The role of ICT use in Pastoral Ministry in West Africa: A case Study of SDA Church in Liberia

Abstract:

This paper addresses the role of ICT in pastoral ministry of Seventh-day Adventist Pastors in Liberia. It was observed that ICT is making headways in almost every aspect of human life. However, there was uncertainty as to what is the role of ICT in the pastoral ministry of Seventh-day Adventist Ministers in Liberia, considering a biblical support and the universal use of ICT.

Content analysis was the method employed to analyze the literature because it did require a survey, rather, the author’s opinion, which however was supported by literatures. Considering the usefulness of ICTs in the day today activities of men, and the functions of pastors, the following were established:

a.       Pastoral ministry is made up of the following activities: preaching, teaching, evangelizing, performing church rites, leadership, healing, ect. (SDA Ministers Handbook, 2009, Kidder, 2009, and Schaefer, n.d.). The use of ICT can help in these pastoral ministry tasks.

a.       ICT can and should be used in Pastoral Ministry: the fact ICT is helping in every field of life, pastoral ministry should not be an exception.

b.      The Bible supports the use of ICT in Pastoral Ministry: this statement is based on the Hermeneutical Guidelines for Theological Questions by Ekkehardt Mueller of Biblical Research Institute of Seventh-day Adventist. Though there is no clear-cut Bible text to address the issue, but using the principles that says, “Biblical Principles to Decide Theological Issues”.

c.       ICT tools like Television, Radio, and Cellphones can be used to pastors to reach out to the unreachable. Additionally ICT tools such as PowerPoint, projectors and public address (PA) systems can facilitate the preaching, teaching, and sharing of the gospel

The use of ICT in Pastoral ministry, like other fields also comes with challenges such as Lack of skills, vulnerability to technical faults like system error or system failure, vulnerability to computer crimes e.g. virus attack, hacking  and computer fraud, which need to be overcome for successful usage.

There is no doubt that the use of ICT continues to improve every field of human endeavor, including the Pastoral Ministry. This calls for Pastors to leverage on this opportunity and improve their pastoral functions which include preaching, teaching, and reaching out to members’ needs among others.  The author therefore recommend the that SDA Pastors should be encouraged to use ICT in there pastoral ministry, those who are lacking ICT skill necessary to obtain, should seek to learn them, pastors should use ICT wisely in their ministries and avoid the unnecessary usage.

Keywords: ICT, Pastor, Pastoral Ministry, SDA Church in Liberia

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