Come for Jigglypuff, stay for Jesus

Before heading to church this past Sunday, I said something to my 14-year-old son that I had never said before: “No playing Pokemon Go during the service.”

I’m not the only parent or pastor wrestling with the game that has swept the nation recently. It might not be Gutenberg’s printing press, but Pokemon Go is the latest technological advance to have a significant impact on church. The new augmented-reality app lays a Pokemon-inhabited layer over a map on your phone, allowing players to wander around looking for monsters to capture.

The game relies on players visiting local landmarks — including, frequently, churches. Or at least church parking lots.

This could be good news for millennial-starved churches across the country. According to Pew Research, fully a third of millennials are religiously unaffiliated. And they are more likely to have a negative view of the church.

Could that change now that Pokemon Go is literally driving players out of their homes and to the very doorsteps of church?

Some players have said their first trip in years to a church building happened because of the game.

Every church I have driven past since downloading the game has been a PokeStop — a location in the game where players can stock up on the Poke Balls used to capture the creatures. Other churches serve as gyms, where players battle their best Pokemon.

Many pastors and leaders are now trying to find the best way to connect with the players sitting on their doorsteps.

Churches are using their signs — those ubiquitous homes of groan-worthy puns — to welcome local gamers inside. Others are placing markers around their property to let players know where stops and Pokemon can be found. Some churches are using the lure of virtual gifts on the game to offer real gifts and snacks, too.

Church leaders have even downloaded the app themselves to place special “lure modules” at their doorsteps, which attract both Pokemon and the real-life millennials who follow.

Is this a bait-and-switch tactic? “Come for a Jigglypuff, get Jesus instead?”

These pastors and leaders don’t see it that way. They want to be a positive part of their community, and they want to get to know the people around their church building. Pokemon Go is the latest creative means to spark those connections.

Of course, pastors’ aim to give millennial gamers a different view of church does not mean they want to turn their church building into a 24/7 Pokemon tournament.

Like the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and Arlington National Cemetery, which have asked players not to use those sacred places as Pokemon stomping grounds, churches may make the same request during services.

In theory, Americans are opposed to using a phone at church. Ninety-six percent told the Pew Research Center that it is generally not okay to use a cellphone during a church service.

But that opposition is more in theory than in practice. Cellphones are often out in the open during today’s church services — and frequently, phones enhance the worship experience.

Now, pastors and teachers may struggle to know who is reading Scripture and who is trying to catch Pokemon.

Before we started our class Sunday, the young adults I teach wanted to talk Pokemon Go. We shared our best catches and embarrassing failures. Before I began the lesson, I joked, “Don’t play during class unless you see a rare Pokemon. Then you have to let me know, so I can catch it, too.”

This story was originally published July 22, 2016 at 9:00 PM with the headline "Come for Jigglypuff, stay for Jesus."