SMS at the heart of the communication system
Posted: Sun Jan 19, 2025 4:23 am
A multi-millennial institution, the Church also knows how to communicate with the tools of its time. Like Pope Francis, who has exceeded 18 million "followers" on Twitter, or Monsignor Giraud, the Bishop of Soissons who invented the "tweethomily", many parishes and communities have converted to the use of SMS as a communication channel. Already more than 15 years of using SMS As early as 2005, the Sainte-Cécile parish in Boulogne (Hauts-de-Seine) realized that the mobile phone was occupying an increasingly important place in the daily lives of the French. As its priest said: "I noticed that the mobile phone seemed more essential to some than their rosary, so why not make it a path to prayer?" The parish then offered support during Lent: every day, parishioners who wished to receive a text message from the Gospel , as well as a meditation track.
A simple and effective way to reach everyone, wherever they are! More than a hundred parishioners signed up in the first three days of the launch of this proposal. Similar initiatives have also been taken in many other parishes, such as chile phone number data in Montigny-les-Bretonneux (Yvelines), where parishioners are offered the opportunity to receive a free text message from God relating to the texts of the day. Father Odaysky, from the Russian Orthodox Church, offers to receive the readings of the day and the saints commemorated every day by text message (in Russian). The "SMS from heaven" have even been renamed for the occasion "Spiritual Mission Service" or "Servant of the Lord's Mercy" by the laity of La Bonne Nouvelle, who work for the new evangelization.
Some examples of applications The chaplaincy of public education in Rodez (Aveyron) used SMS as a tool to facilitate a large treasure hunt. During this game, each team of young people received around ten SMS messages, based on a biblical text (Abraham's vocation), as well as instructions allowing them to gradually find their rallying point. In Chatou (Yvelines), the parish is proposing the establishment of “SpiPro ropes”, which bring together small groups of parishioners who wish to make a commitment to prayer together, in their daily/professional lives: quite naturally, SMS is chosen as the channel for communicating within each group.
In Toulon (Var), the International Marian Alliance is launching a large prayer chain around the rosary, the "1,000 rosaries"! Each time a rosary is prayed, the person can inform the AMI by internet, by SMS or by bulletin.... For "one-off " rosaries, SMS is the most popular communication channel, with 48% ! The Malagasy Protestant Federation of Paris simply offers interested people the opportunity to sign up to receive information by SMS about the major events and activities it carries out throughout the year. In Geneva, Switzerland, SMS is even used to collect church money: send the amount of your donation by SMS to a dedicated number, and the amount in question is debited directly from your mobile phone bill. Of course, you receive a… thank-you SMS, confirming that your donation has reached its recipient.
A simple and effective way to reach everyone, wherever they are! More than a hundred parishioners signed up in the first three days of the launch of this proposal. Similar initiatives have also been taken in many other parishes, such as chile phone number data in Montigny-les-Bretonneux (Yvelines), where parishioners are offered the opportunity to receive a free text message from God relating to the texts of the day. Father Odaysky, from the Russian Orthodox Church, offers to receive the readings of the day and the saints commemorated every day by text message (in Russian). The "SMS from heaven" have even been renamed for the occasion "Spiritual Mission Service" or "Servant of the Lord's Mercy" by the laity of La Bonne Nouvelle, who work for the new evangelization.
Some examples of applications The chaplaincy of public education in Rodez (Aveyron) used SMS as a tool to facilitate a large treasure hunt. During this game, each team of young people received around ten SMS messages, based on a biblical text (Abraham's vocation), as well as instructions allowing them to gradually find their rallying point. In Chatou (Yvelines), the parish is proposing the establishment of “SpiPro ropes”, which bring together small groups of parishioners who wish to make a commitment to prayer together, in their daily/professional lives: quite naturally, SMS is chosen as the channel for communicating within each group.
In Toulon (Var), the International Marian Alliance is launching a large prayer chain around the rosary, the "1,000 rosaries"! Each time a rosary is prayed, the person can inform the AMI by internet, by SMS or by bulletin.... For "one-off " rosaries, SMS is the most popular communication channel, with 48% ! The Malagasy Protestant Federation of Paris simply offers interested people the opportunity to sign up to receive information by SMS about the major events and activities it carries out throughout the year. In Geneva, Switzerland, SMS is even used to collect church money: send the amount of your donation by SMS to a dedicated number, and the amount in question is debited directly from your mobile phone bill. Of course, you receive a… thank-you SMS, confirming that your donation has reached its recipient.