Use of Social Media for Sustainable Peace by Church Pastors of the Nigerian Baptist Convention, 2010-2020

Abstract or Introduction

This research’s objective is to critically engage in the study of responses of the Convention’s pastors to the actualisation of Goal Sixteen, which aims at peaceful and non-violent societies. The study examined how the Convention’s pastors use social media in mediative dialogue to resolve conflicts in building peace in churches. The study focused on using social media in mediative dialogue among pastors in Baptist churches within Ibadan city. It focused on Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, and Telegram. Its time frame is 2010 to 2020. It was done through three qualitative research methods: sample surveys, semi-structured interviews, and document analysis. The study discovers that many Baptist pastors in Ibadan have been using at least a social media platform. It reveals that while few pastors consciously use social media to promote sustainable peace and resolve conflicts through mediative dialogue, most pastors are sceptical about using social media to resolve conflicts through mediative dialogue. While most pastors that use social media use WhatsApp and Facebook, many are just migrating to Telegram, and few pastors use Twitter. The research recommended that governments, faith-based organisations, and pastors of the Convention should deploy social media in the process of mediative dialogue as an instrument for deepening sustainable peace.

Conflicts in the world impair sustainable peace. Conflicts have to be resolved and transformed for peaceful coexistence to achieve one of the seventeen blueprints of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals – peaceful and non-violent societies. A process of attaining peace is peacebuilding. One of peacebuilding means is mediative dialogue. Many faith-based organisations, especially the Nigerian Baptist Convention, resolve conflicts among its churches through various means. As the world has metamorphosed digitally and social media changes communication means globally, using social media in mediative dialogue will likely improve conflict resolution by faith-based organisations.