Filed under: Moraine Valley Church, Technology, worship | Tags: Cell Phones, Moraine Valley Church, worship
Recently I had a conversation with a church member who was frustrated by the idea that our church leadership allowed cell phone usage in our worship services. Feeling that cell phones were a huge distraction to worship, I was asked if I was ok with cell phones being used in our services. My first response was, “of course I am because I do.” The conversation continued and towards the end I could tell that my position on cell phones in worship may not have been accepted. But just because I do it doesn’t make it right. So what do I think about cell phones in worship?
BUILDING COMMUNITY
Cell phones can be a great resource to creating interaction during service, especially if worshipers are encouraged to text or tweet a question about the sermon. Many churches have done this as a means to give people more opportunity to interact on the moment with the pastor/preacher. It can give a good indication of what people are thinking, especially if what they text or tweet is something they would never consider sharing out loud.
Tyler Charles, a freelance writer from Ohio, wrote an article about this very issue. He interviewed one pastor who actually allows tweets to be displayed on the screen DURING SERVICE! I know my church probably would not go for that, but the value of doing so is to give people the opportunity to communicate a part of who they are and what they’re thinking. So in a sense, it’s another part of building community.
HARMING COMMUNITY
Everything we do should be for the building of the Body, to edify one another. Again in Charles’ article, he talks about a Tweet-Free zone that some churches have. This perspective runs on the premise that tweeting about communion with God is different than actually having communion with God. Although true, the point here is not to harm the community of worshipers gathered for the purpose of magnifying God.
Every church must wrestle with every part of its worship service, including cell phone usage. I think there should be a proactive approach to communicating values that our leadership has and making sure that everyone is on board. Otherwise, the risk of distracting worshipers every weekend will continue.
Here is the link to the article mentioned above written by Tyler Charles: http://christianitytoday.imirus.com/Mpowered/book/vcat12/i1/p2
