The Impact of Social Media on Evangelization in Catholic Church in Nigeria: Prospects and Challenges

Abstract

The world is continually experiencing an era of technological growth which has made the era to be seen as a digital age. Development in the media has not only helped in communication but has equally challenged the traditional methods of communication. The Church is mandated to carry out the Gospel message to the end of the earth and this is done through communication. This work, observing the growth in the area of media, discusses the impact of social media in evangelization in the Catholic Church. The work finds out that the Catholic Church is ever ready to embrace new technology as long as it holds the truth. Using qualitative method and functional theory of analysis, the work holds that the Church is not anti-social media instead the Church sees it as an avenue to keep carry out her mandate. The works discovers that almost all the Catholic Diocese in the Eastern Nigeria has social media platforms through which their activities are disseminated and the Gospel preached by way of live streaming of events, sharing of daily readings, reflections and so on. The work equally discovers certain limitations to the use of social media for evangelization to include internet accessibility, shortened details, minimal backgrounds and so on. The work concludes that social media is making impacts on eveangelization mandate of the Church despite some limitations and such impacts should be encouraged to reach wider audience.