   televangelism is the use of television to communicate christianity. the word is a portmanteau of television and evangelism and was coined by time magazine.time: 75th anniversary issue, march 9, 1998 "televangelists" are christian ministers who devote a large portion of their ministry to television broadcasting. the term is also used derisively by critics as an insinuation of aggrandizement by such ministers. televangelism began as a peculiarly american phenomenon, resulting from a largely deregulated media where access to television networks and cable tv is open to virtually anyone who can afford it, combined with a large christian population that is able to provide the necessary funding. however, the increasing globalisation of broadcasting has enabled some american televangelists to reach a wider audience through international broadcast networks, including some that are specifically christian in nature, such as trinity broadcasting network and the god channel. domestically produced televangelism is increasingly present in some other nations such as brazil. some countries have a more regulated media with either general restrictions on access or specific rules regarding religious broadcasting. in such countries, religious programming is typically produced by tv companies (sometimes as a regulatory or public service requirement) rather than private interest groups. some televangelists are also regular pastors or ministers in their own places of worship (often a megachurch), but the majority of their followers come from their tv and radio audiences. others do not have a conventional congregation as such and solely work through television. == history ==  christianity has always emphasised preaching the gospel to the whole world, taking as inspiration the great commission. historically, this was achieved by sending missionaries, beginning with the dispersion of the apostles, and later, after the invention of the printing press, included the distribution of bibles and religious tracts. some christians realised that the rapid uptake of radio beginning in the 1920s provided a powerful new tool for this task, and they were amongst the first producers of radio programming. radio broadcasts were seen as a complementary activity to traditional missionaries, enabling vast numbers to be rea
Evangelicalism History_of_Christianity_in_the_United_States Religious_media_in_the_United_States Televangelism