Information Diets

No one comes to your church with an empty mind. From the mildly curious with no apparent faith through to the most passionate of disciples, from the first-time visitors through to the long-term members, everyone comes with minds shaped by the information they have received. They may or may not be conscious of all that occupies their minds: all of us take so much for granted such as the values embedded in our cultural, economic, educational, and political backgrounds. These realities are multiplied in an International Church (IC) with all the diversities of nationality, denomination, culture, language, education, occupation, personality, and beyond. 

It is imperative that all church leaders take seriously how much every person present in your church has been inundated with information from multiple sources: and this is happening every day of every week. For the IC, the diversity of information diets is beyond number. With rare exceptions, the input from the Scriptures is only one small part of this volume of input. The information diet of the people in your church is extensive and relentless. Two books that I have read recently explore this reality.

• “Stolen Focus: Why You Can’t Pay Attention” by Johann Hari (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2022).
• “The Great Dechurching: Who’s Leaving, Why Are They Going, and What Will It Take to Bring Then Back?” by Jim Davis and Michael Graham (Zondervan Reflective, 2023).

The first is the more extensive exploration of the two into information inputs. A variety of contributing factors are discussed including how electronic media is changing the ways our minds work, why both attentiveness and comprehension are declining, and how the profit motive for media companies drives many to manipulate the ways we engage with the information that we receive (algorithms are designed to keep you engaging so that profits from advertising are maximized). 

The second examines the research into why millions have left the church in the USA even though most retain some level of belief in Jesus Christ. It includes a chapter on information diets. “People will consume social media, podcasts, YouTube, radio, books, blogs, television, and movies. Whether we realize it or not, this volume of information is constantly forming and shaping our vision of what is true, good, and beautiful. Compound the information diet with algorithm-fed division for profit.” (p. 186-187). Note the many other sources of information not listed in the quote. Even for most Christians within the church, or dechurched, this gluttony of information from so many sources far outweighs in volume and frequency the information from the Scriptures (Bible reading and study, teaching, books, and the like). This critical imbalance in our information diet is worsening as time put into learning from the Bible continues to decline for so many churches and Christians. 

We need information to simply be human, to be responsible citizens, to know how to love God and to love others, and to know who our God is so that we grow in our faith. But we also need to know how to analyze and evaluate the information we receive, whether from the Scriptures, from the church, or from the world we live in. Two high-priority disciplines are critical essentials to be built into our churches and our discipleship.

First, more than ever before all Christians need serious and sustained engagement with the text and theology of the Bible. The common practice of devotionalized proof-texting will never build up disciples into theological maturity (cherry-picking our way through random texts). Sacrificing Biblical learning for spiritual experience is driven by culture and works against the building up of faith through the knowledge of God. There is far more to Biblical theology than just teaching a simple, disconnected collection of doctrines. We need to open the eyes, minds, and hearts of all to grasp the exciting vision that God has for the creation and His people by exploring the ever-developing purposes of God laid out in the narrative from creation to the new creation coming together in the new heaven and earth. 

The story from Genesis to Revelation is an inspiring and wonderful story but how many people in your church can tell the story, and link the story to the world around us? How many know the story well enough to critique the information input of their everyday lives? (There is considerably more to this than the common black-and-white versions of sexual morality.) Jesus caught up this visionary story in the phrase “The Kingdom of God” but how many can tell the story of the promise and fulfilment of the Kingdom? And apply this story of the Kingdom impacting all of life to the daily information flood?

We can no longer take anything for granted as Western churches did in the long-past days of Christendom. Growing depth and strength in our theology should be given high priority if our people are to be equipped to process the input of their everyday information diet. Everything now is up for grabs. The way people think and process information has changed. The prevalence of dubious cultural priorities and political ideologies in our churches reveals just how much we have much work to do.

Secondly, Christians need to learn how to engage maturely with the flood of information coming to us from everywhere. Cutting ourselves off from the world is simply not an option if we follow the example and instructions of Jesus. Our calling is to engage with the world around us as witnesses to Jesus and the Kingdom He has already inaugurated. We need the information that is true but how to discern what is true from all the nonsense?

Furthermore, our capacity to engage with those beyond the church, and to connect the Gospel with their lives, requires us to be familiar with the deluge of information that currently shapes their beliefs and practices. 

The following is a relevant extract from what I wrote in June 2020 regarding the information flood surrounding COVID-19. The full article is here: https://micn.org/understanding-the-times-five-missional-imperatives-the-kingdom-in-the-times-of-covid-19/ 

2. Truth.

Perhaps it is obvious that we serve the God of all truth (John 3:33, 1 John 5:20), that grace and truth live in Jesus (John 1:14, 14:6), that a passion for truth is evidence of the presence of Christ in us, in whom are “all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:3). Truth is not something about which we can pick and choose. God’s love of truth is comprehensive and applicable to all of life and the created order, every nation and society, every issue currently being debated. A passion for truth is inextricably an outcome of knowing God. 

