Facebook creator and CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that the social media network's new mission is to provide the community that churches once fulfilled. Pastor Robert Jeffries, senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Dallas, responded Friday with Martha MacCullum on Fox News.
"Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg declares a new mission for his creation," MacCullum explined, "suggesting that his virtual social network will seek to take the place of some real life communities, like churches for example."
"So he's suggesting that the kind of community that people find in places like Facebook perhaps replaces what they used to find when they went to church," she told Jeffries.
"Look, God created the church, Zuckerberg created Facebook, my guess is God and the church are gonna around a lot longer than Zuckerberg and Facebook are," he responded.
"And look, Martha," Jeffries explained, "I believe that technology can certainly enhance the ministry of the church. In the last 18 months we've had 500,00 people from 192 countries participate in our internet worship services. Technology can enhance ministry of the church, but it will never replace the church."
"You know you visit some cities and you see some churches that are now antique stores, or churches that are night clubs," MacCallum explained. "I always think it's sad when I see that."
"So that's disturbing when you look at where things are headed and when you look at the fact that 36 percent of millennials say they have no affiliation with any church," she added. "Mark Zuckerberg might be onto something here."
"Well we all have a need for community," Jeffries responded. "I mean God created us where we need human touch. We need community. And that's why God designed the family and he designed the church. But that need for human companionship will never be satisfied by curling up with your laptop."
Zuckerberg made the comments at the first Facebook Communities Summit last week.
"That's a lot of of people who now need to find a sense of purpose and support somewhere else," he said, adding, "we're going to change Facebook's whole mission to take this on."
The popular social media site recently reached a milestone with over 2 billion users.
