The Church and Technology



 One of the ideas drilled into your head when you attend Columbia Theological Seminary, is that ministry must respond to the needs of your particular context.  Because of this, we are rarely introduced to church "models" for ministry or blueprints for how to organize or create any kind of ministry.  The reason for this is, while models and blueprints can provide a starting point, they are never foolproof plans for faithful and effective ministry.

The geography of a particular community matters (where people live vs. where they work vs. where they shop and play, not to mention the landscape realities).  The economic forces of the community matter (rural, urban, suburban, retirement community, college town, bedroom community), the history of the town has an effect and so does education.  In order to faithfully follow Jesus, a community must examine its community and see where the needs of a community and the Gospel meet.

There seems to be, however, one cultural shift in recent decades that permeates through all regions of America both rural and urban as well as wealthy and working class neighborhoods, and that is the rapid progression and use of technology.  The speed of the change and the need to adapt can feel overwhelming.  To think, for example, that when I graduated high school most students had cell phones but almost no one had text messaging.  Now, most twelve year-olds have cell phones and unlimited text messaging, not to mention the standard camera feature on cell phones now.

The internet is now the standard means for research for most people under fifty (or 60?).  To confess, Rebecca and I actually throw our phone book in the recycling bin immediately when it arrives because we find our information on whitepages.com or a Google search.  Most young adults now do not subscribe to local or national newspapers, but browse news websites for information or follow links to stories posted by friends to Facebook or Twitter.

The fast and sometimes overwhelming changes, provides both opportunities and challenges for the church (read more about these challenges on the blog of the Rev. Adam Copeland).  In my conversations, I hear a lament that younger generations will lack conversational skills because texting and Facebook posts are their primary form of communication.  As a pastor, however, these technologies allow me to communicate instantaneously with church members whose busy lives make it impossible for me to drop in for lunch or stop by in the afternoon for coffee. 

Scrolling down my newsfeed on Facebook at my office desk, I can "like" the status of a church member or make a quick comment to let them know I'm thinking about them.  I can text parents asking them if their kids will help lead liturgy for an upcoming worship service, or post an interesting article on someone's wall related to Christian faith and someone's particular profession or hobbies.  I can e-mail out session agendas with links to interesting articles about the larger life of the church (and bonus points for our session elder who brings her IPad to meetings instead of printing out the paper...).  I even know some pastors who encourage church members to "live tweet" worship services so that those outside the church who follow them on Twitter can read about what is happening.  I have also heard of recommenations to "pray your newsfeed" on Facebook in the mornings, using updates and posts from friends as ways to pray for one another.

Website announcements, blog posts, church Facebook pages, audio sermons, these technologies and more help us to communicate as a community of faith and stay in touch with each other.

At the same time, though,  I recognize the limits of technology to connect us.  Study after study tells us that young adults (often the most technologically conencted among us) are experiencing more feeligns of isolation and craving meaningful and deep relationships.  Technology keeps us informed but it does not form deep relationships.  There needs to be "dead time," when you can simply share hopes and dreams and even occasionally sit in silence, for those kind of relationships to form.

In Christian language, the word we use for that is "Incarnation."  It's the good news of Christmas: "The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us" (John 1:14).  God's love is made manifest in a bodily relationship to humankind in Jesus.  The kingdom he brings, then, is necessarily relational, not in a technologically connected way, but in embodied ways (for more on the relationship between technology and church, check out the Rev. Kathy Wolf Reed's article in Presbyterians Today:  High Tech, High Touch).

There is a tension for us in the church, therefore, when it comes to the benefits of technology.  It can be very helpful in getting sign-up lists filled, getting the word out about upcoming worship services, informing members about meetings or trips.  It can help us know the major events of each other's lives and give us an instant way to respond.  But I believe that technology that replaces embodied relationships is unfaithful.  We need to be able to look in one anothers' eyes, hold hands, harmonize our voices, hammer nails and set up Yard Sale tents. 

Christian ministry that takes its context seriously, recognizes the benefits of technology to carry out Christ's mission but recognizes that incarnational ministry involves embodied actions as well.