By sifilings on
Church & Ministry
Worship
Cell Phones

One in five Americans use phones in church

If it is true that a sizable chunk of humanity cannot even turn its Galaxy or iPhone off in order to consider the truer — and hopefully more lasting — meanings of life, then what hope is there?

Discussion

Thu, 07/11/13

I’m one of 4 or 5 people in our rural Maine church who uses their phone for the Bible. We also have a few Kindle users and an iPad… it’s crazy where technology has brought us but I’m thankful!

Thu, 07/11/13

We use Proclaim, and suggest our people with smart phones/tabs download logos and follow along. As well we run a disclaimer each week to put devices on vibrate (Doctor and other professionals attend). I would say a 1/3rd or more of our people use their devices for the service.

Fri, 07/12/13

Earlier in the year I was preaching at another church populated mostly with younger adults. While I was reading Scripture aloud, I noticed in my peripheral vision that some people were thumbing through their phones and that they didn’t seem to have Bibles. I was sort of bothered at first, but about half way through the sermon I remembered that lots of people read the Bible and take notes on their phones.

On another note, a owner of a recently shut down Christian bookstore (“The House of Bibles”) told me that Bible phone apps helped kill off his business.

I’m not against phone Bible apps, but it’s an adjustment.

Thumbing through Facebook during church—that’s a different matter.

M. Scott Bashoor Happy Slave of Christ

Fri, 07/12/13

This is only tangential to the topic, but I have a humorous technological confession to make.

In the pulpit I use a leather Bible and a leather clad digital tablet. I’ve come to really appreciate the tablet for various reasons, though it’s not without potential problems. Last month I was speaking at a church on a missions trip. I had finished my introduction and had thumbed down to the next page. Then I switched to my Bible to read the passage. As my eye came near the bottom of the page, I tried to thumb up the text to get to the next verses. I tried several times before I remembered that I was reading a printed page. No one else noticed, except perhaps a bemused angel.

M. Scott Bashoor Happy Slave of Christ

Fri, 07/12/13

My husband uses his phone to ck other translations during a sermon.. but has his regular Bible as well.

My son uses his Ipad .. for his Bible (multiple translations) and to take notes as he goes .. it amazes me how adept he is at it .. (of course he’s 24 .. laugh)

I turn mine off completely .. (this after I THOUGHT I’d turned it down and it rang during an invitation).. Just use my old marked up paper Bible… (with the thumb index .. I still have trouble with the last 1/2 of the OT)

Fri, 07/12/13
[PLewis]

My husband uses his phone to ck other translations during a sermon.. but has his regular Bible as well.

My son uses his Ipad .. for his Bible (multiple translations) and to take notes as he goes .. it amazes me how adept he is at it .. (of course he’s 24 .. laugh)

I turn mine off completely .. (this after I THOUGHT I’d turned it down and it rang during an invitation).. Just use my old marked up paper Bible… (with the thumb index .. I still have trouble with the last 1/2 of the OT)

I’m not sure that use of e-devices for things like Bible and notes is entirely generational…My 17 year-old daughter uses her iPhone for many things, but she likes to read paper books and use notebooks for taking notes, and this applies to church as well, where she still uses her Bible and notebook.My wife, on the other hand, loves her iPad mini, and uses it for both notes and scripture during the message, and she flips between them quite easily, and she is getting pretty good at typing on it.I’m not a big note-taker, since I tend to ignore the next couple of spoken sentences while I’m writing notes, which makes sermons hard to listen to well, but I definitely now use my phone for my Bible, both in church and for reading. I probably have used a paper Bible only a very few times in the last 4 years.

Dave Barnhart