I'm not a Telegraph reader nor do I like where the present stream inside the Church of England is heading us towards. The collar isn't about being collared
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God entered human history, language, and culture in order to be heard.
So personally I have no problem whatsoever with evangelisation through TikTok (or Similar Worlds for that matter ;) ).
Christ went to where people were to speak to them rather expecting people to come to come (though obviously, famously, he did get followed about too), and it's ludicrous to think we shouldn't do the same. And it's probably far more effective than shouting on a street corner.
But what I fear this tends to do is make the faith shallower. TikTok et al are about brevity (and even this message is probably too long for most people already). Faith shouldn't be about compelling takes but a coherent way of life; prayer isn't just a feeling but a discipline.
And I think what also can get lost is the idea of received faith. I'm Catholic so naturally I'm going to bring up the word 'tradition', but all faith is something handed on, whether through parents or friends, rather than something curated for engagement metrics. There is weight in Christianity that isn't possibly apparent in a 30 second video.
Plus (again, traditional leaning Catholic here), what I really dislike about this, whether SM posts or something in church itself, is cutting out silence. God is beyond complete explanation and sometimes mystery requires silence to contemplate it. It doesn't mean never speak, but does probably mean no one is really going to find prayer through TikTok.
Christianity from age to age teaches that faith isn't just an arresting image but something that is formed. It takes work. TikTok (or doing something to get a newspaper headline like graffiti-style 'art' in a cathedral') is at best a threshold and not the end point. The spark that sets the work in process certainly can come from social media. It's pretty shallow if it ends there.
@Persephonee Hello there. I was speaking against the attractional church model that's already failing all over the place. Catholic Anglican myself. Although I don't believe that baby Jesus was there to be sacrifized, I do believe that the entry point for a Christian isn't Christmas but Christ's Paschal Mystery
@val70 That's kind of what I was meaning too - by all means attract, it's the twin of mission really, but if it's all you've got then it's not going to be effective long-term. Otherwise you're just telling people everything's great and don't change a thing. (Like I say, Christianity isn't meant to be easy, it's meant to be rewarding, here and later).
