More than 1,000 people gathered Sunday evening in the sanctuary of Vibrant Church, sitting alongside one another and deleting social media, streaming and shopping apps from their phones.
It marked the start of the church’s second-ever Seek Week, a weeklong digital fast intended to remove distractions and help churchgoers find clarity through connecting to their faith and with one another in real-time.
Executive Pastor Aaron Lane said the digital fast extends to all screens, movies, videogames, apps and social media.
“It’s our culture,” Lane said. “It’s the world we live in. Everything’s digital. We bank digitally. We communicate with people (digitally). It’s our platform to expose ourselves to the world. We’re just trying to strip that away.”
Lane said the church was already planning to hold Seek Week this week, but the recent murder of Charlie Kirk and the public stabbing of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska solidified the need for it.
“The political climate is heating up, if you will, and we just feel like it’s appropriate,” Lane said. “There’s never a bad week to seek the Lord, but it’s just unifying churchwide. We want to rally the people to come together and seek the Lord and get clarity.”
Lane said he hopes people will use the time to shift their focus from what’s online to what’s happening right in front of them.
“We really encourage people to get off of screens and spend time in conversation with one another,” Lane said. “You’d be surprised how much of your conversation is shared around what you read online with politics (and) sports this time of year. … We want to shift conversation around people and learn to communicate in other ways that aren’t in the form of digital media.”
Chris Carter, a member of Vibrant Church, said the break from social media has already helped clear his mind.
“When I’m slow in my business, I’m sitting down and I’m looking at my phone because what else am I going to do,” said Carter, owner of Rock Bottom Furniture. “Now I’m finding things in my business that need to be done, just tinkering here and there. I’m just seeing clearer. It sounds crazy, but if you do it, you’ll understand.”
After he found himself still reaching for his phone, Carter decided to leave his Bible in the places where he’d typically pick up his phone and scroll.
While he and his wife have embraced the break, Carter said it’s been challenging to convince his two 15-year-old sons to give up their cell phones.
Lane, a father of four, said he’s faced similar difficulties with his family.
“It’s hard raising kids in this age,” Lane said. “My kids have iPads. My oldest son has a phone. … There are challenges with them, and it’s a challenge for us as parents. Obviously the easy thing for us to do is to put a device in our kids’ hands and let them be on the couch … but we’re bringing our family together and we’re at the table having conversations together, and I’ve enjoyed it. It’s made me reflect on how we can do a better job as parents moving forward.”
Overwhelming benefits
CJ Studstill, another Vibrant member, said he has given up everything except email, which he relies on for work. He said since starting the fast on Sunday, he’s already noticed changes in his daily life.
“I’ve found in those moments that I want to stop and scroll on social media, I target that time for something else, whether it’s reading my Bible or studying some scripture … just to further my knowledge,” Studstill said. “It’s definitely awakened my knowledge of how addicted I’ve been to social media and things like that. Social media is an addiction people don’t realize they have until they take a break from it.”
Lane said he hopes church members will take what they learn during Seek Week and be more mindful of what they want in their lives going forward.
“We really challenge our people to fast everything this week, but then decide for themselves what they want to get back on in the coming weeks and how much time they want to spend on those things,” Lane said. “So hopefully, people make healthy decisions going forward about their digital lifestyle.”
While he doesn’t plan to give up screens altogether after this week, Carter plans to incorporate pieces of what he’s learned during the fast going forward.
“I will definitely be more conscious of how often I am on (my phone),” Carter said. “I have enjoyed our suppers and meals as a family without the cellular devices being on the table, so there’s definitely things I will keep with me.”
Lane said that while giving up screens may be difficult, the benefits are overwhelming.
“It’s difficult to feel like you’re behind, you’re missing out on what’s happening over here, or how people are responding to this event, but there’s also a lot of peace and order that comes from not being overly informed,” Lane said. “… I would definitely say my peace tank is up, my clarity tank is up and I just have a greater perspective on the people who are around me.”
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