THE PROS AND CONS OF SOCIAL COMMUNICATION IN THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH IN NIGERIA

Justine John Dyikuk

Abstract


To foster encounters between people through information-sharing, social communication
is open to the Church's mission. Sadly, these encounters are confronted by debased use of
communication-media which prevents effective communication. The researcher used
Multimedia Theoretical Framework to assess the situation of the use of the means of Social
Communication in the Mission of the Church in Nigeria. Through the qualitative method of
study, it was discovered that despite the rich extant documents of the Church on effective
use of the means of communication, there is a wrong understanding of communication,
lack of will-power to incarnate media use into the Nigerian pastoral context and suspicion
concerning the use of virtual reality. Engaging the media of communication, supporting
the Directorate of Social Communications and establishing a National Pastoral Plan were
recommended for efficient use of social communication in the mission of the Church in
Nigeria. It concluded that shying away from engaging the media for the purposes of
evangelisation amounts to playing the ostrich which has dire consequences.

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References


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