#faith: social media & the church by ang peng hwa / pauline hope cheong (sample chapter)

8/18/2019 #Faith: Social Media & the Church by Ang Peng Hwa / Pauline Hope Cheong (Sample Chapter)

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#F AITH: SOCIAL MEDIA AND THE CHURCH

EthosInstitute


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#FAITH: SOCIAL MEDIA AND THE

CHURCHA Monograph by

Ang Peng Hwa

&Pauline Hope Cheong

Ethos Institute ™ for Public Christianity


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Copyright © The Bible Society ® of Singapore 2016

Published by Sower Publishing Centre(A ministry of The Bible Society of Singapore)7 Armenian Street, Bible HouseSingapore 179932Tel: (65) 6337 3222Email: [email protected]

www.bible.org.sg

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval systemor transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,

photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission of thecopyright owner.

Scripture quotations marked ( NIV ) are taken from The Holy Bible, NewInternational Version® NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica,Inc.™ Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Printed in Singapore

ISBN: 978-981-220-539-1

978-981-220-547-6 (eBook)BSS 2016 0.3M

Ethos Institute is a trademark of The Bible Society of Singapore.Bible Society is a trademark registered with the Intellectual Property Ofce of

Singapore.


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About Ethos Institute vii

Ethos Institute Engagement Series viii

Executive Summary ix

Author Notes xi

Introduction 1

Social Media Now and Then 3

Section A Publish and Parish: Religious Authority, Representation and Branding 7

Section B Ecclesiastical Worship in Times of DigitalMediation and Media Spectacles 15

Section C Spiritual Community and Connectivity

in Times of Intensi ed Mediations 21

Section D Piety, Solitude, the Spiritual Disciplinesand Social Media 27

Final Thoughts: Social Media, Social Church 31

References 35

CONTENTS

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Ethos Institute for Public Christianity was formed by NationalCouncil of Churches in Singapore, Trinity Theological College

and The Bible Society of Singapore in 2014. Ethos Institute seeksto serve church and society by engaging contemporary issues andtrends from the Christian perspective. Ethos Institute offers:

• Studies on important topics and issues from the Christianperspective

• Regular lectures, seminars, conferences and symposiumsfor the Christian public

• Resources to Churches and Christians in differentprofessions and vocations

• Resources to the National Council of Churches in Singapore

AboutEthos

Institute

ABOUT ETHOS INSTITUTE™

Contact:7 Armenian Street, Bible House, #03-08 Singapore 179932Tel: (65) 6304 3765 Fax: (65) 6337 3036Email: [email protected]

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T he Ethos Institute Engagement Series aims to address pertinentissues in church and society from the biblical and Christianperspectives. Authored by theologians and scholars in different elds, this booklet series discusses a variety of topics includingtheology, politics, economics, education, science and the arts. Thebooklets are an important resource not only for pastors and leadersof the church, but also for Christians who wish to re ect more deeply

on the most important and pressing issues of today.

ETHOS INSTITUTE ENGAGEMENT SERIES

Series Editor: Roland Chia

Engagement

Series

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#Faith: Social Media and the Church provides a pathway forunderstanding our interaction with one of the latest mediainnovations today. This monograph is not intended as a “how to”manual. It is more a “why” and “what are the implications” booklet.

It begins with a historical perspective by recounting the rolethe then new social media of epistles and letters has played ingrowing the early church from the time of the Apostles to MartinLuther.

Following that, it discusses the implications of Internet-basedsocial media for the church, including aspects of its authority,worship, community and identity.

The monograph points out the short-term effects and longerterm implications of using social media for extending the church. Italso highlights the need for a social media Sabbath where one takesa break from digitally connected gadgets like the smartphone.

The monograph concludes that social media is suited to thesocial church, but its uses are not without challenges and tensions.The adoption of the latest media including Internet-based social

media can bene t the church, and help reach the young. However,as social beings, our need for perpetual connection need not solelybe slaked by a compulsive social media diet.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Summary

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Ang Peng Hwa is Professor at the Wee Kim Wee School ofCommunication and Information, Nanyang TechnologicalUniversity. He researches media law and policy and is the authorof Ordering Chaos: Regulating the Internet . He co-founded theGlobal Internet Governance Academic Network and the Asia-Paci c Regional Internet Governance Forum, serving as inauguralchairs for both. He is a vice-president of the Consumers Associationof Singapore where he also serves as the legal advisor of the

Advertising Standards Authority of Singapore. In 2015, he waselected President of the International Communication Association.

