A Call To Evangelize Through Social Media
A Talk By Rev Fr John Irekigbe, Director of Social Communication Catholic Diocese of Oyo at the 8th Oyo Diocese CCRN conference, Igbeti 2023
By Sangotayo Emmanuel at Igbeti, Oyo
The Catholic Church continues to regard social media as the most effective vehicle for evangelism because communication is a crucial element on earth through which man interacts with God and one another. Because no one is an island, the true purpose of communication is to foster unity, harmony, vision, and understanding of the community. Communication conveys both sense and message. The church's basic obligation is to be a missionary, to preach Jesus to the world. As such, communication is a fundamental criterion of evangelism that must be carried out till the end of time to lead us back to Christ.
Communication and the church are inextricably linked as means of evangelization. Communication represents the creation of communities of love under Jesus' vision, which should convince us of the importance of communication in the church. The church cannot exist without effective communication. The church exists solely to preach Jesus' vision.
Churches and social media evangelization: In the video, Pope Pius XI his encyclical letter Alert Cura (1936). In 1957, Pope Pius XII issued an encyclical letter on electronic media, adding radio, television, and film to the succession of favorable church publications on social communication. This lengthy text served as the model for the Vatican's Il Council regulation on social communication interviews.
The church wields considerable zaps in the media, operating radio and television stations, producing and distributing films, songs, and plays, publishing books, reviews, and publications, and using social media.
As the church was formed by Christ to deliver salvation to all, she feels obligated to preach the Gospel. It is the church's right to use and develop any medium of communication that is required or useful for the format of Christians and pastoral action. The church is particularly concerned with the propagation and consolidation of God's kingdom, not only single individuals but entire communities and even entire societies. It is her responsibility to preach the Gospel, thus she must use social media to spread the good news of salvation to the nooks and crannies of the globe.
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