MANY churches across Essex have been experiencing a surge in visitors over the past few weeks.

Some of our guests have been rather small, extremely colourful, difficult to catch – and not real.

Apart from these virtual creatures called Pokémon, however, many visitors have been actual, real human beings.

The surge is down to the popularity of the app Pokémon Go which has made many churches into “Pokestops” – spaces where players gather with their Pokémon.

Though it’s not unusual to see people staring at their smartphones, the recent explosion in the number of people wandering the streets of Essex looking at screens is because of this global craze.

Pokémon Go players are being warmly welcomed into many of Essex’s churches, and some churches have even planned special events and parties – even the Cathedral held one last Monday!

One national newspaper described this as the C of E “cashing in” on the latest fad in an attempt to “replenish the flock”, but they missed the point.

Welcoming people is simply what the church does! The church community – and the buildings we use – has always been a place of welcome.

A tradition of hospitality involving greeting strangers, building friendships, and serving our communities runs throughout the Bible and across the history of Christianity.

So of course we are delighted to welcome and give hospitality to Pokémon players – it’s what we do!

But perhaps we should proceed with a little caution.

Pokémon Go uses “augmented reality”: this means that players see the real world through their phone, but with Pokémon creatures projected on to it.

It might be that “augmented reality” distracts from reality, from being engaged with the real world around us.

This may simply mean that we need to be aware of the dangers of walking through traffic while staring at our phones.