Pauline Hope Cheong is Associate Professor at the Hugh DownsSchool of Human Communication, Arizona State University.She studies the complex interactions between communicationtechnologies and different cultural communities around the world,including changing religious authority and community practices.Dr. Cheong has published more than 65 articles and books andhas served as lead editor of Digital Religion, Social Media and

Culture: Perspectives, Practices, Futures (2012) . She is an alumna ofNanyang Technological University and the University of SouthernCalifornia. Her work has been honoured with top research paperand book awards by the National Communication Association andInternational Communication Association.

AUTHOR NOTES

AboutAuthors

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INTRODUCTION

Intro

We are social beings. We want and in fact need to communicatewith each other. This need to communicate is fundamental in

shaping our identity, who we are and who we like to let others seewho we are. We may like to think we are self-made, in the sensethat it is we ourselves who determine who we are. In reality, whowe are depends on the “constituting others”. That is, we are whatpeople re ect to us—we are re ections and images. We know whowe are through our communication. It is thus supremely ironic thatsolitary con nement—when we are left with only ourselves—has

been called the cruellest punishment. In contemporary times, suchcommunication is no longer just expressed through face-to-face oreven the phone conversation but also through the media, both ascontent and as platform. As content, we want to know the news.We also want to know what others consider newsworthy, that isimportant enough that we should know, care and share.

Indeed, research in places and times as diverse as New York in1954 1 and Nepal in 2005 2 has found that being informed of the newsis such a part of our daily lives that when we go without it, we feel

anxious. In Nepal, where all forms of electronic communication— fax, xed line and mobile phone, and Internet—were cut off for upto 88 days in a security operation in 2005, people began talking tostrangers on the streets to exchange news. The home of one of theeditors of a newspaper became a news hub with people droppingby to get news. Yet where picking up and reading the hardcopynewspaper rst thing in the morning was the norm, turning on thesmartphone to read new posts is increasingly becoming the normfor many these days.

Equally signi cant in impact is the use of media as a platform.That is, the use of media as a means of communication is becomingmore important and having a greater impact. Our reliance on such

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tools of mediated communication is so much taken for granted thatit is only when they are absent that we realise our dependency.Today, with our use of the mobile phone to communicate on thego for business and personal purposes, the dependency is evengreater. In Nepal in 2005, when the widely used prepaid mobilephone service was restored, 4,000 people queued up from 4 a.m. for2,000 mobile-sim cards.

For most of those queueing, the desire for communication wascommercially motivated. But in our personal lives, we can attestto the value of having a mobile phone. We use it to coordinate ourdaily lives, a phenomenon called “hyper coordination” or “micro-

coordination.”3

Perhaps the best evidence of the utility of moderncommunication into our lives is the fact that the invention mostquickly adopted globally is the mobile phone, particularly the smartphone with built-in computing power. 4

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O n the Internet, social media sites, where users connect toother users yet have public communication or “mass self”communication 1, are among the most frequented sites. Probablythe most cited de nition of social media is that given by the earlyresearchers danah boyd and Nicole Ellison. 2 They de ned socialmedia sites as services that have three functions: 1) allowing usersto build a pro le within a system, 2) allowing users to list their usersand 3) to connect with their own list as well as the lists of others. Akey part of the de nition is that social media are the applicationsthat allow users to share content (the media part) and to form asocial network (the social part). That is, it is not enough to simplypost content for others to view and react. There should be some formof networking among the users.

An example of a prominent social media site is Facebook,with more than 1 billion users worldwide. In the business world,LinkedIn is the social media site for working professionals. Thesesites allow strangers to approach or be invited to join a group. Suchsites make it easier to mobilise resources. These days, the de nitionof social media has broadened to encompass messaging servicessuch as WhatsApp, WeChat and QQ. These messaging services areclosed groups; one has to be invited. But they share the property of

being a powerful tool to share content and organise groups. At least one author has argued that analogue versions of social

SOCIAL MEDIA NOW AND THEN

Now&

Then

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media have always existed. Graf ti on the wall are the equivalentof wall posts on social media. Letters in Roman times were semi-public; because of low literacy, the letters were often read aloud,circulated much along the lines of the epistles in the New Testament .Paul’s letters were written to be read. He told the Thessalonians:“I charge you before the Lord to have this letter read to all thebrothers and sisters.” 3 The modern church’s reading of Paul’s lettersin the worship service continues this tradition. The social mediaequivalent would be posting the letter and having it “go viral”.

