The Sunday Mail
Father Tendai Reki Mashayamombe
FOR the past two years, humanity has been experiencing the novel Covid-19 pandemic, which has affected our lives in many different ways.
Some say “extraordinary times call for extraordinary ways of doing things”.
When lockdown measures were first introduced, they included restrictions on gatherings and church services.
While lockdown measures were meant to curb the spread of coronavirus, post-lockdown church attendance appears to have declined.
Perhaps we have believers who have gone astray. — (2 Peter 2: 15).
Conversely, research from the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ) report for the third quarter of 2020 shows that mobile data and Internet usage had grown from the previous quarter.
This steady increase implies there is a growing number of Internet users.
The Internet penetration rate also rose 56,7 percent in the second quarter to 59,9 percent in the third quarter.
It has been long accepted that the demographics of internet users is biased on the younger generation.
However, the older generation is becoming increasingly adventurous and want to be part of this networked community for socialisation and communication.
The church is an important part of our Christian lives and in Hebrews 10: 25, the scripture tells us “Let us not neglect meeting together, as some have made a habit, but let us encourage one another…”
For, as we meet or congregate to celebrate mass and break bread, we fellowship in communion with Christ.
The scripture instructs the Apostle Simon Peter in John 21: 17 to “Feed my sheep”.
It also tells us Jesus refers to the believers as sheep and God is referred to as the ‘Good Shepherd’, a metaphor that draws from the fact that sheep must be taken care of by a shepherd and be fed with green pasture.
Some believers may have been or are suffering spiritual kwashiorkor during this Covid-19 period.
Indeed, the church continues to encourage the body of Christ to take full advantage of the internet to spread the gospel, but it is also a time for the Church to intensify its exploration of the many ways of exploiting the internet in an endeavour to talk about the body of Christ.
It is also an opportune time for churches to establish viable dependable media departments to spearhead such activities.
Social media platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, WhatsApp, Instagram, FaceTime and MySpace are ideal for e-evangelism.
In the case of the Roman Catholic, maybe it is time authorities facilitate legal operations of Radio Maria in Zimbabwe as a vehicle to uplift the lost soul by taking advantage of media that offers a cost-effective way of communicating and disseminating information more efficiently.
E-evangelism can go a long way in nourishing the spirits of believers, especially the younger generation.
In one of his sermons, Jesus said in Matthew 4: 44, “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God,” meaning that it is crucial to feed our spirits with the Word of God.
Therefore, the clergy and the pastoral teams should use social media as a tool to spread the gospel – the good news.
I am in no way undermining the physical meetings during the church services and sincerely acknowledge the efforts of ministers of the word.
The body of Christ is challenged to feed believers using church-administered Facebook pages and Twitter to equip believers with the Word of God for spiritual growth.
This can be done in a systematic and organised fashion starting with the generation of content to avoid conflict and information warfare.
The church can increase traffic with content that is designed to make disciples in accordance to the great commission in Matthew 28: 19.
We are witnesses to non-believers of Christ’s resurrection (Acts 1: 22) and witnesses of the good news.
The voluntary help of church members in ensuring the smooth running of the church-administered platforms will be appreciated, and as will be the participation of the church network community.
There is need to adhere to church values and ethos to avoid cyber bullying, information warfare and to promote digital citizenship, as well as digital netiquette.
Ideally, the role of the church media must be to promote fellowship through the online church network community.
