Twitter: Coming to a church near you?
Evangelicals, Media, Technology — By Rachel Motte on June 8, 2009 at 9:26 amIs the Holy Spirit at work on twitter? According to a recent Time magazine article, it might be.
Time recently highlighted a congregation in Michigan that has hosted about a dozen “Twitter Sundays”, complete with increased bandwith in the church sanctuary and training sessions for those new to the medium. John Voelz, a pastor at Westwinds Community Church, developed the idea while trying to think of ways to make church “not suck”. Voelz is one of a growing number of pastors who have found ways to integrate twitter and other new technologies into their weekly worship services:
In Seattle, Mars Hill churchgoers regularly tweet throughout the service. In New York City, Trinity Church marked Good Friday by tweeting the Passion play, detailing the stages of Jesus’ crucifixion in short bursts. At Next Level Church, outside Charlotte, N.C., it’s not only O.K. to fuse social-networking technology with prayer; it’s desirable.
Twitter, it’s argued, strengthens community ties and offers church goers a new way to express what they are thinking and feeling during the Sunday morning service. Some tweet questions to the pastor as he preaches. Others tweet sermon notes, and still others tweet real-time comments on the service. These tweets are broadcasted via video projector in the church for all to see.
In other words, twitter allows people to begin silently “fellowshipping” with other believers before the Sunday morning coffee hour even starts.
But is this really fellowship? No, not really. That’s the problem.
The writer of Hebrews told his readers, “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another – and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” (Hebrews 10:25) He meant that literally. No matter how advanced communication methods become, there will never be an adequate substitute for face-to-face interaction, and there will never be a replacement for real-life fellowship.
We have souls, and we crave interaction with other souls, but we also have bodies. When we communicate through technology, we functionally disembody ourselves. There’s a great difference, for example, between talking to your mother on the phone and talking to her in person. When you can communicate with someone unseen without even using your voice, you separate yourself even further. Misunderstandings become more commonplace and relationship building more difficult. Instead of bringing us closer to those around us, technologies like twitter actually tend to separate us – and it’s hard to teach people about the glories of the incarnation while dis-incarnating yourself online.
Communication has always been a key part of Christianity, and the Church should certainly learn to make use of new methods. The modern Evangelical church would not exist in its current form if the printing press had never been invented, and today’s technology may become similarly useful for the Church, but not if we don’t keep our eyes open.
So should you tweet during church? No, unless perhaps you are trying to help someone far away (say, in the mission field) feel marginally included. When you are in church, you should be in church, and you risk being less than fully present if you’re busy with your iphone. Concentrate instead on worshipping the Lord with your body and your soul – your community will thrive when all eyes are on Him.
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11 Comments
Twittering in church is a rebellion against the kind of fellowshipping that scripture calls us to: http://bit.ly/HP3lg #EO
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
Great post. 3 Additional problems come to mind:
1. It’s important to remember that it is in hearing the preached Word that God has promised to meet His people, to create and increase faith, and to seal believers with the Holy Spirit. Tweeting about Jesus is simply not the same as delivering the power of the gospel.
2. I also wonder about what this will do for order. Paul is clear that order in a worship service is very important (speaking one at a time, etc.), and I can’t imagine that having the whole congregation tweeting whatever they want on to big screens in the sanctuary will help maintain that order (not to mention everyone’s attention span).
3. While tweeting questions to the pastor during a special Q&A section might be OK, tweeting questions during a sermon is a horrible idea. The flow and direction of a good expository sermon is going to be dictated by the passage itself, not by people’s immediate questions or concerns. I suppose the pastor could always ignore some questions or just respond that the text doesn’t really address the question, but again that seems to pose a problem for order.
Amen, Rachel! I think sometimes in our striving to be Bereans (which is good and commended by St. Paul himself!), we forget that the purpose of church is to reorient ourselves to the heavenly perspective, not to force our wants, needs, and preferences on an hour of a Sunday morning.
Twitter, coming to a church near you? http://bit.ly/7nID4. #religion #evangelicals
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
Strabo,
I don’t "make points" with these posts. They are simply links. Sometimes I link to stuff I don’t necessarily agree with.
That said, interpreting scripture with scripture is a pretty standard, common, and accepted hermenutical tool.
This comment was originally posted on http://caffeinatedthoughts.com/)“>Caffeinated Thoughts
Shane, while I appreciate the point you’re trying to make with #2, I think it is folly to try to "shed some light" on Revelation. The Apocalypse of John is many things: it is rife with violent metaphorical language, arcane and often incoherent prophecy, and also a social commentary on the eastern Roman Empire circa the early first century. But one thing that it is not is fathomable by the average modern person without a great deal of specialized knowledge of antiquity. I’m not saying don’t read Revelation, but read it with a grain of salt (or a heaping spoonful of salt), and the same goes for the OT. Why bother trying to squeeze blood from those turnips when we have the words of Jesus, very clearly expressed in the NT? I firmly believe that the only instruction a person truly *needs* to be a good Christian is the sermon on the mount, which can be understood by a child.
This comment was originally posted on http://caffeinatedthoughts.com/)“>Caffeinated Thoughts
Rachel,
You’ve got some great points here, I find I get more out of a service when I am totally focused on the message. However, I commend the church for taking advantage and experimenting with new technologies. There should be no reason why we should not utilize new technology to spread the message. In fact the message itself is in the written word the “Holy Bible.” I think twittering a sermon is one more way to spread the word. I would also like to see what it looks like after they fully develop the idea. I might have to take a look and see what its really all about. Thanks Rachel!
There’s no way I would twitter during church. I always leave my cell phone off. I mean, it’s my prayer too – why would I want to interrupt it?
Thanks so much for this article!
I personally think this Twittering in churches has gone too far, it’s just too much information that can take up too much of your day. We were recently contacted with what we thought was a better alternative to Twitter by a company in Phoenix, AZ that is called MCJC Ventures, LLC. They offer and provide an existing “texting” platform to get one daily text message out to our church’s donors and members. I called the company back (480) 236-9272 and asked them about it, they gladly sent me some information on it. I asked them if they have any churches currently using their texting platform and they told me Creflo Dollar Ministries and Jamal Bryant Ministries (but mainly megachurches in the Phoenix area) that have been using it for some time now. They charge each donor or “subscriber” as he put it $4.99/mo. to get a daily custom text message directly from the church (news, events, etc.) and the church gets a good portion of that back in donation revenue. That’s so different that Twitter in a good way! He said many churches are dumping Twitter for this platform because they can control the daily message much better than on Twitter AND drive revenue back to them! Could this be the new technology to increase a church’s revenues? Probably. Anyone else heard about this?
Carla
TorreyHonors says:
June 8, 2009 at 11:32 am
Twittering in church is a rebellion against the kind of fellowshipping that scripture calls us to…
—————————————————-
“(1Jn 1:7) But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.”
So, must I meet, in person, with others in order to fellowship with them? Or am I in fellowship by the mere fact of singleness of mind with Christ and, thus, with others of His Mind?
Patrick,
I agree that the church should take advantage of new technologies. The printing press sure worked out well for us, and I don’t see any reason to think that today’s technologies can’t be just as revolutionary. (Whether they will is yet to be seen, but we can’t ignore the possibility.)
However, I don’t think Tweeting a sermon – or tweeting during a sermon – is the best use of new technology. Twitter is a great way to network with people you would not have otherwise met, and it’s currently the fastest way to gather and spread some kinds of information, but it’s not a great way to spread the gospel. You just can’t do that in 140 characters; in fact you can’t do anything really meaningful with so little space. It’s useful because it is fast and easy, not because it’s a good way to tell a story or teach a philosophy.