Indeed, it has been argued that “[a]lthough Christians aresometimes described as ‘people of the book,’ the early church might

be more accurately described as a community of letter-sharers.”4

The letters from the Apostles were intended to be copied and passedon. Because the Roman Empire made it relatively safe and fastto travel, messengers, messages and ideas could move betweencities rather ef ciently. In fact, Paul appeared to have chosen forextended stays cities such as Ephesus and Corinth that could beconsidered as trade and communication hubs. Such cities made iteasier to send and receive letters. Second Corinthians was writtento “the church of God in Corinth, together with all his holy people

throughout Achaia” 5 and Galatians to “the churches in Galatia” 6;Peter addressed his rst letter to “exiles” throughout Asia Minor. 7

Being located in a hub, however, was not enough in itself tospread the gospel quickly. It would require a combination of greaterliteracy on the part of the public as well as technological innovationto lower the cost of printing in order for documents to go “viral.”Until the invention of the metal-type printing press, letters anddocuments were costly to produce. Whoever wanted to reproducewritten material had to pay a scribe. The high cost in turn meantthat only the rich could afford books. The library at the Universityof Cambridge in 1424, nearly two decades before the printing presswould be invented, had just 122 volumes. 8 This meant that literacywas low, which also meant that the cost of educating a scribe wouldhave been high.

The advent of the printing press heralded many technologicaland social changes. With the printing press, the cost of printedmaterial plummeted. The cost of education was lowered and therewas an increase in literacy as reading material became more easilyavailable.

On hindsight, there is no question that the printing press was ahighly disruptive technology. It plucked the Bible from the exclusive



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realm of the clergy and placed it in the hands of the public. It wasthis groundswell from the public reading the Bible for themselvesthat also helped Martin Luther when he drew up his 95 Theses .

Originally written in Latin, the 95 Theses rst spread amongthe scholars of the Catholic Church in traditional hand-copied form.But it soon began to appear in printed editions as pamphlets andbroadsheets. The speed at which the newly-invented printing presswas spreading his Theses surprised even Luther. Realising thatpeople were interested to read it, he translated the text into simpleGerman, ensuring that there were no “regional vocabulary” 9 thatcould be misunderstood. (This is an illustration of how the medium

affects how we write. It parallels the current concern about how ouryoung people are shortening words to text to each other.)Part of the reason for the rapid spread of printed material was

that the printing press changed the economics of publishing. Unlikehand-copied manuscripts where the author had to pay a scribe toproduce copies, all that Luther had to do to spread his 95 Theses was to hand them to a printer, who would then produce hundredsif not thousands of the Theses in pamphlet form and sell them.There was minimal cost to the author. And the printer could print

according to demand. Further, because literacy was low, buyingprinted material was status-conferring; and some who were semi-literate bought copies in support of Luther and also to gain status. 10

Meanwhile, there were other Church scholars who wroteto criticise Luther. To do so, they reproduced his These s, therebydisseminating it further. In fact, some quarters in the Churchwithheld criticising Luther for fear of publicising his radical views. 11

The criticisms hardened Luther’s position and he became evenmore critical of the Church. Pope Leo in 1520, three years afterLuther had published his Theses , issued a decree (called a PapalBull) threatening to excommunicate Luther and his followers. Thewider availability of printed material, however, had changed society.People were reading and discussing Luther’s Theses now printed inpamphlet form in the workplace and in taverns. Instead of arrestingLuther and turning him over to the Church, scholars, students andlarge swathes of the public supported him. Such support emboldenedLuther suf ciently to conduct a public ceremony in one city to burnthe Papal Bull.

The use of the printing press for the education of a more literateand questioning public had facilitated the decline of the authorityof the Catholic Church in the European context. Was this—the

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undermining of authority—why the Chinese, who invented theprinting press centuries ahead of Gutenberg, limited the use of theprinting press to of cial documents and religious texts? One canonly speculate.

In many ways, the church tends to be conservative in the useof newer communication technologies. A 2011 survey in Canada byTyndale Seminary found that 21 percent of churches in the provinceof Ontario, Canada, discouraged even the reading of the Bible onelectronic devices. However, as we will discuss in the followingsections, many churches have overcome the initial inertia andreluctance to engage social media. In fact in a few cases, churches

are the incubators of social media innovation.

