MXit as pastoral tool or interface | emerging South Africa
MXit as pastoral tool or interface	December 9, 2006
I was told about MXit just after it was released by a friend who is 5 years younger than I am. I never even went through the trouble of downloading it. Now, IM (Instant Messaging) is becoming part of everyday life for me, and I’m still struggling compared to the people a few years younger than me. What follows i sjust some preliminary thoughts on using MXit, and other IM’s, as a pastoral tool, or a pastoral interface.
South has a population of about 50 million, and about 32 million cellphone users, and over 2 million MXit users, climbing at a tremendous rate. I believe the biggest reason why this technology, software, or culture is booming in this extraordinary way is because of our expensive communication costs (as compared to the rest of the world) and the ease of setup (as compared to other IM clients for cellphones).
This is simply some random thoughts on using MXit as pastoral tool, or rather, as a pastoral interface.
Face it. Our young generation is using MXit. They are able to be in permanent contact with their friends, enemies, and total strangers. My brother told me yesterday that MXit is the biggest and best party, because thousands (or maybe he said millions) can attend, and you can talk to three different people at a time, without anyone getting mad. As long as you don’t try talking to 4 different people while watching TV, he said.
It is possible to send an instant message, and get an instant reply, without any cost, regardless of length. They can use this to ask advice at any time they want to, also from a youth leader, pastor, or any kind of mentor.
Very little responsibility if required. Anything can be said, and is won’t necessarily be true, of may be completely exaggerated. MXit can be used as a covering tool, to cover yourself from being seen by the world. This can be good, when someone is willing to chat, in a case where (s)he wouldn’t have talked at all. This can be bad, when a conversation that could have been face-to-face stay a conversation over MXit. MXit could be a great instant conversation, maybe leading to another converstation face-to-face. Sometimes a conversation will stay limited to MXit.
Pastoral conversations over MXit must stay just as confidential as any other pastoral conversation.
I have a couple of high school kids that were part of the youth ministry in the previous congregation I attended added as contacts on MXit. We had the opportunity of having a few great conversations over the past 2 or 3 months. I’ve had some great experiences with using MXit as a pastoral interface. But I know of friends who had some bad experiences as well.
1.	tiaan van niekerk - December 15, 2006
Mxit as berading. Ek dink dit kan werk. Ek dink dis baie powerful. Iemand, en ek weet eerlikwaar nie wie nie, gaan net vir ons moet leer hoe ‘n mens berading doen met net 160 characters op ‘n slag tot jou beskikking (as jy dit deur sms’e doen met ‘n ou foon) of +/- 300 characters op ‘n slag (met Mxit). Wat is die kerngoed wat jy moet sê om die meeste vir die ander persoon te kan beteken? Okay, natuurlik, soos enige beradingsessie, gaan elkeen van die volgende een verskil, dis tog verstaanbaar. Maar hoe kry jy die belangrikste boodskappe by die mens aan die ander kant van die lyn uit? Wat maak jy as jy nie eens weet (soos in hierdie geval) waar in Suid-Afrika die ander persoon hom/haarself bevind nie? Jy kan nie iemand bel wat daar is om te gaan check dat als okay is nie. Daar is ‘n baie groot stuk vertroue op Jesus wat noodgedwonge (ek weet dit klink funny) inskop. As jy voorheen gedink het jy kan alles darem self hanteer, dis net lekker as Jesus toekyk, moet jy nou regtig die situasie in Sy Hande plaas en vertrou dat Hy die ander persoon sal bystaan (veral in ‘n krisissituasie, soos iemand wat dreig om selfmoord te pleeg.). Jy weet nie of die persoon net joke, wolf-wolf skree of dalk regtig ernstig is nie. Ek het op ‘n stadium lus gevoel om vir Jaco te vra of hy dan ten minste seker is waarnatoe hy gaan as hy sou selfmoord pleeg, maar ek het bietjie uneasy gevoel daaroor. Actually was ek baie ongemaklik met die hele situasie, hoewel berading eintlik vir my baie vervullend is en ek dit as een van my sterk punte sien, een van die dinge van die bediening wat ek geniet om te doen. Dis net, ‘n mens kan nie face to face met die persoon praat nie, so jy weet nie hoe hy/sy reageer nie. ‘n Mens voel baie magteloos, maar, soos ons dominees my ook daarop gewys het: as jy van jou kant af gedoen het wat jy kon, dan het jy gedoen wat jy kon. Dan is die besluit nogsteeds in die ander persoon se hande…
2.	contemplating MXit « my contemplations - April 5, 2007
[…] I did some posts on MXit back on emergingsa. You can find some of it here and here. It seemed to be an interesting topic, it got triggered by search engines every few days, […]