Thou Shall Twitter In Church

Will do some testing on that idea…mmmm…

I really like this blog post.I’m almost always tweeting n church.and everywhere else I am. I vote #churchtweet that’s also what i usually use

hi i vote #churchtweet. I love this article. People get upset with me for doing things like texting\twittering at church.

I was sitting next to a girl in the youth group on Sunday, who was texting through the sermon. If she had been texting about the sermon, would that have been acceptable? Probably not. Why should Twitter be any different?

I like that people can share the things the speaker is saying with others who aren’t there – but does it really need to be done in the middle of the message? Surely the message/sermon is the time for the people listening to be taught – sharing that message is a good thing, but it can also wait 30 minutes until the end of the service. Just like the girl could have waited 30 minutes until the end of service to text her friend. People seem to forget that the cyberworld will still be there and functioning when they get home.

I am very surprised by this post. It is very well written but the idea of twittering in church to me is disrespectful. Cite Jesus for example, he knew that the temple was a place of worship and he overturned the tables of the moneychangers because they were making it into a house of merchandise. If the church is supposed to be God’s house why would anyone invite in some of the very elements that God disapproves of through technology.

Twitter can be used on many positive levels but even it has certain elements that are inappropriate. Depending on who a person follows they can come in contact with images, speech, and conduct that certainly would be unwelcome in a place of worship.

I really do think that this kind of permissiveness is extremely displeasing in God’s eyes.

I’ve found that Tweeting in Church has gone a long way for keeping my attention during our pastor’s interminable sermons. Once upon a time, I’d just follow the late English Premier League match on my phone or reading a book on my Kindle app after I figured out where he was going with the sermon, but now I find myself listening far more than I did before, trying to find that one good nugget to pass along to the Twitter World. I still know where the sermon is going, but at least I’m now not staring off into space on our way there.

The problem I have is that I really love the idea of folks who LiveBlog things with their own commentary, and on occasion want to toss in my own two cents with what I tweet. Unfortunately, people seem to take that the wrong way… even when you agree with time. *sigh*

I think it is the wrong question, and I think it is set up in the classic dualistic right or wrong approach (like talking about alcohol use). We are only asking the question from the standpoint of information exchange with the assumption that formation takes place. So the assumptive answer is yes.

I love twitter. But not in a service. And I am not Lutheran. Can’t we find one hour a week where we aren’t held hostage in techno-distracto world? I agree with Will Miller and Glenn Sparks who study this stuff at Purdue. We spend increasingly more time looking at screens than looking at faces. TV watching has increased during the last 10 year internet explosion, not decreased as expected. Now we add social media. Yikes, when do we stop?

Twitter forces us to condense the profound, simplify the mysterious, and quantify the unpredictable.

The Spirit loves quiet places, and we do not. Those are the uncomfortable places, the awkward moments when He grabs us and speaks deeply into the soul about our sin, our gifts, our longings. He is a distraction, taking us from a sermon outline to a spiritual moment. And some tweeter might just quench His work.

So, should we twitter during the singing time? during a performed song? during a testimony? Why not twitter 24/7 then we will really have lifechange, right?

After a service, YES. During a service, give a rest. Please. For the sake of us who are listening for the whisper.

I guess I don’t see the difference between taking notes on paper and taking notes electronically. If I don’t take notes on a message, there’s no way I’ll remember the main points a week later. Why not take notes and hit “send” so that others can be blessed by the Word as well? My pastor encourages Tweeting during his messages. No, I don’t interact with those I follow or read other tweets during that time as THAT would be distracting. Thanks for the blog Scott. It was well written and the points are valid if taken objectively. My vote is #iTwurch. I LOVE Matt’s idea of a site to manage the new Twitter church. One more way to break denominational barriers and be the Church outside the walls.

I am amazed daily at the choice folks make to make something right or wrong. We just discussed this is another perspective in #blogchat about tweeting during a concert.

In a movie YES it is a distraction because of the lights from your phone pulls me out of the experience of the movie like a flash light in my eyes.

At church or a concert if you are focused on what you want from the message or song it is not a distraction unless you let it be one. If I choose to tweet instead of writing down on my pad passages that fit my learning or a song phrase that connects to my heart in that moment why not tweet it.

I do not see technology as the beast I see people’s inability to be open minded and inability to realize they cannot lay their personal belief system on another person who’s learning process is different from their own.

It is a proven fact that when you combine two of more senses you will retain the knowledge longer. Auditory+Physical (writing whether physical on paper or physical on keyboards/phones same thing)

Maybe this is an opportunity in learning to be more accepting like hhhmmm Jesus.

1. We are to be led by the Spirit in all cases. Are we willing to set aside our own opinions & do what the Spirit is leading us to do at that moment? We could tweet at the right time & help someone, but also tweet at the wrong time & cause harm. (ie. If you start to tweet & God restrains you, then wait. It’s simple.) Can we obey and see God move?

2. We need to be in agreement with the leader of the house. If our pastor does not want folks tweeting during the message or a specific portion of it, then we need to honor that. Why? There is power in agreement. Can we obey and see God’s power?

3. Personally, I love to rapidly take notes and soak in everything during the service as if I am truly sitting at the feet of Jesus.

Scott, you make a great point with, “The beauty of this world is that people can engage with God, engage with their pastor and share pieces of those engagement with the world, all at the same time.” I appreciate you listing them in the order you chose because God comes first. I don’t have a concern firing off Tweets in church, it’s the when & where. When it’s time to stop and get fed & taught by God’s word, you can’t teach others about His love, His mercy, His grace, His word if you are distracted (neither can the people around you.) The Great Comission calls us to be missionaries. Let’s make sure we are listening to God & as prepared as we can be. God bless.

I tweet/Facebook often in church, and it became a bit of a giggle with a mate.. I love the transparency of proudly stating ‘I’m at Church’, and then this is what we’re talking about..

Most who are against it, probably neither understand social media, nor the power in the tool for regular fellowship outside Church!