Digital Media in Church and Mission in Nigeria By Felix Joseph Samari I denne artikel præsenterer Felix Joseph Samari, kommunikationsleder i Lutheran Church of Christ in Nigeria og koordinator for Africa Lutheran Information and Communications Network, flere nigerianske præster og kirkelederes synspunkter vedrørende farer og muligheder ved de digitale medier. Desuden præsenterer han en række initiativer, som allerede er taget af kirker i Nigeria, for at møde særligt de unge på og gennem digitale medier. Alle de adspurgte er enige om, at der er flere muligheder end udfordringer ved at gøre brug af digitale medier i kirken.
Introduction
are the ones interested in and interac-
What has become a big question today
ting with the digital media. It is intere-
in The Global South and particularly in
sting to note that even the rural based
Nigeria is, whether the digital media
youths are already engaged with the
should be embraced and adopted to
use of the digital media in one way or
be part of the church and mission or it
the other.
should be left as a secular tool in the hands of users as they so wish? As the church contemplates on the best approach and methods to adopting digital media, the majority of urban youths are already hugged to it. Therefore, the church in order to do mission and reach out to the youths (who are by far the larger population) is feeling compelled to adopt the use of digital media. For instance, in Nigeria the youth population is said to be over half of the total population; this part of the population
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What to accept, how to use it and where limits will be placed are still in limbo. For instance, some church leaders have openly frowned at the use of soft text of the Bible through the mobile devices during church service; according to them it is not the authentic Bible (or hymns) even though the text contents are the same. Some also are strongly opposed to the use of digital media in church believing that it is a total distraction or an interruption to conventional church worship.
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