In the medical world we have solutions for hair loss, hair growth, erectile dysfunction, and body enhancements. At the same time reports say that cancer and aids research are greatly underfunded compared to the impact they are having on society. In the electronics world we have video game systems, big screen TVs, and stereo systems that rival movie theaters from just a couple decades ago. But, the technical social interaction is done in a way that is leading to kids having less friends than kids did a generation ago and increases in depression and the feeling of abandonment. When I look at the technology of the world I see the innovations, money, and concentration on those things that feed our selfish sides and not on the needs of the people. So, when the church uses those same technologies and same methods they end up feeding the selfish sides rather than the real needs of the people.
The Mission
Jesus lead us to reach out to the needs of people like he did. He had compassion on them. We, as a church, want to have compassion on others.
At the same time, Jesus called us to make disciples by teaching. That is how he did it. That's what the apostles and disciples went out and did after he left them to the work of the church.
How We Use Technology
So, how do we use technology to do that? We try to use technology to wow people at the holidays. Isn't this like the home entertainment centers of the world? We come up with solutions to added giving to the church online. How does that teach or help people in their real needs? We focus on the cool aspects of worship like big budget sound systems and video projection. Many of the pastors in churches who can't afford that dream about it and wish they had that. How does that go out and make disciples? How is that like Jesus ministry where he sat on a hill and talked to people in the open country?
A Challenge
If Jesus used technology today I don't think it would look much like how the church in western culture uses it. Jesus would have us rethink how we used technology for the mission of the church and challenge us to use it in a way that's not of the world but has us in it reaching, teaching, and helping people.
A challenge for us is to look at the technology and the opportunities differently. When we build a site with drupal, or any other framework, how do we set it up and what features does it offer? Often times we will look at a business site, a social networking site, or a church site that had looked at one of those for our inspiration and our features. If we really want to meet the needs of people, I think, we need to do it differently. To do it in a way that teaches people and reaches out to them in their real needs.
The tough question is, what does that look like? When I look around on the Internet and in the local church today that something different isn't jumping out to me. As a church, I really think this is a prime opportunity to rethink what we are doing and look for those golden opportunities that God is calling us to.
Magisterial vs. Ministerial
I'm not sure if I jive with your logic here. It's sort of like uber-liturgical folks saying that drums are inherently evil when, in fact, it's not the drums that are bad, but how they're used (cheesy love songs to Jesus, working people's emotions, etc).
So to me, the question isn't the technology itself, but how it's being used. I think magisterial and ministerial is a good distinction to use here. If technology is magisterial, that means it runs how things work. We do things because other technology folks are doing it or because we want people to be impressed by the technology itself. I recall sitting in a church once where some tech deal was done and the pastor paused and said, "Isn't technology great!" I though, "Thanks for pointing me to technology rather than Jesus."
However, if technology is ministerial, it means it's functioning more in the background and being used to serve a higher purpose. To this end, if the technology doesn't work towards your mission and vision, then you don't use it. Of course, if you don't keep the higher purpose in mind and always ask, "How is our technology going to accomplish this?" then the technology will naturally move to a magisterial position. To me, this seems to be where your fear lies ... technology for technologies sake, rather than technology for the Gospel's sake.
Thoughts?
Re-think Our Solutions
I think a lot of churches attempt to use technology to point people to Christ. That the ministry is supposed to set the tone and the technology do the pointing. What I am proposing here (or trying to) is that when the tech people come up with the solutions to direct people in a ministerial way, as you propose, the solutions are not quite on the mark. That the technological inspiration is too tied to the way the world is doing it in commercial applications. That it isn't being as effective as it could because the implementation is taking a commercial method and trying to use it for a church purpose. That part of that 'of the world' element is left over in the final product.
The picture I have in my mind is like us trying to take a car tire off a drag racing car, put it on a tractor, and plow a field. The tractor will move but people looking on will wonder what the heck is happening. It isn't a solution engineered for the mission. It's something from the world bolted onto the mission.
Does that make sense?
I would like the church to start re-thinking it's technology and come up with solutions engineered for the mission. Not something engineered for a commercial solution and then bolted on to the church.
There are examples that do this right. Like the media solutions with products like Pro Presenter. It does the media and yet meets some of those unique situations that church runs into. It's engineered for worship services where commercial products are lacking in some unique features.
Now, you can take this too far. I'm not trying to justify commercialized Christianity. Just the right tool for the right job in the church. It's time we start thinking outside the box.
Tool for the Job
The right tool for the right job, makes sense to me.
Technology in Missions
I just heard a podcast at Missionary Talks on a guy using technology at MAF. http://www.missionarytalks.com/2008/02/04/missionary-talks-43-brad-rhoad... He's working with MAF's Learning Technologies: http://www.maflt.org/. Anyway, seems like an interesting resource to connect up here.
Tech Solutions for Personal and Leadership Development
Matt,
I've been rolling similar questions around in my mind lately, too. Does our web site reach the community, or only provide answers to those who've come looking. Does it do either well? Will our community web site help us grow as individuals and further the Gospel, or just provide another self-serving outlet for the outspoken?
I found something in the last episode of the Church IT Podcast that did stand out. Seacoast Church has used the Moodle Course Management System to build a site for personal growth and leadership development at mynextsteps.org. While you can't access the actual courseware without a login, enough of the site is exposed to provide some really interesting ideas.
When browsing around their site, I thought about your comments about the church web site having resources for things like couples getting married and what steps to follow.
To me, this kind of technology needs to get more focus in churches today. I think the challenge is that projects like these don't have immediate measurable results.
A Change In Perspective
I think we are actually talking about a change in perspective. What is a member of a church? A person in a community? A worshiper? A consumer of the church? I think the consumer mentality is all over the place and we don't know it.
I think we need to think of members of the church as students. Life long students. Matthew 28 says that we are to go and make disciples. One of the two ways it says to do that is via teaching. That would mean that to be a disciple and to become a disciple meant being a student.
Changing to have this perspective could start us to think differently about the solutions we build.
Those are some good thoughts on the course management material. I've started to think in that direction lately. I'm still mulling over how you do that in the church.