ConclusionWe are communicators. As social beings, we have alwaysappropriated different media for news gathering and socialnetworking. In the history of the church, adoption of new media hasincluded the practice of letter writing as a socially shared way ofcommunicating among believers. The epistles were letters writtento be read aloud in public, and then copied and passed on to one’ssocial networks.

It took 70 years for the printing press to shake the foundationsof rst the German church and then German society. Yes, therewere other factors beyond the technology of the printing press atplay. But however one looks at it, the dissemination of the 95 Theses by Martin Luther was a critical factor.

Today, the communication services that ride on the Internetare at an infancy stage still. The multi-billion dollar Internet

companies such as Google and Facebook were started less than 20years ago. In human years, they would not be considered matureadults yet.

And so our understanding of the impact of social media issimilarly at an infancy. There is much that history can inform us.But no two paradigm-changing technologies are exactly the same.

And so we are tentative in suggesting possible outcomes and evenmanner of use.

But of no doubt is that religious groups will and should use

the new communication technologies afforded us. The very peoplethat the church wants to reach are using these communicationtechnologies.



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PUBLISH AND PARISH: RELIGIOUS AUTHORITY,REPRESENTATION AND BRANDING

SectionA

Introduction

I n recent years, in light of new digital media developments, thenotion of authority has seemingly taken a beating. Buzzwordslike the Facebook Revolution, Web 2.0 or Twitter uprisings havesurfaced. These terms signal a radical rupture and change insociety, accompanied by an erosion of existing hierarchies andinstitutions, including the church and its leadership. So, this bringsup the question: Does social media use necessarily erode religiousauthority?

Indeed, changes in communication technologies have hadprofound implications for religious authority. Clergy havebeen characterised as threatened by secularisation, religious

privatisation 1, and deprofessionalisation alongside increased layscepticism of theological expertise. 2 But as we will show in thissection, there are countervailing forces, pressures and relationshipsthat enable clergy to restructure, restore and even augment theirauthority. 3,4

Digital Media and Religious AuthorityPopular understanding of communication technologies and

authority, suggests that technological developments tend to weaken,alter or even destroy traditional authority structures. For example,

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there are expectations that online information seeking and digitalmedia networks will change the access to and ows of information,previously controlled by elites and scholars.

In the context of religion, digital media use may diminish theperceived stock of knowledge held by clergy as an increasing corpusof religious texts is now searchable online. Sacred scriptures andrelevant interpretations may be found on sites like Biblegateway.com, which are hyperlinked to multiple commentaries in differentlanguages. Religious content like sermons and devotionals arecirculated on Listserv, YouTube videos, podcasts and webcasts ofchurch services.

As of July 2015, the world’s largest free mobile Bible app,“YOUversion” allows mobile phone and tablet users to accessand study Scripture in numerous ways, including more than 800reading plans, quick searches of particular words and verbs, aprivate journal, favorite verse bookmarks and the ability to viewand share insights and verses with others on Twitter and by email.

YOUversion has been downloaded more than 180 million timesand the app is available in 1092 versions and 780 languages. Thisunprecedented accessibility to religious information available to

those living in mediated societies may decentre seminaries andchurches as sites of theology since lay persons can assemble andcustomise religious guides online to suit their own preferences andinclinations.

In addition, online interactivity may erode authority byallowing those traditionally lower on the ladder of hierarchy toinitiate interactions with others and those of higher status. The riseof new “online experts” including religious bloggers 5 and “contactus” opportunities on search portals, have increased channels forreligious believers and seekers to communicate. For example, laypersons can initiate questions and counselling conversations, startdebates, and even confront clergy with the information that theyhave obtained online. This change in relational and informationalaccess has prompted some to believe that the authority of religiousleaders has eroded. This is because some followers have developedcritical attitudes and entertained doubts about traditional doctrinesfrom electronic forum interactions. 6 New virtual communities of self-proclaimed experts and intermediate interpreters have emerged. 7

It is signi cant to note, however, how a “key paradox inreligious authority relations is its enervation and centralisationof control”. 8 Increased contact to religious interpretations and



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personalities online provide followers with alternative resources tochallenge traditional teachings and disrupt hierarchies. Yet thesesame online resources may be appropriated by clergy to serve as asource of education for themselves and their laity. The credibility ofclergy is simultaneously enhanced when they move beyond pulpitand top-down instruction to personal and mediated mentorshippractices, including the publication and dissemination of their ownreligious materials. 9

