WESTON-SUPER-MARE, United Kingdom: The pews at St Paul’s Church are full of worshippers but they’re not praying; instead they’re all logged onto Twitter and Facebook.
“Today is a Twitter Sunday so it’s time to get your Twitter on,” intones Brian Champness, the children’s pastor of the Anglican church in the southwestern English seaside town of Weston-Super-Mare.
“If you have a question, tweet it and will see if we can get some questions answered,” he tells the congregation.
Six flatscreen televisions hang from the pillars of the 100-year-old church showing the tweets of the faithful as Champness delivers his sermon.
The church also has a wi-fi network with the password: “Abraham 123.”
The project is the brainchild of Andrew Alden, the vicar of the church, who says that he is following in the footsteps of Christians from the past two millennia.
The youthful looking 47-year-old introduced Twitter Sundays at the start of the year and they now take place about once a month.
“The Romans had roads and that enabled them to travel and take the message out; in the medieval period they had printing presses and that enabled them to print and get the message out,” Alden said.
“Today we have Twitter and the Internet, YouTube, we have Facebook, these are the tools that God has given us to get the message out.” In most churches, using a smartphone or laptop during the Sunday service would be frowned upon at best.
But here, many members of the congregation are logged on. One teenager is updating his Facebook profile, a dad is looking up a recipe.
Others, meanwhile, are using the technology to give their reaction to the Sunday sermon.
“Can a feasting on positive words & blessing, & a fast on negativity change our town in 14 days? Lets give it a go!” says @rev2bshaz, a member of the congregation.
The tweet appears on the screens for everyone to see.
Then come more, like one from parishioner Charlotte Pike: “Is what you think the same as what you say? Can it have the same repercussions ?”
“Excellent question!” says Champness, whose iPad lies next to his red-leather covered Bible on his wooden pulpit.
AFP
