The Role of the Black Church in the Age of Tweets, Text, and Technology

By Dr. Robert Charles Scott.

Do ever-present electronic devices and growing social media use represent a unique problem for Christians?

When I was a senior at Morehouse College, my music professor, department chair, and Glee Club Director, Dr. Wendell Phillips Whalum Sr. introduced to the glee club a song that we would sing on our tours across the nation.

The African American church and the community are being impacted positively and negatively by the onslaught of technology. This impact has increased access to information and has given the opportunity to communicate in powerful, mobile, and transient ways. This is a shifting cultural trend that continues to deepen the divide between those who have access to these means of technology and those who do not. The concern is that those who not have access to a computer are behind the times and will be left behind socially, economically, politically, and academically. I would also suggest, they will miss out religiously.

Technology is here to stay, and any local church that does not use it will be irrelevant.
In the African American church as in the African American community, it often seems we are trailing in the application of technological advancements. For example, in some larger, white, mega churches, the utilization of holograms for multi-site ministries is relatively common. Andy Stanley, pastor of North Point Community Church in Atlanta, can preach on the main campus and while an image of him (a hologram) is projected at another site. Talk about going through walls! However, that is virtually unheard of in the African American church because of a lack of resources and technological commitment. In a sense, director James Cameron’s premise of the movie, “Avatar”, is in full effect because some pastors are like avatars; where people are dealing with an implied image of the pastor rather than the true broken self that Christ has redeemed.

Nevertheless, we must meet people where they are and use these tools of the culture to be a springboard to transformative and liberating ministry.
This means churches must become proficient in the technological media of the times and use them to point others to Christ. The church must not be afraid to critique technology when it is being abused and leads to depersonalization of relationships and creates a void of intimacy. Tweets have created a form of cyberspace voyeurism that can be rather unhealthy because of this need to keep people we don’t know informed about our whereabouts and what we are thinking. Texting has replaced written and verbal forms of communication to the point that people can be in the same place, and instead of talking to each other, they text. The other outcome from texting is this generation of young people (between the ages of 14-22) is losing the art of writing because they try to write formally like they text. Technology is replacing the inherent aspects of our humanity like play and imagination to the point that it considered a contributor to the obesity epidemic.

Facetiously, there are times when I wonder if technology is the apocalyptic beast described in the book of Revelation.
Remember, you have to feed the beast, and technology can have an insatiable appetite for our time and money.
While I think it is important for the Black church to utilize technology, texts, and/or tweets (although I am not on Twitter), I know it is important for us to critique technology and not become a slave to it. For me, we must be careful that these items do not become idols, and we make more of an investment with technology than we do with God. Text, tweets, and technology can be addictive. This is why we need to disconnect from our 2000 twitter and 1000 Facebook friends and spend quality time with our spouse/significant other, our children, our flesh and blood human friends, and our God.

Remember, everyone on our Facebook page really is not a friend.
Everyone we tweet, we really don’t know. And everyone we text, we are not really connected to in a meaningful way. In other words, we may need to take a fast from technology just to reengage the spiritual and physical realm of our reality so we can maintain our sanity and reclaim our personal space.

As a pastor, I have to help my congregation maintain the balance between the spiritual and the virtual realms of our existential reality, lest we create a new idolatrous trinity of text, tweets, and technology.

The Reverend Dr. Robert Charles Scott is senior pastor of Central Baptist Church in St. Louis, Missouri.
www.cbcstl.org