The Sunday Mail
INFORMATION Communication Technologies are now a part of everyday life and the church has not been left behind. However, despite embracing the technologies, the digital divide between the young and older generations, those that can afford the gadgets and those that cannot is quite evident. The abuse of ICTs is also a cause for concern. How can the church address these issues? “The Conversation,” a short Christian film that premiered at the Westgate Sterkinekor on July 31 seeks to address some of the issues about the internet and social media among Christians. It is a collaborative venture by young people from various denominations under the iPray Life Initiative, produced and directed by 25-year-old Dylan Mafukidze (DM) who fellowships with Faith Ministries. Tendai Manzvanzvike (TM) spoke with Dylan about the movie and the inherent issues.
TM: Welcome and congratulations for the production. As I watched the final movie trail you sent, I was caught up with these statements: “Everyone has a weakness; a weakness that we deny; a weakness that disconnects us from God; it becomes an addiction. Who are you connected to?” Powerful! What do you mean by all this?
DM: We have an initiative called iPray Life where we are trying to take Christianity as a lifestyle, using art and technology to try and bring that into being. Using art and technology, we are also trying to bring people together from different denominations to break those denominational barriers. The other objective was from the name of the movie “The Conversation”. Why? We wanted to start a conversation at different levels.
The first level was a conversation in our churches. When we were growing up, we were taught that being a Christian is how you live in the world. But the internet and social media are now a world on its own of which we thought that there is need to address issues of how best we can live as Christians on that platform because it’s now actually a world. That was the other idea.
If I take the phone of a born again Christian, and another that is not, there is little difference that I can draw from the people if this one is born again or not. But the word of God says, let your light so shine before man so that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven. Being a Christian is being Christ-like, wherever you are whether on social media, the internet or wherever. So, we wanted to start a conversation that on the internet, are we living like Christians? If I’m going to look at your surfing habits, can they tell that you are a Christian?
If I look at the sites that you visit, can they show that you are a Christian? If I go on your Facebook wall, can I tell that you are a Christian? If I go on your WhatsApp, the conversations that you are having, the messages you are forwarding, can I tell that you are a Christian?
So, we need to start talking about that – even our youth leaders and pastors need to start talking about that, that being a Christian is how you live in the world and internet and social media is now a world.
TM: A world on its own…
DM: So, we should be portraying Christ on that. There is something we call cyber-evangelism, using the internet to preach to people. It’s a technology that is already there, not to kill us, but we can actually use it to further the kingdom of God.
If you look at the word of God, the first scripture in the Bible says in the beginning, God created heaven and earth. It means that creativity belongs to God. So, this technology and everything belongs to God.
The devil is just there to manipulate and to divert things, but the creativity and all belongs to God. As Christians, we should be more aware and wise in how to use these technologies.
The other thing on why “The Conversation” is that if you have a look around, there is a lot of debate on how marriages are being broken, because of the internet, WhatsApp, and so forth. We need to start talking about that as families: how we can live together with this technology. As married people, parents and children – how can we start living together because sometimes we are losing those morals, those values because we no longer have time to communicate as families, and there is no way that the older generation is passing on to the next generation because everyone is hooked up on WhatsApp or Facebook. So the whole idea is how best can we live with this technology?
Can we start talking about it in our families? When we come back from work, can we have that time when people put their phones away and start communicating as a family, where we can have a legacy passed down from generation to generation because it will be surprising that with time, we might not have those values from the older generation because we don’t have time for that?
The other part for “The Conversation” is that when you talk or pray to God, it’s a conversation. We need to address that point when we are praying.
But the challenge that is developing now is that someone can chat up to midnight or 1am on WhatsApp, but can’t have that time for God.
We used to have family prayer time, but now we don’t have that time. Everyone is on their phone. Children come from school, they go into their rooms and they are on their phones. They are always online, but do we have time to be online with God? Are you hooked up with God? So, we are struggling with that as our generation does not have time to pray. We spend most of our time on WhatsApp, but no time for prayer. Thus we are trying to address that, so that we can be back to the heart of worship and have quality time with God.
TM: You spend so much time on WhatsApp, chatting to whom?
DM: People that are not really important and the conversations that we have don’t really contribute to our future. It’s just for the fun of it? The challenge is that these are wonderful applications but mostly not for the glory of God. How can we divert them for His glory, even the free speech?
TM: You have also said the generational element is the biggest stumbling block where most churches are led by the older generation when the majority might not want to easily adapt to these technologies because the perception is that when you are reading the Bible on your phone you are not serious. Some cannot use them, while others don’t have smart phones. That generational divide – how can it be dealt with?
DM: I think that the older generation must realise that technology is here and it’s here to stay. That is why we have tried to do something, to bring awareness that this is happening. And I believe that when you are a man of God, you are there to serve people.
That’s why you are called a servant of God. So, sometimes, you are there to look at the needs of the people. There is a need that is already there for the younger generation. But if they keep a distance, they will perish while you are watching and when they die, God will hold them accountable for everything.
It’s their responsibility. It’s our time because the word of God says we should redeem the times that are evil. There is a way of redeeming the time. They need to ask what they can do to redeem this young generation from where it is. If they think about that, they will arrive at a solution.
TM: How long did it take you to produce the movie?
DM: About three months, doing the rehearsals and we did the shooting in March and it took about two days, because we tried to do it at a limited time since we were hiring everything and we wanted to contain the costs. It took us till now to premiere it because each time we wanted to do it, something would happen.
TM: Who sponsored the movie?
DM: We are a small group of people with limited resources. I used my personal funds, now we are challenging the big guys to do something.
TM: How big is the cast?
DM: There are six actors.
TM: Final remarks to pastors, especially on embracing these technologies.
DM: We are now in a global village. The mandate is there for Christians to reach out to the nations, and technology as it is, even for pastors, makes it easier for them to preach to more people.
It’s now possible to know the number of people they are reaching, how many people are using that message to communicate with others, how many are sharing it. We have reached a stage where you can evaluate the impact of your preaching. The interactivity also helps the pastor judge whether the message is working or is valuable.
TM: Are we headed for wall-less churches?
DM: That is where we are heading but there are certain values that we cannot do away with – fellowshipping together and the need for the Moses and Joshua generations working together. But if the young generation continues with the internet or social media mode, when they take over, they won’t know the importance of being together and fellowshipping, and they will think that fellowshipping is useless. There is need for bodies like Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe to encourage working together with the younger generation. One day they will take over, and when they do, what will happen? This is why we have started something so that when we approach them, we have something concrete.
TM: How do viewers access the film?
DM: It will be on YouTube sometime this month.
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