The Internet: Clergy friend or foe?

By Ida Smith-Williams

At the recent Religious Research Association meeting running over Halloween weekend in Baltimore, I presented a paper using 2008 U.S. Congregational Life Survey findings. It was titled: "Deliver Me from Email:  How Pastors Use Electronic Technology."

I showed how use of the Internet and email by clergy has kept pace with use in the general population. A large majority of clergy (95%) use the Internet daily. I also looked at a variety of online activities that clergy pursue. Finally I looked at the amount of time clergy spent on other activities—such as family life, reading, prayer, exercise, recreation, watching television, socializing with friends, and email and text messaging—and compared this to the time they spent online.

David Briggs, a religion news writer for the Association of Religion Data Archives (ARDA), picked up on the presentation in a recent post on his Ahead of the Trend column. In "Younger Clergy Lead Online Growth" he noted that other activities, such as prayer, may be suffering since clergy are spending more time on the Internet.

Carol Howard Merritt, pastor at Western Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C., makes a similar comment in her post on Alban's "Virtual Community". Merritt concludes, though, that the "benefits far outweigh the risks" when it comes to the Internet. She suggests that the Internet, text-messaging, social networks, and the like should not "replace" but instead "enhance our face to face community."

The Internet can be one's friend or foe, depending on how you look at it. The balance between the two has to be set personally by each individual. New technology can greatly enhance your work and save you time (for example, surfing for sermon ideas, finding facts and relevant information for a sermon, communicating quickly with large numbers of people, etc.). But like everything else, these tools need to be used in moderation.

Read more:

Pastors' Internet Use

Congregations' Use of Email

Other ways worshipers and congregations are changing

Comments

[Martin Davis]

Fascinating. At the Congregational Resource Guide (www.congregationalresources.org) we've been watching this for some time. What's interesting is that social networking in particular--especially with the growth of smart phones--is forcing us to re-define even what is meant by moderation. With the internet always "on" (No booting up required for an iPhone), our virtual worlds and physical worlds continue to merge.

As interesting as the question of amount of use, is the question of privacy. Most people are simply not aware how much they're giving away about themselves and their congregations. Would love to hear others thoughts on this.

[Jordan Shoe]

Usually success and failure is just one step away,Life is a combination of success and failure. Both are needed