When surrounded by the prophets of conspiracy theories and other forms of nonsense to justify various political ideologies or doomsday worldviews or just various forms of adolescent rebelliousness, Christians need to be seen to be people of truth. This means being people committed to evidence, information, research, critical analysis, careful articulation, and honesty. It means we will not misrepresent those with whom we disagree, we will not misrepresent our own perspectives with hyperbole or cover-up. Unfortunately, much of the evangelical church does not have a good reputation in this area thereby undermining the credibility of the Gospel.

In general terms, many Christians and churches are guilty of what Paul called “factionalism”, a work of the flesh (Galatians 5:20). “Divisions” is another word for it, but I still prefer the old RSV term “party spirit” so that the attitudes that feed factionalism are included. Party spirit, whether theological, ecclesiastical, or political, is a loyalty that has priority over truth. For the sake of the party, we exaggerate the positives and blindly reject all critical analysis. “Truth is the first casualty of war” and war may well be the wars of words and loyalties.

Truth includes what the Scriptures present and this truth has an authority and power that must not be weakened. How we engage with Scripture, and its application to all of life, will contribute towards how well our people learn to distinguish truth from error. Simplistic proof-texting, idealistic spirituality, or just moralizing the text are some of the many ways we can be unhelpful in teaching our people the value of truth and the ways of discernment and study needed to identify the truth.

Unfortunately, in our world with its flood of anti-truth gullibility, claims of fake news, and a paranoid readiness to latch onto any kind of bizarre alternative, we now face the need to teach Christians how to think. The capacity to think is an essential requirement for missional engagement. This includes:

• How to research and find the relevant evidence, and then process and evaluate this information.

• How scientific research works so they can discern the legitimate scientific claims from the dubious. You do not have to be a scientist here as there are established basic questions for this.

• How to see through the scams, the political rhetoric, and the hubris of some Christian leaders.

• The importance of critical analysis and why some claim this is bias when it is not. How to pick the difference.

• The anything-goes nature of social media whereas mainstream media has far more checks in the system, with one notable exception. 

• That patriotism does not mean being positive about everything, that genuine patriotism includes critical analysis. 
• That any kind of party loyalty, including denominational and political, produces a real risk of compromising the truth.

Attention to these is not a lot of extra work. It is partly just a matter of good role models of thinking in preaching and teaching, and in helping people think through the application of Scripture to life and mission. It is about helping people see good examples of finding and processing the evidence from Scripture, and the evidence from life, needed for wise and mature application.

This is not a peripheral need. Capacity to think directly impacts all aspects of Christian life and mission. Capacity to think is an important part of the enlightenment that comes from the filling each day with the Holy Spirit (contrary to the mistaken idea that the Spirit’s work bypasses our minds). The capacity to think is a significant factor in discerning well how we are to love one another and love those in the darkness. The Gospel’s credibility is undermined every time Christians buy into arguments and opinions that lack credibility. For the sake of the credibility of our Gospel, our mission, our hope, we consistently must be people of truth.

There is a third need, the enlightening, liberating, equipping work of the Holy Spirit. To this end, there needs to be an urgency in our calling to pray without ceasing. It is best if we collaborate with the Spirit in the two areas I have just summarized. 

In conclusion, one statement from Jesus often comes to mind because of its relevance to these concerns, Matthew 12:43-45, and Luke 11:24-26. Jesus seems to be talking about more than just people being demonized. There are implications for Israel as well as for individuals. I think of Christians who are largely empty of Biblical perspectives, values, truths, priorities, and theology. They are vulnerable. When Biblical input is limited, the world fills in the gaps. The more people are ill-equipped to critique and evaluate their information diet, the more the world fills in the empty spaces. Do not doubt just how powerful and intrusive this can be. Everyone brings to faith the information diet of their past. Maturity in discipleship comes as we work our way through the perspectives, values, and practices that we inherited from our backgrounds, and as we critically analyze the information fed to us every day. But to do so, we need thinking skills as well as Biblical knowledge. 

All that we have surveyed above is compounded in every IC. The mix of people and their diverse backgrounds, and the information inputs that swamp their perspectives every day from an even wider range of sources, effectively multiplies the challenges for all IC leaders. Yet it is not an impossible task. Equipping our people to be wise and discerning can be developed in every sermon and Bible study, every prayer and song, every announcement, and every pastoral engagement. Through us, the people of the church learn by our example and explanation how to “rightly handle the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15). This means not using the Bible as a launching pad for whatever opinion we want. IC leaders need to grow in their capacities to do this well, thereby preparing the people with the critical thinking skills they will need in the week to come as our people are deluged with such hugely diverse information diets from around the world.

We want our churches to demonstrate the life and community of the Kingdom. We want our churches to be growing in maturity. We want Christians to be people who can engage well in serving those beyond the church, and in serving the societies in which they live. We want to see God’s glory fill the earth as the Kingdom increases. Facing the challenges of the massive information flow into the lives of our people is one essential ingredient to make it so.

Be encouraged in this, the Spirit is already at work!

Graham Chipps