Churches Split on Whether to Embrace Pokémon Go
As the new craze of "Pokémon Go" is leading thousands of Pokémon chasers to churches throughout the country, some pastors are ready to use the opportunity "for good" while others want to keep the phenomenon off their church property.
Pokémon Go, a new augmented mobile reality game released last week that uses phone GPS systems to allow users to roam their communities in search of virtual Pokémon characters, has seemingly taken over the country and has already been downloaded more than 7.5 million times in in the Google Play and iOS Apps Store.
But as the game uses many different community hotspots as locations where users can collect and battle their Pokémon, many churches and other religious institutions across the nation have been picked to serve as gyms and PokéStops, where people can collect digital items that allow them to catch Pokémons.
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Although many churches have witnessed strange people coming on their properties in order to collect the Pokémon, there hasn't been much the churches have been able to do about it.
Chuck Bomar, who pastors Colossae Church in Portland, Oregon, told The Christian Post on Wednesday that two of the church's three locations and a church-run non-profit coffee shop have been chosen as PokéStops and the church had "zero choice" about the PokéStop designations.
Bomar explained that he and his staff have noticed a number of unfamiliar people, specifically employees of Nike and Intel, wandering around outside of the church property while they were on lunch break and on the hunt for Pokémon.
Although some Christian critics in the past 20 years have regarded Pokémon as "demonic" "pocket monsters" that that teach children how to use supernatural powers against their enemies, Bomar told CP his church staff have embraced the new craze because of the opportunity it presents.
"A few of our staff have started walking around and are meeting all these people and they are kind of viewing it as a way to meet people that they never would have met," Bomar explained. "Anything we do, whether it is for good or for evil — a game, technology, whatever — it is really easy to bash it because it could be used for evil, but we could just make a choice to use if for good."
Bomar, whose church is attended and staffed by a number of people in their 20s, said he didn't have to "coach" his staff to embrace the opportunity, adding that he is excited his staff took the initiative to "use this thing for good."
"We have to look for any appropriate means to engage with nonbelievers," Bomar asserted. "Every appropriate means of engaging with nonbelievers, we want to take advantage of it."
As reports have indicated that some teens have climbed onto the roof of a church in Milwaukee while on the lookout for Pokémon, some pastors are weary of having users freely walk onto church property.
One pastor in particular is trying to petition The Pokémon Company to prevent his church property from being used as a Pokémon playground.
According to local news station KIRO7 in Renton, Washington, a number of Pokémon Go players have voyaged to the play structure at East Renton Community Church in Renton, Washington. Citing safety concerns, the church's Pastor, Mark Kilcup, journeyed the The Pokémon Company International's office in Bellevue and asked to have his church removed from the game. However, he was told that the company's legal department would be in touch and he was sent away. He has not yet received a response.
"We are concerned about people we don't know that are near our play set because the safety of these children is our No. 1 priority," Kilcup said. "They should have anticipated problems like this. They should have a team of people ready to resolve a conflict like this, if they're a responsible gaming company."
