Churches are getting into the technology craze as a new and broader means of garnering younger parishioners.
Some leaders said they believed as the world became more technologically advanced the church would have to embrace it even more.
“We believe technology has a major part to play in the work we do when it comes to reaching the world with the good news of salvation,” said president of the East Caribbean Conference of Seventh Day Adventists, Pastor David Beckles. “Certainly, there is a lot of room for the use of technology here at our conference.”
He said Adventists were already ensuring that they have special tools to reach a wider audience.
“We are in the process of completing a recording studio,” he revealed. “It is our desire to be able to be online 24/7 streaming [and] doing live broadcasts. I believe it is the way to reach hundreds of people. Our young people in the youth department have also been using the social media to communicate and reach other young people.”
Beckles said it was the modern trend for people to go to church with various forms of technology as opposed to the hard copy of a hymn book or Bible.
He added that was “something the church will have to work with”.
“Young people like technology,” Beckles said.
“They like to work with [social media] and keep their [gadgets] and cellphones. So I don’t think it is something that the church will ever want to get away from. I think it is even being underutilized by us.
And I think we are at the point where we need to get on board. It is our aim here to do just that.”
Monsignor Vincent Blackett of the Roman Catholic Church, said modern technology was “the language of the younger generation”.
“On the other hand, we also have to be very careful that we don’t become a slave to technology. But it is here and it is here to stay. I suppose [this year] I might find myself more and more using technology,” said the priest, who admitted to using a laptop and an iPad in delivering some of his sermons.
District president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Stuart Sampson said he was not against the congregation using technology but there was the possibility of members becoming addicted to it.
He noted that it could prove beneficial since members were constantly doing research but some may want to “spend too much time on them playing games and that could be a downfall”.
“I think the church should adapt. For a congregation, we do not say use your normal book or use your iPad . . . . But generally, we would encourage members to use technology to their advantage,” he said.
Canon Noel Burke of the St David Anglican church said as technology became more pervasive in the 21st century, he did not see people doing away with the printed version of the Bible, prayer books or hymnals “but more people will engage hymn text and biblical text online”.
“I think the church, in the modern world, does not have much of a choice in terms of utilizing modern communication technology and modern social media networks in order to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ. I think that anyone who is training for ministry in this day and age should be trained in modern technology,” he said.
The church leaders said that for 2012 they would be focusing on the youth, home and family life, helping to correct social ills of society, assisting the needy, with more Bible studies, prayer and witnessing.
