The Vice-Chancellor, Ajayi Crowther University (ACU), Oyo, Prof. Ebunoluwa Oduwole, has issued a stark warning about the spiritual perils of the digital age, arguing that smartphones and screens are not neutral tools but powerful forces actively shaping Christian attention, temptation, and discipleship.
Speaking before an audience of bishops, clergy, scholars, and graduating students on Wednesday, 3rd June 2026, at the 41st Convocation Lecture of Archbishop Vining College of Theology, Akure (AVCTA), Ondo State, Prof. Oduwole declared that “technology is one of the great forces of our time” and challenged the church to confront how digital devices are quietly re-forming the habits of the heart.
In her lecture titled “Technology and Spiritual Life: How Screens Shape Attention, Temptation, and Discipleship,” Prof. Oduwole said, “The central question is not whether Christians should use technology, but what kind of spiritual people our tech habits produce.”
She observed that many believers now struggle to pray for even ten minutes without reaching for their phones, and that in Nigerian churches, pastors regularly plead with congregants to silence devices during worship, a plea that increasingly goes unheeded.
Most striking was the lecture’s examination of how screens have transformed the nature of temptation. The Vice-Chancellor noted that morally compromising content that once required deliberate effort to access is now available in seconds, in complete privacy.
Using Nigerian examples, she pointed to the explosive growth of mobile betting platforms, which are now accessible to university students and have fueled a rise in youth gambling.
The lecture also critiqued how social media encourages what philosopher Charles Taylor called “expressive individualism.” According to her, “Christianity invites humility, self-denial, and transformation in Christ,” adding that, “Yet in digital culture, self-promotion, branding, and performative visibility are rewarded. Not even the ministry is spared. Sermons become content. Worship becomes a spectacle.”
She cautioned that some religious leaders have begun measuring spiritual worth by follower counts and online influence, a drift she described as a gradual but dangerous redefinition of pastoral identity.
Despite the sobering assessment, the lecture concluded with practical hope, as she called for intentional practices of silence, solitude, and contemplative prayer as forms of “spiritual resistance” in a noisy age. Prof. Oduwole urged Christians to evaluate technology not by whether an activity is permitted, but by whether it “enriches love and fosters connection with God.”
Prof. Oduwole posited that “screens are not only a threat; they are also tools.” She celebrated redemptive uses of digital tools, noting that in Nigeria, WhatsApp broadcast lists have become primary channels for discipleship, with pastors sending daily devotionals to thousands of members. Bible apps like YouVersion now offer Scripture in Hausa, Igbo, and Yoruba, while seminaries including the Theological College of Northern Nigeria use Zoom to train rural pastors who cannot relocate to urban centres.
In a challenge to theological education, the Vice-Chancellor concluded by addressing the unique responsibility of institutions like Archbishop Vining College of Theology. She said, “The challenge facing theological colleges is tremendous and pressing. It is not only to educate ministers for the church of today but also to create those whose example is truly spiritual and who can lead humanity through the moral and existential challenges of the digital era.”
Quoting Jesus from the Gospel of Mark, she asked, “What good is it if a man gains the whole world and loses his soul?” The answer, she suggested, turns on a single question: “Is the user controlling the screen, or is the screen controlling the user?”
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