Broken Masterpieces

March 22, 2004

Cell Phones in Church

Each week during the sermon at church I've been hearing cell phones ringing. It's been happening 2-3 times per week. Here's some alternatives; silent/vibrate mode, off button or leave the darn thing in your car.

I wonder how many of these calls have been emergencies? My guess, about zero. Most cell phone conversations I overhear (FYI, I am a great overhearer so if you speak around me, I hear it :) ) are more "so, what are you, like, doing?".

Cell phones are a great tool for communication but please consider how important it is to get that "important" phone call during church, a movie or anything else where the phone can be a horrible distraction to others.

Posted by Tim at March 22, 2004 09:01 AM
Comments

My church has a 'cellphone / pager' policy that is stated every week as announcement number 2 in the church bulletin that is stated as follows:

"We ask that if you have cellphone / pagers to leave these devices in your locked vehicle and not bring these devices into the sanctuary. If for some reason (on call for employment reasons) that you are forced to carry a cellphone / pager, we require you to set the cellphone / pager to the 'silent or vibrate' mode before entering the sanctuary. If your cellphone / pager happens to go off during the services due to failure to set the cellphone / pager into the silent or vibrate mode, we reserve the right for pastoral staff, elders, deacons, and ushers to escort you out of the sanctuary and ask you to place the cellphone / pager in your locked vehicle before reentering the sanctuary."

Posted by: Totem to Temple at March 22, 2004 03:51 PM