Religious Authority as Mediated and Non-mediatedCommunicationReligious authority is traditionally understood to arise from sacredtradition, appointment to a superior of ce and perceived charismaof being instilled with divine or supernatural powers. However,authority can also be understood in more relational and emergentterms, where authority is co-created and maintained in dynamicinteractions between leaders and followers that acknowledge andconversationally manifest the asymmetrical and consequentialnature of their relationship. In other words, religious authoritycould be treated as an order and quality of communication. Assuch, contemporary religious authority is embedded in everydayinteractions. Depending on the context, its performance not onlyinvolves but also often depends on the appropriation of media. 10

This implies that communication technologies use is not whollyincompatible with religious leadership, particularly in highly wiredsocieties like Singapore. For clergy to restructure and even enhancetheir authority, it becomes increasingly crucial for some not toeschew new communication technologies but to engage newer forms

of media thoughtfully.

Mediating Religious Authority: Research evidence andexamplesRecent research on Singaporean clergy has shown that maintainingcommunicative in uence through both of ine and onlineengagement restores trust and in turn, increases congregationalmembers’ dependence and dedication to church leadership. Forinstance, Kluver & Cheong 11 , in addressing questions of religionand modernisation in Singapore, found complementarity in therelationship between many clergy perceptions and practices, andInternet applications. This study of religious leaders from a variety

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of established faith traditions (i.e. Buddhist, Christian, Muslim,Taoist and Hindu) found that instead of incongruence and criticismof new technology, religious leaders largely framed the Internetas a positive development for their community and embraced theInternet as part of their religious missions and growth strategy.

Findings from another study of Singaporean Christianpastors showed how various leaders of multiple denominationsrestructured their work in light of rising digital and social mediause and expectations among their congregants. 12 Christianleaders incorporated online resources to inform and inspire theirsermons, and used visuals and video material to boost their pulpit

communication. To stem the loss of control and overwork from theirincreasing communicative load, leaders carefully monitored theironline communication (e.g. by redirecting or selectively curbingemail response). Some pastors dealt with the increasing onslaughtof online inquiries by maintaining their right to delay or respondto these demands by insisting that “they need time to pray overcertain issues”.

Furthermore, many Singaporean pastors practised “strategicarbitration” of competing texts. They justi ed the validity of their

authority by drawing upon scriptural authority to support theirown interpretations and teachings, in order to reinforce normativeregulation and trust in religious leadership. 13 Indeed churchmembers are not always discouraged from exploring competingsources of expertise on the Internet. But leaders reported to exerttheir in uence to retain or dispose of such expertise on the basisof their competence. Some do so by embarking on a new “onlineministry” where they deliberately engaged in personal dialogueand debate with their members and seekers online. Severalleaders also pointed out the need for “branding trust”. Drawingfrom lessons from corporate organisations, they have constructedoriginal content to build their “church brands” as a distinct andrecognisable organisational voice on cyberspace in the religiousmarketplace of ideas. They said they promoted their voice onlinewith the publication of blogs, newsletters and e-votionals (electronicdevotionals) to strengthen congregational affective interest andorganisational loyalty.

These communicative efforts by some Singaporean pastorsare in line with recent literature related to church promotion andspiritual “brandversations”. 14 In particular, it has been recognisedthat the marketing of churches involves a process of storytelling



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whereby “successful” churches self-consciously use commercialnarrative techniques to make their ideological points and distributetheir services to generate cultural capital. 15 Several commentators,including church consultant James Cooke in Branding Faith 16 ,have even recommended that the construction of the brandedpastor-preneur is essential for the development of fundraisingand collaborations to augment church resources, given the publicpressures on the spiritual head who, in turn, must project adistinctive and appealing persona.

Hence, in light of burgeoning media publication and publicity,some pastors of megachurches in America have been labelled as

celebrities17

and holy mavericks.18

More recently, this form ofdigital media publicity to fuel what might be termed “a culture ofreligious celebri cation” 19 has arguably extended from the West tovarious prominent leaders of mega-churches in Singapore. Thesereligious organisations have increased in number and in uence inthe last decade and have developed multi-sited campuses in Asiaand abroad, supported by extensive old and new media pathways ofcommunication across traditional broadcast, print, radio and digitalmedia. 20 These pathways include the latest social media, like Twitter

and other microblogging tools that provide clerics a platform forreal-time information sharing with its interface for short writtentexts (140 characters), which can provide links to graphics andsound recordings that can be forwarded and responded to by others.

