Twittering in Church: Good Idea?

Hi all, just in case you haven’t been following the Twitter stream, I recently read this article entitled “Twittering in worship: One Methodist’s perspective” by Dr Anthony Goh in the November Issue (Vol 111 No 11) of the Methodist Message.

Dr Goh discourages from Tweeting during worship because:

  1. Moods and feelings have no part in worship, and Twitter is all about your own feelings and emotions.
  2. Twitter is about the self, and that is not right in corporate worship
  3. It is distracting and disrespectful to God.
  4. It fails the condition of worship being inclusive because some people can’t or don’t know how to use Twitter.
  5. Worship is not virtual, it is physical – we should be present in worship
  6. God does not have a Twitter account.

The last two points (5 & 6) look suspiciously like they came from this article called ""4 Reasons to Stop Twittering in Church” by Curtis Honeycutt.

What do you think of the article and Dr Goh’s arguments? Leave a comment.

~ by jonhyz on November 7, 2009.

Posted in church, corporate worship, twitter, young adults ministry

12 Responses to “Twittering in Church: Good Idea?”

  1. From Facebook:

    Paul Ooi
    I agree & disagree – Tweeting is not wrong, but if it causes us to be distracted us from God then we have a problem.

    Kgoon Liang Goh
    I mean, c’mon, if Tweeting can distract a Christian from God, then he needs to brush up on his relationship with God. Nothing to do with Twitter.

    Ian Andrew Lee Shangjin
    the issue here isnt twitter… it’s the flawed arguments… arguments which perpetuate infantile understanding of worship… and arguing against something for the sake of arguing against it or because it may seem alien to the person.

    classic case of the knife can be used to stab someone! let us throw it away and never be able to cut anything!

    jonhyz said this on November 7, 2009 at 2:48 am | Reply

  2. I disagree

    maplesyrup10 said this on November 7, 2009 at 3:11 am | Reply

  3. My stand remains the same. People are looking at outward reasons to blame things, when it’s all about the heart. Why do we judge people using Twitterring as about the self? Are we meant to judge others based on their actions? Do we know the intentions?

    Twittering during service may indeed lead to distraction. But the main point is not about Twitter. Too often we like to look to the things on the outside and blame them.

    Dr. Goh’s comments are totally flawed.
    1. Moods and feelings ARE part of worship. God is not a non-feeling God, He has emotions too. How do you worship and give thanks to someone without emotion?
    2. It’s not about Twitter, it’s about the heart.
    3. It is distracting and disrespectful, that may be possible. But it all depends on the heart, how Twitter is used. Why not be innovative? The church risks becoming obsolete if it does not keep up.
    4. We care for those left behind, but we cannot use that as an excuse for being lazy and refusing to be progressive.
    5. We should be present in worship physically – as well as in spirit and truth. Again, about the heart.
    6. God does not have need of church buildings in heaven either. Does that mean we don’t need church buildings?

    I wonder if this article was an attempt to criticise recent churches’ pastors using Twitter accounts?

    kgoon said this on November 7, 2009 at 10:17 am | Reply

    • haha perhaps.. i think he just doesn’t understand Twiiter can be so much more than “i’ve just woken up and gone for a run”.

      “i’ve just woken up and gone for a run WITH GOD” is two words longer, but says SO MUCH MORE.

      anyway, i was planning on posting a rebuttal too! soon

      jonhyz said this on November 8, 2009 at 5:51 pm | Reply

  4. The least he couldve done was to credit the site. Could be seen as plagiarism. He does quote the part about God doesn’t have a Twitter account so it’s very clear he got the points from that article. But the quote doesn’t amount to much in itself. Terrible article from a dentist

    Ian said this on November 7, 2009 at 10:49 am | Reply

    • my dad said that regardless of his arguments, a majority of >40s will find his article convincing… lol

      my aunty actually confirmed this. so i let her read my rebuttal.

      jonhyz said this on November 8, 2009 at 5:49 pm | Reply

  5. whoa.. where’s the rebuttal, jon? “, on FB?

    mag said this on November 10, 2009 at 6:44 pm | Reply

  6. […] all, as promised, here is the rebuttal that I sent to the editor of the Methodist Message regarding Dr Goh’s article. (See below for The Editor’s […]

    Rebuttal of “Twittering in worship” « Turn your ears… a worship blog said this on November 10, 2009 at 8:26 pm | Reply

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