One would be hard-pressed to go an entire day without bumping into someone (sometimes literally) with their phone out and their thumbs punching buttons. It used to be limited to teenagers at the mall, but now text messaging is commonplace, as is its sister technology, Twitter. And for many churches, this is great news because these technologies provide opportunities to foster community—even during worship.
Text appeal
One of the first churches to incorporate text messaging into a worship service was Mars Hill Church in Seattle.
“When our church plant was small, our young and unchurched crowd would routinely interrupt my sermons to ask questions,” says Mark Driscoll, preaching pastor at Mars Hill. “But as the church continued to expand, it became impossible to continue serving people by answering their questions.”
So Mars Hill began encouraging people to submit questions via text messaging during the service. The questions were screened, and at the end of the sermon, Driscoll answered the most relevant questions.
“The first week we tried this, the sermon was about sex,” he says, “and a woman who was pregnant as a result of rape asked if she could have an abortion. I answered her anonymous question, we stopped to pray as a church, and we followed up with her for pastoral care. As a result, she did not have the abortion she was planning and a life was spared.”
Schweitzer United Methodist Church in Springfield, Missouri, has started incorporating text messaging into its college-age service.
“This fall we hosted a panel discussion with students about how faith impacts their daily life, and we let students text their questions,” says Matt Kerner, Schweitzer’s pastor of creative arts and college ministry. “In the past, we had them ask questions at the mic, but then people could see who was asking. Now, with the anonymity, we have deeper questions.”
Mike Jones, creative arts director at The Orchard, a church in Aurora, Illinois, has also seen the benefits of texting questions.
“It really gives you a pulse on your community,” he says. “People will ask questions through text that they would never ask live.”
As Mars Hill learned, that feeling of anonymity can prompt some difficult questions. The Orchard has received questions about abortion, homosexuality, and drug use, to name a few.
“We also get a lot of questions about finances,” Jones says, “people who lost their job asking, ‘Will God still love me if I can’t tithe?’ and, ‘If I strongly believe in God and pray every night, why does it feel like he’s not there?'”
The Orchard’s feedback about texting during worship has been positive. The only complaints have come from people who don’t know how to text or aren’t able to text on their phones.
“We haven’t had any pushback from people being uncomfortable with it in the worship service,” Jones says.
But how does a church get the text messages onto a screen? Schweitzer United Methodist partnered with Jarbyco, a company that has provided technological solutions for churches, nonprofits, and conferences. The service includes a phone number to which each text message is sent, making it possible to follow up on any unanswered questions after the service. Jarbyco’s service, which costs about $150 for the basic package, can be tailored to the needs of different churches.
“We were really happy with the service,” Kerner says. “And it was really easy to use.”
But Kerner is careful to add that texting during a service is “just a way to take what is essentially a lecture format and make it more conversational. Texting is a way to bridge that gap a little bit.”
Tweet #Jesus
Like text messaging, Twitter can be used to foster an interactive community. Some congregations choose to display tweets in real time on a screen during worship. But unlike texting, any message sent via Twitter is visible to anyone, anywhere—effectively extending the interactive community beyond the church’s walls.
“In worship, I think it’s great,” says Bruce Reyes-Chow, founding pastor of Mission Bay Community Church in San Francisco, and moderator for the Presbyterian Church (USA). “It’s a note to self that’s communicated to others. And knowing it will be public, I think people are more reflective.”
Although the tweets aren’t put on a screen during worship, Mission Bay encourages congregants to tweet during its services.
“We announce it at the beginning of worship,” Reyes-Chow says. “If you feel like tweeting something, feel free to use the hashtag #mbcc.”
A hashtag is a mechanism that organizes tweets devoted to a similar topic. For churches, the hashtag is often the church name or its initials (e.g., #mbcc for Mission Bay Community Church).
“Twitter is a significant part of sharing who we are and what we believe,” Reyes-Chow says. “It’s not a gimmick for us because this is the way we interact normally. We’ve just brought it into worship.” But Reyes-Chow acknowledges that Twitter, like any new technology, may not work for other churches.
“We have to teach people to use it well,” he says. “If churches aren’t taught to use it well, it can be a distraction—and then it becomes harmful to the church community.”
Westwinds Community Church in Jackson, Michigan, has been using Twitter in worship for more than a year. The types of messages that appear (sent by those present—and even those who aren’t) vary, and that’s part of the appeal. Unlike some churches, Westwinds does not moderate its Twitter feed.
“That’s a choice that caused a bit of controversy,” says John Voelz, one of the lead pastors at Westwinds. “If you’re not monitoring what goes up on the screen, people may say something inappropriate. And they do. But we’re okay with that. We’d rather have the honesty of what people are really thinking.”
Westwinds has earned some national attention (including an article in Time) for its use of Twitter. And with that recognition has come some criticism.
“I don’t think [Twitter] is for everybody; if you want to do it because you want to be the Church of What’s Happening Now, it’s probably not a good idea,” Voelz says. “In response to the criticism, I say, ‘You don’t know my community, and these are the people I’m called to pastor.’ For us, this has been great. But I have no agenda and no desire to preach to other pastors that this is something that they should do.”
Westwinds doesn’t use Twitter every week but will continue to use the technology whenever it’s beneficial.
“We feel like it’s a useful tool, and when the timing is right, we use it,” Voelz says. “We look at Twitter the way we look at a song, a movie clip, or an interactive worship piece. If it’s helpful, we’re going to use it.”
Tweet-free Zone
Not everyone is as eager to embrace Twitter’s emergence in worship services. John Piper, pastor for preaching at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota, believes there is a proper time and place for Twitter. But we should also preserve no-tweet zones.
“Don’t tweet while having sex,” Piper says. “Don’t tweet while praying with the dying. Don’t tweet when your wife is telling you about the kids. Multi-tasking only makes sense when none of the tasks requires heart-engaged, loving attention.”
According to Piper, worship is another time when tweeting is ill-advised.
“I think you should use Twitter before and after corporate worship to say what you take in and take out,” Piper adds. “But when you are in corporate worship, worship! There is a difference between communion with God and commenting on communion with God.
Tyler Charles (@Tyler_Charles) is a freelance writer in Delaware, Ohio.
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