Phones in Church Services

By: Deji Yesufu

A few years ago Rev. Olatunji, former Chaplain of the Chapel of the Resurrection, University of Ibadan, described how he was walking down the isle of the church once and saw people on a bench engrossed with their phones. He explained that every single person on that row was staring at their phones – totally detached from the ongoing service in church.

There is no doubt that a leading stealer of people’s attention in today’s church services are the phones they bring along with them to church. Churches are increasingly recognizing this problem and as it is usual with us in this clime, many of them are already enumerating laws to curb the vice. This article would attempt to look at various perspectives to this matter and come up with a possible solution – a middle ground of some sort.

Regardless of how we cut it, the use of phones during church services is wrong. Church is the place where redeemed persons gather once in each week to celebrate the risen Christ (who rose on a Sunday), to worship God for his salvation to sinners, to be reminded of God’s holy laws and to fellowship with other Christians. Church should always be a solemn gathering: as we contemplate a dimension of heaven, worship, here on earth. In all reality, our worship of God should take all of our attention. If the phones are stealing some of it, there is something wrong somewhere.

One reason why the phone would be taking the attention of Sunday morning worshippers at church may be for the mere fact that the person engaged in this vice (permit me to use that word) are not Christians at all. Thus the whole ceremony of “worship” is a total waste of their time and that of those conducting the service. The natural thing is for these people to get themselves engaged in a more appealing thing – their phone that is.

That our churches are increasingly filled with unbelievers is a reality that very few pastors and church leaders want to accept. The subject of finding out whether or not persons in church are genuinely converted individuals is a very thorny issues because people would rather prefer to be left alone in their unbelief. But if the Christian minister would do his work as to the Lord and not to man, he would have to confront this fact and find a way out of it. Unbelievers should not be made comfortable in church. They should either submit to the Lord of the Church or they would cease coming to church. There is no middle ground to it.

The second factor that I think might warrant the increasing use of phones in church services by people is the fact that our churches are becoming more and more a social gathering than a place where people come to meet with the living God.

When churches put premium to jokes, bale dancing, dramas, special songs, and so on, and they do not pay attention to preaching sound doctrine in a lively and gripping manner; when churches do not realize that it is the Holy Spirit that brings inspiration and power to a gathering and not marketing strategies; such churches would bring forth Sunday worship programs that may seem appealing to the flesh but are really not edifying to the souls of people. The people who may have been excited by these activities at first would later become bored by them and find other appealing things to fill their time. Most of these people would turn to their phones during services.

The last factor that I would wish to consider in this piece is the unforgivable squandering of people’s precious time by churches in the name of morning services. I honestly do not know where these idea of church services running to three or more hours came from. I was in a Methodist church in Enugu. We spent four and a half hours in church that day. I was livid. Do churches realize that time is money? Do they understand that it is possible to do a lot of important things in a short time and leave out so many frivolities and God would still be pleased? I confess at this point that it in the precious waste of my time, with endless “thanksgivings” and such like, that I resort to my phone sometimes.

What I am saying thus far is simply this: both church leaders and people are culpable in allowing the wide spread use of the phones in church services. It is high time that the basic ideologies that gave rise to a people’s gathering every Sunday be thoroughly perused and the things in them that do not glorify God nor edify men be careful cut out of services. Churches would have to come to terms with what they think is more important. If churches feel that activities that would bring her money in church services are more important than activities that would edify people, we are likely not going to be rid of this phone menace. In fact it is likely to get worse.

A church is a visible representation of the invisible work of God on earth. The head of the church is not the pastor. The head of the church is Jesus Christ. A church that understands the intricate relationship between Christ and his visible people on earth, would pay attention to the things that please our Lord. Wherever Christ is pleased to dwell, his Holy Spirit would be present. And where the Spirit of Christ is every evil work would cease.

The Holy Spirit would grab the attention of sinners and bring them into sound conversion. The Spirit would direct the sermon to be Christ glorifying and would edify the saint. The atmosphere of such a church would be electric. I can assure you that there would be nothing on anybody’s phone that would interest them in such meetings.

If the phones are dominating people’s attention in church, it is either one of two things: it is ether the people have no spiritual life in them or the church does not have the Holy Spirit at work in her midst. Or, quite tragically, both.

Deji Yesufu is the author of the Victor Banjo. He can be reached on newdejix@gmail.com.

Source: http://mouthpiece.com.ng/phones-in-church-services/