who use radio and podcasts as their  platform, The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Global Communicators Network will host its online quarterly event, “Church communicators talk audio” on Thursday 18 August at 2 p.m.   

“Radio is very powerful because someone can listen in their car, while they are working, from prison and while in hospital. Radio can heal people,” said scheduled guest speaker Neng’ida Johhanes-Lairumbe, Managing Director of the Upendo Media Network of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania Eastern and Coastal Diocese. She added: “Often people tell us how Upendo FM radio has healed them.”   

“It is my wish that all churches use radio or online media as a strong evangelism tool,” Johhanes-Lairumbe said. Upendo Media also operates a TV station and a weekly newspaper. 

Johhanes-Lairumbe will be joined by podcasters Rebecca Treimer and Christina Kwade of the “With Body and Soul” „Mit Leib und Seele“,  a youth-led podcast of the German National Committee of the LWF.   

Treimer and Kwade who work alongside seven other youth said, “None of us knew how to produce a podcast when we started. We learned as we went along.” The two will share how they source content, guest speakers, and the technical details of producing a podcast.  

LWF Communication Officer Philippa Hitchen, a former radio journalist for Vatican Radio for 30 years will join the event to talk about the different styles of radio programming and how to present compelling live-on-air interviews. 
The LWF Global Communicators Network is a community of Lutheran communicators that network among regions. The online events began in 2021 with participants from all seven LWF regions. 

The first gathering served as a venue to hear about how the communicators’ tasks changed or were enhanced during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, as well as a means of fellowship and support. 

The most recent event shared the strategies that member church communicators used when communicating during times of unexpected world events and external conflicts such as natural disasters, wars and migration. 

The next Global Communicators Network event is planned for November and will explore church and social media.  

LWF/A. Gray

The LWF Global Communicators Network is a community of existing LWF regional communication networks that gather to encourage, learn and share, thereby, further strengthening LWF communion relations; making visible through communications the gifts of each LWF member church.

LWF/A. Gray