It is therefore interesting to observe how various Singaporeanpastors have adopted tweet authorship in tandem with other oldermedia, to further their ministry. A recent analysis of a Twitter feedby a prominent Singaporean Christian megachurch leader withglobal in uence in Asia, Australia and the United States, identi edmultiple ways in which tweets have been composed to boost pastoralepistemic authority. Religious tweets have been utilised to quote,remix and interpret Scripture, and serve as choice aphorisms thatre ect or are inspired by Scripture. 21

For example, tweets have been authored to quote Scripture,in verbatim or by blending scriptural texts with tagged pictures forillustration. Instances of scriptural remix have also been employedwhere Chinese proverbs are paired with English Holy Scriptureduring the Chinese Lunar New Year season, to make connectionsbetween Chinese idiomatic expressions and Biblical texts concerningmental and material prosperity. Certain parts of a tweet have alsobeen capitalised to re ect the pastor’s interpretation of Scripture.



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Writing in CAPS highlights how attention is drawn to the certainparts or speci c phases in Bible verses and reminds followers ofexactly where their focus on the verse should be. In yet anotherexample, actual Biblical texts appear to take a back seat in socialmedia communiqués. Prescriptive messages like mini sermonettesare sent, with only a reference and little incorporation of Scripture,rendering a unique spiritual lesson or personal instruction for thePastor’s followers.

Thus, in the above ways, tweets can work in concert withthe larger communication and digital media landscape, to sustainpastoral legitimacy and organisational hierarchy. Within a culture

of religious celebri

cation, clergy tweeting helps in the continuousauthoring of their authority, to articulate a preferred self andpersonal brand. 22

ConclusionThe above discussion highlights the potential for clergy fruitfulnessand productivity in an era of digital and social media networks.Religious leaders may strategically incorporate and connect tocommunication technologies to deepen their instruction and extendtheir teachings to a wider audience. Historically, the evangelisticimpulse of the Christian faith has prompted believers to spreadthe word in creative, terse and colloquial ways. For example, thedistribution of brief publications or relatively low cost “tracts”were produced to spur spiritual growth during the 19 th centuryEvangelical revivalist movement. 23 Similarly, pastors today mayalso conduct new “online ministries” and social media outreach tofollowers and seekers of the faith.

Yet, the potential for perversion in religious authority alsoexists. For example, online communication and the construction ofa carefully crafted and necessarily condensed version of a pastor’sbrand identity is not without ambivalence and tensions. 24 Clergybranding often involves frequent status updates and a publicsharing of their activities, whereabouts, even personal petitions andprayers. However, it is arguable that Scripture dictates that someacts of piety and generosity should be kept private, to glorify God andnot to elicit attention to self or public commendation (e.g. Matthew

6:1-4). Therefore, contrary to the marketing discourse that advisepastors to “simply post a tweet…”, it may be dif cult for clergy todiscern the appropriateness of their Facebook status updates, online



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confessions, and public shout-outs, in light of Scripture-inspiredinjunctions, to maintain a humble pro le, even secretive service.

A related challenge is the authenticity of information presentedonline, as glossy websites and crafted messages may not accuratelyrepresent the identity of a pastor or church culture.

The pressures to “over-communicate” on multiple mediaplatforms may also be overwhelming for religious leaders,who are already burdened with a plethora of work and familyresponsibilities. A tethered digital existence is not without socialand personal costs. An immense amount of communicative labouris required of religious leadership to meet the rising expectations of

their hyperconnected congregational members who are constantlyon social media and seeking new updates and bytes.Furthermore, religious leaders are not exempt from malevolent

behaviours and unhealthy competition arising from self-conscioussocial media updates. It is not uncommon to feel jealous and covetouswith social media use, as people compare status updates and makesnap judgments from online media personas. Recent research hasshown that “Facebook envy” and social comparisons are related toincreased psychological distress, reduced self-esteem and skewed

beliefs about others and their well-being. 25,26 Related to this point,it is signi cant to note that prior research among Singaporeanpastors have revealed how leaders of smaller organisations withless administrative support and nancial resources feel that theyface more severe threats to their survival and are subject to morescrutiny and comparison. This is especially in instances whenmembers compare their pedagogy with online materials, podcastsand vodcasts available on websites of larger and mega churches,both locally and worldwide. 27 Recognition of these pressures andperversions highlights the tension of how much clergy can andshould be connecting on digital and social media.


#faith: social media & the church by ang peng hwa / pauline hope cheong (sample chapter)

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