I really hate it when somebody's cell phone rings in church. And why is it always the person who has a particularly obnoxious ring tone who gets a call at 10am on Sunday morning? I've been tempted to say something like, "Oh, if that's God calling, please take a message for me!" or something as equally paltry, but I have to be careful not to call someone out and embarrass them further (even though its their foolishness that has just intruded on everyone else's time and space of worship!).
Actually, there have been times when I remembered well into the worship service that my own phone was not set to silent or vibrate. Luckily, it hasn't rung, although I'm sure there will be a first for that, too! I used to leave my phone in my office (of course, there was a time when my phone stayed in my office because it was attached to the WALL!!! - but those days are long gone.) Lately, however, I've been taking my phone to worship with me. No, I don't expect that I am so important as to receive phone calls during that hour, but as most of us know, our phones do much more than make and receive calls anymore. Cell phones have become a portal to the virtual world of social media. And that is why, even though we run the risk of many more phones "going off" during worship, I have begun encouraging people to bring their phones to church.
The truth is, fewer people are coming to church. That is an undisputed demographic fact. In my own congregation attendance is down from over 500 (on average) per Sunday ten or twelve years ago to around 360 per Sunday now. Certainly some Sundays are better attended than others (Easter, Confirmation, Mother's Day, etc.), and during the winter months we sometimes even have to set up extra chairs, but overall numbers are significantly down. And not only for my church - throughout the US, church attendance has declined over the last 30 to 50 years. There are lots of reasons for this trend, but I won't bore you with all of those disputes and discussions.
My point is that people aren't getting together at church for worship anymore. But people still crave community and connection. I think that the reason for the enormous popularity of Facebook and other social media sites is that with people living further and further apart and moving more often and communities not being designed to foster community, people have begun to crave that connection with others. And even though a friendship on Facebook is not the same as a face-to-face friendship, it's better than nothing. In the same way if the church isn't gathering people face-to-face, then why not tap into the benefit of social media?
If I can encourage people to "check in" on Facebook and Yelp and Foursquare when they come to church, or if I can get people to post comments and pictures about what they are experiencing at worship, or if I can help people to reach out with a welcoming greeting to people with whom they are connected in the virtual world from the time and space where we reach out our hands in a gesture of Peace, then perhaps we can expand the blessings of community to a larger number of people. I would love to see people with their cell phones out sending "tweets" about how they just got to sing one of their favorite songs. I would love to have people during church take a picture of the cute kid sitting in the pew in front of them and post it on Facebook along with a comment: "and a little child shall lead them." I would love to know that people are having a discussion about my sermon as I am giving it! Maybe we could find a way to have the "stream" of comments displayed on the screens behind me as I am speaking. Now that takes faith!!!
There are endless possibilities and future technology promises to make these kinds of connections easier and faster. We can balk at the impersonal nature of social media, but lets face it, this is the world in which we live (the world we've created!). We can get annoyed when a cell phone rings in church, or we can welcome the fact that the people gathered in that room have an important tool at their disposal for reaching out to the vast majority of our population who are doing something else on a Sunday morning. Jesus tells us to go into all the world...share the good news...change lives for good with the power of the Word. Cell phones, social media, and good, old fashioned, face-to-face communication, are all vehicles for us to accomplish this holy directive.
So bring your cell phone or IPad or laptop (ok...maybe that's going too far) to church with you and share with the world - virtual and real - the wonder and blessing of your encounters with God. But please, remember to turn your cell phone ringer to "silent"!
Actually, there have been times when I remembered well into the worship service that my own phone was not set to silent or vibrate. Luckily, it hasn't rung, although I'm sure there will be a first for that, too! I used to leave my phone in my office (of course, there was a time when my phone stayed in my office because it was attached to the WALL!!! - but those days are long gone.) Lately, however, I've been taking my phone to worship with me. No, I don't expect that I am so important as to receive phone calls during that hour, but as most of us know, our phones do much more than make and receive calls anymore. Cell phones have become a portal to the virtual world of social media. And that is why, even though we run the risk of many more phones "going off" during worship, I have begun encouraging people to bring their phones to church.
The truth is, fewer people are coming to church. That is an undisputed demographic fact. In my own congregation attendance is down from over 500 (on average) per Sunday ten or twelve years ago to around 360 per Sunday now. Certainly some Sundays are better attended than others (Easter, Confirmation, Mother's Day, etc.), and during the winter months we sometimes even have to set up extra chairs, but overall numbers are significantly down. And not only for my church - throughout the US, church attendance has declined over the last 30 to 50 years. There are lots of reasons for this trend, but I won't bore you with all of those disputes and discussions.
My point is that people aren't getting together at church for worship anymore. But people still crave community and connection. I think that the reason for the enormous popularity of Facebook and other social media sites is that with people living further and further apart and moving more often and communities not being designed to foster community, people have begun to crave that connection with others. And even though a friendship on Facebook is not the same as a face-to-face friendship, it's better than nothing. In the same way if the church isn't gathering people face-to-face, then why not tap into the benefit of social media?
If I can encourage people to "check in" on Facebook and Yelp and Foursquare when they come to church, or if I can get people to post comments and pictures about what they are experiencing at worship, or if I can help people to reach out with a welcoming greeting to people with whom they are connected in the virtual world from the time and space where we reach out our hands in a gesture of Peace, then perhaps we can expand the blessings of community to a larger number of people. I would love to see people with their cell phones out sending "tweets" about how they just got to sing one of their favorite songs. I would love to have people during church take a picture of the cute kid sitting in the pew in front of them and post it on Facebook along with a comment: "and a little child shall lead them." I would love to know that people are having a discussion about my sermon as I am giving it! Maybe we could find a way to have the "stream" of comments displayed on the screens behind me as I am speaking. Now that takes faith!!!
There are endless possibilities and future technology promises to make these kinds of connections easier and faster. We can balk at the impersonal nature of social media, but lets face it, this is the world in which we live (the world we've created!). We can get annoyed when a cell phone rings in church, or we can welcome the fact that the people gathered in that room have an important tool at their disposal for reaching out to the vast majority of our population who are doing something else on a Sunday morning. Jesus tells us to go into all the world...share the good news...change lives for good with the power of the Word. Cell phones, social media, and good, old fashioned, face-to-face communication, are all vehicles for us to accomplish this holy directive.
So bring your cell phone or IPad or laptop (ok...maybe that's going too far) to church with you and share with the world - virtual and real - the wonder and blessing of your encounters with God. But please, remember to turn your cell phone ringer to "silent"!
Favorite line - "my phone stayed in my office because it was attached to the wall."
ReplyDeleteThanks for writing and encouraging us to change lives for good.