The audience

Channel Four is a mixture of the good and the bad: their programmes can be at both extremes. 

I saw the programme "The Audience" for the first time last night and unfortunately it was the last in the series. I usually find reality TV crass and shallow but this was worth watching.
The basic format is a central character has a dilemma in his/her life and a group of 50 strangers listen to the person and question him closely in order to understand his dilemma. They then offer insights from their experience and help him resolve the quandary. This is crowd sourcing at its most raw!
Actually this is no different to the listening and reflecting back techniques used by counsellors of all hues, religious or secular, to help people understand their own situation. A counsellor's aim is often to get a person to realise that they know much more about their lives than they think that they do.
It could have been crass, exploitative and superficial but I was surprised by the sensitivity and warmth of the crowd. Though there were fifty people in the crowd, only about a dozen asked questions and spoke to the camera.
Anthony, the guy with the dilemma, was obviously chosen because the producers realised that there were a whole load of unresolved baggage in his life. This came from the traumatic and tragic loss of both his parents and grandparents in childhood. In the presence of this large group of strangers he opened up about the past in ways that he had probably not done before. During the course of these conversations he became emotional and tearful several times. This was clearly cathartic for him. By the end of the programme his increased self understanding gave him the confidence to admit the dilemma was an excuse to run away from facing up to the tragic and traumatic events from many years before. He was now more accepting of the reality of his family history. He could now make decisions himself and plan his own future.
The transformation of a person from someone moulded by their circumstances to someone who is taking responsibility for their life is at the heart of the Christian gospel. It is the sort of transformation that I look for as a sign in the lives of mature Christians. It is good to see that in the strange secular world of reality television this truth is also recognised.
There is also something in this crowd sourcing model that can help better decision making in churches and other organisations. Often when an organisation is facing a dilemma they will bring in a consultant. The consultant will, in the same way as "The Audience", reflect back to them what they already know deep down but perhaps have never articulated. A skilled facilitator can frequently help groups increase their self understanding and from this informed position, dilemmas can be seen in a clearer light. 

 Image courtesy of FloatingLemons / FreeDigitalPhotos.net