Churches Split on Whether to Embrace Pokémon Go

By Samuel Smith, Deputy Managing Editor Wednesday, July 13, 2016

A pastor in Texas also has an issue with Pokémon Go using his church's property as a PokéStop.

"We're here when people need us. We just want people that don't need to be here to stay off because this is private property," Pastor Robert Sperbeck of the Tabernacle Baptist Church in Killeen told a local NBC affiliate. "We don't want to be liable for any injuries, or to be honest, we don't know if they're going to use it for a rouse to get on our property for other reason. We don't know."

Staff at Christ Lutheran Church in Charlotte, North Carolina, said that while they don't particularly want people walking around the church property when its daycare service is in session, Pokémon Go provides the church the opportunity to "capture" those who are looking to capture.

"We are always looking for ways to capture them and if we can capture them when they capture a Pokémon, we have to figure out how to do that," Laurie Carter, communications director for Christ Lutheran Church, told Fox 46.

On the question of whether Christians should play Pokémon Go, Bomar, who has authored books on college ministry, told CP that it's a similar question as to whether Christians should watch "Star Wars" or Disney movies or play other video games like Minecraft.

"If you watch 'Star Wars,' then you shouldn't have a problem with this," Bomar said. "If you don't watch 'Star Wars,' you can say, 'Well, do you let your daughter see any sort of Disney movie at all?' Because in all of them, there is good, there is evil, there are powers and all of that."

Jarrid Wilson, a pastor, blogger and author of the book Jesus Swagger, told CP on Tuesday that Christians need not look for "petty" things to oppose, such as Pokémon Go.

"So many times we find Christians shouting out what they are against rather than what they are for, and I believe many of us put way too much effort in trying to protest against things that don't really matter in the grander scheme of things," he wrote in an email. "I think we give Satan too much credit sometimes. And the longer he can get us to spend on petty arguments, the less time we have to focus on things that really matter: murder, abortion, poverty, racism, etc."

Wilson, who authored the recent op-ed "3 Things All Christians Can Learn From Pokémon Go," stressed to CP that Pokémon Go is "just a video game" and Jesus calls on Christians to "reclaim culture."

"If you don't trust me, just ask the hundreds-of-thousands of today's youth pastors who were once obsessed with Pokémon as a kid," he wrote. "I'm a firm believer that Jesus has called us to reclaim culture, not reject it. You can still be not of this world and embrace cultural influences to enhance your way of life, community and everyday experiences."