What is a Digital Fast?
The Digital Fast is a 14-day journey to reimagine how we engage with technology. Over the next two weeks, we will walk through the four phases—Detach, Discover, Delight, Determine—individually through The Digital Fast workbook and collectively as a united church family. These 14 days are designed to reshape how we view and use technology, not only right now, but long after the fast ends. When our relationship with our phones changes, our relationships with one another, and with our Heavenly Father, begin to deepen as well.
A fast is an intentional period of giving something up. In this case—and to put your mind at ease—we’re not asking you to lock your phone away for two weeks.
We are stepping into a journey together, a journey to reimagine and reexamine our relationship with technology. You may feel prompted to delete a social media app, stop sleeping with your phone next to your bed, or even pick up a real book with actual paper pages.
The journey will look different for each of us, but the curriculum and the daily guide will help us walk through this shared experience with purpose.
The goal is transformation. To challenge ourselves. To build a healthier, more intentional relationship with the devices that shape our days. To maximize their usefulness and minimize their harm for the long road ahead.
If you are participating, we have The Digital Fast workbook that will guide you through 14 days of devotions, exercises, and practical steps designed to help you reconnect to what truly matters.
As part of this journey, our church will also be using the Aro app (yes—ironically, an app) to measure how much time we are intentionally spending OFF our phones each week. We will be sharing these intentional hours together as a way to encourage one another and stay accountable. While you may be deleting distracting apps, this tool will help us quantify our progress and celebrate how far we’ve come.
A fast is an intentional period of giving something up. In this case—and to put your mind at ease—we’re not asking you to lock your phone away for two weeks.
We are stepping into a journey together, a journey to reimagine and reexamine our relationship with technology. You may feel prompted to delete a social media app, stop sleeping with your phone next to your bed, or even pick up a real book with actual paper pages.
The journey will look different for each of us, but the curriculum and the daily guide will help us walk through this shared experience with purpose.
The goal is transformation. To challenge ourselves. To build a healthier, more intentional relationship with the devices that shape our days. To maximize their usefulness and minimize their harm for the long road ahead.
If you are participating, we have The Digital Fast workbook that will guide you through 14 days of devotions, exercises, and practical steps designed to help you reconnect to what truly matters.
As part of this journey, our church will also be using the Aro app (yes—ironically, an app) to measure how much time we are intentionally spending OFF our phones each week. We will be sharing these intentional hours together as a way to encourage one another and stay accountable. While you may be deleting distracting apps, this tool will help us quantify our progress and celebrate how far we’ve come.
WHY… are we doing this?
We have a problem—a distraction problem and a devotion problem. Ninety-one percent of us carry this problem with us every hour of the day. This incredible piece of technology, the smartphone, has quietly become our biggest source of distraction. Many of us would even admit that we feel “addicted” to it or, at the very least, that we should be using it far less than we do.
Social scientists and anthropologists have noted that our obsession with digital devices has numbed us, sedated us, and drained us. It has left us feeling lonelier and more disconnected than ever before. There is even a word for the moment when someone is ignored because another person is staring at their phone—“phubbed.”
And the disconnect is not only between us and one another. Our devices are increasingly crowding out our relationship with God.
So, as a church, we are choosing to come together and take part in a shared experience that will intentionally reduce digital distraction and deliberately increase spiritual devotion.
We are doing this for you, for your family, for your relationships, for your walk with your Heavenly Father, and for the health of our church. We have the opportunity to model for our community what a healthy, God-honoring relationship with technology can look like.
Together, we can turn down the noise and create the time, space, and mental clarity needed to hear the voice of God.
Social scientists and anthropologists have noted that our obsession with digital devices has numbed us, sedated us, and drained us. It has left us feeling lonelier and more disconnected than ever before. There is even a word for the moment when someone is ignored because another person is staring at their phone—“phubbed.”
And the disconnect is not only between us and one another. Our devices are increasingly crowding out our relationship with God.
So, as a church, we are choosing to come together and take part in a shared experience that will intentionally reduce digital distraction and deliberately increase spiritual devotion.
We are doing this for you, for your family, for your relationships, for your walk with your Heavenly Father, and for the health of our church. We have the opportunity to model for our community what a healthy, God-honoring relationship with technology can look like.
Together, we can turn down the noise and create the time, space, and mental clarity needed to hear the voice of God.
HOW… does it work?
We officially begin The Digital Fast on January 4th, and we will complete the journey together on January 18th.
The value of doing this as a churchwide experience is found in the strength of our collective action. Many of us have tried to reduce digital distraction on our own, but individual efforts are often difficult to sustain in isolation. When we walk this path together, engagement rises, participation increases, and genuine excitement grows.
The Digital Fast experience includes:
The value of doing this as a churchwide experience is found in the strength of our collective action. Many of us have tried to reduce digital distraction on our own, but individual efforts are often difficult to sustain in isolation. When we walk this path together, engagement rises, participation increases, and genuine excitement grows.
The Digital Fast experience includes:
- A 3-week message series from Pastor Allen, grounding this journey in Scripture and guiding our church toward deeper devotion and clarity
- The Digital Fast Workbook for those who choose to participate on a personal, daily level throughout the 14 days
- Free access to the Aro app, available to everyone in the church.
