Using your phone during church?!?
| Posted in Church IT, Technology, church | Posted on 27-01-2009
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I recently twittered a thought I was having about impressions during a church service. For those of you who may have forgotten, missed, or not cared about that I’ll share it again:
Would your church be accepting of me using my mobile device as my bible? Or would I be looked down on for texting and not paying attention?
The week before posting this while at church I was using my Blackberry Curve and my favorite bible app Youversion. No one said anything and I doubt anyone even noticed but it still started me thinking. The use of smartphones is becoming more prevalent and people are used to being able to do everything on the go. They’ve got email, texting, social networking, calendars, to do lists, websurfing and everything else, of course there will come a time they want a bible application as well. Now as culture changes in regards to the way we connect with others, do technology, and think of church how will the church respond?
So what are your thoughts? Would your church be okay with me using my phone openly during a service? would the pastor? Should we have a tech service where you can use your laptop, phones, etc?
Using your phone during church?!? http://tinyurl.com/b8gxna
Using your phone during church?!? http://tinyurl.com/b8gxna
Using your phone during church?!? http://tinyurl.com/b8gxna from: @djberg
I use YouVersion on my iPhone as my bible most sundays at church! I’m not aware of ever having been looked down upon for it, but then I’m usually in the video booth.
I have started to use YouVersion now on the BB. I find it a great resource for worship. Also I have been one that will twitter while I am mixing the audio for worship, but have not twittered in service when I am not in that sort of a capacity.
We have a lot of folks in one of our services that use electronic media for their bible referencing.
dl
Considering that I do it every week – both for Bible and Notes, I don’t think they’d have a problem with it. I’d feel pretty odd using a laptop during church unless I was serving in a position where it made sense to do that (lights, sound, video, etc). Using my PDA/Phone is pretty non-disrupting, though.
Using your phone during church?!? http://tinyurl.com/b8gxna from: @djberg
Actually, I think most of the congregation that does use a bible are using a PDA of some sort. There’s still a number of print Bibles around, but they mostly show up at small groups. Sunday morning I think most people are content to follow the text as it is displayed on the screens.
Pen and paper still seem to lead the way among the note takers however.
[...] back when at the end of January I posted “Using your phone during church?!?” on the blog. It sparked a little conversation but of course most of the response was from [...]
I almost exclusively use my Windows Mobile smartphone (Touch Pro)when at church. I have over 10 translations included as well as commentary and concordance. I dare say I have more “biblical material” at my fingertips than anybody else in the service. I get a few “looks” from some people but when I get an oppurtunity I always explain this “phone” is not only my bible, bookstore, worship device, video viewing device and communication device as well as GPS. It is only natural for me to use it for studying the Word of God when I use it for everything else too.