The term NICT refers to “all technologies used in processing and transmitting digital information”. These new technologies impact all aspects of human life and action. They impose themselves on us like a trusted ally that has come to make our lives easier. They come with promises, amplifying our desires and thirst for knowledge and discovery to remain informed and connected with other people. A pretext to provide everything, do everything, make everything easier, and improve everything, which, in certain cases, can even lead to dependency. Are you searching for someone or something? Do you want to communicate? Today, the answer is simple: go online! Everyone goes there with different intentions, hoping to find something better. It’s a place where everyone invites themselves: the good guys and the bad guys. The internet has become a global village where people network. Each person has their own space and uses it according to their personal or professional needs.
No business today can survive without the use of NICTs. We, too, are part of this global society network being created. However, we must not forget that we are “in the world, but not of the world.” Therefore, it is necessary for us to examine how we use these NICTs as per our missionary identity.
It is clear that the Internet has transformed our way of life. Even our missionary life has not been spared. But there is a risk of letting the internet impose its way of doing and of living. It is worth looking at how it insidiously modifies, for good or ill, our way of doing and living mission today, at the risk of finding ourselves doing mission according to the NICTs and not according to Christ, the Church and our congregation.
There’s no denying that NICTs make things easier: training, work, sales, purchasing, communication, etc. But this race to make things easier can benefit some and harm others. That’s why it’s important to pay attention to the following realities:
- Today, many people live in a virtual world: close to those who are far away and far from those who are close.
- NICTs are sometimes used by malicious people to exploit and abuse the trust of the vulnerable. There are many illegal activities on the famous “dark web” or “deep web”: blackmail, abuse, threats, hacking, swindles, fake news, manipulation… all of which can affect us, given that we are also actively present on these NICTs.
Concerning our missionary life:
Personal missionary life:
There is the risk of being stretched and burnt out in pursuing the enormous advantages NICTs offer in every respect: many good things to discover, learn about or possess; many correspondents to whom we must devote time.
NICTs trap us so tightly that the quality of our work declines due to a lack of time and concentration.
A simple self-appraisal is all it takes to realise this: how do I spend my time in the 24 hours that make up a day? *How much time do I have to rest? *How much time do I spend at work but not working? *How much time do I spend surfing the internet or social networks, reading or sending messages, listening to audio, watching videos or looking at photos? *How much time do I reserve for prayer? *How much time do I spend relaxing other than on NICTs?
Community life:
Community life is one of the most important foundations for the success of our missionary life. Our motto is “always three, rarely two and never alone”. But what’s special about NICTs is that it’s a space where you can withdraw into total intimacy. Rarely do we live “always in threes, rarely in twos and never alone”! Rather, it’s the other way round: always alone, rarely in twos and never in threes. In other words, if each community member spends more time with a virtual community, the life of the real community, with its values of support, sharing, reconciliation and human and spiritual maturation, crumbles. At that point, social networks become venues for escape and solitude.
Personal and community evaluation:
- How much time do I spend chatting, killing time, relaxing with my confreres?
- Do I respect times for community meetings: meals, prayer, exchanges, sharing, etc., without using my gadgets?
- Where am I happiest, in a real community or online?
- Does the community still offer occasions for members to come together and share with each other?
Missionary Identity
To what extent do the NICTs help me live my missionary identity better?
My identity is that of a man called to “be all things to all people to save them all.” Social networks, in all their wide-ranging possibilities, open up opportunities to evangelise in this vast area of the population with an “internet culture.” For us, evangelising “means bringing the Good News to all the strata of humanity and, through its influence, transforming humanity from within and making it new” (Ev. Nutiandi, 18).
Therefore, every action I take in this world must reflect and reveal my identity—or rather, it must be what the world expects of me. I need to discern every action I take in this world seriously.
It is therefore important to consider the message I convey by publishing a message, text, audio, video, personal or someone else’s image on the Internet or social networks or any other trace of my presence and activity that I leave there in relation to my missionary identity.
Our duty is to make social networks a place where people from anywhere can be evangelised. It’s an ideal place where “Nicodemuses” can run out at night to find Jesus. Those suffering from life’s wounds hope to meet a listening ear.
However, not all our sheep are online or “connected.” Real contacts are made with real people. The shepherd walks with his sheep, smells them, and feels their warmth. They have priority and deserve a great deal of our attention.
Personal evaluation:
- Do I use social networks for evangelisation?
- What do I express through all that I publish on social networks: images, photos, videos, texts, etc.?
By: Patient Bahati, M.Afr.