Undoubtedly, the church has always lagged behind the marketplace with regards to technology. Generally speaking, it could be years before a popular new service, product, or widget becomes widely used and implemented by churches. Is this by design or does the church need to “get with it” when it comes to technology?
I recently caught up with John Saddington, aka Human3rror, who suggests that the gap between the rate at which the church adopts technology versus the rate at which the marketplace adapts technology is “God’s grace”. He went on to say “let the marketplace do their thing and when they get bored with it [new technology] let us then adopt it and use it wisely”.
I, for one find this surprising coming from John, who says that “whatever servicing the church through technology looks like; that’s what I want to do”. He is recognized as one of the industry thought leaders when it comes to technology. ChurchCrunch, John’s well-known blog, has the tagline: Exploring the Intersection of Technology and the Church. He is also the Creative Web Director as North Point Ministries, one of the front-runners when it comes to technology, media and online strategy within the church. Logic would suggest that these influences would drive a passion for faster adoption of techonology in the church.
What do you think about this? Should the church strategically place itself 2-3 years behind the marketplace with adopting technology? Even more, is the “chasm between the adoption rate of technology between marketplace and the church a movement of God?”
I'm not sure strategically placing itself on purpose is the best idea, but my point was to be content with the pace that adoption occurs. our goal is not to lag-behind purposefully but to explore the use of the tech wisely. if that puts us behind then so be it!
Fair enough :). I am interested to see what folks say on the hypothesis that the lag is a movement of God too. Thanks John.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by John Saddington, Matt Harrell and topsy_top20k, topsy_top20k_en. topsy_top20k_en said: Would It Be Dangerous If the Church “Caught Up” Technologically? http://bit.ly/6vLML4 What do you think? [...]
Well the main issue that could come up would be, the focus changing from God to the tech itself. That said God is the ultimate creator of the human intellect and the ultimate basis of logic and reason. In that light, there might be a basis for catching up technologically as one of many methods of worshiping God with more than our mouths, but with our minds.
Yea, we discussed that too…that perhaps God wants us to wait on Him for the movements not technology.
Technology in the church is reflective of technology in the marketplace. The marketplace has varying levels of technology adaption. There are many companies using technology & social media very wisely and are using the latest and greatest. On the other hand, there are MANY more companies that do not utilize technology and social media at all or use it poorly (subjectively speaking). All this is true with the church. There are churches like NP & Lifechurch that use technology and social media and in some ways are ahead of the curve not only in the church world but in the marketplace. And again, there are many more churches that don't use technology or social media. My point is, I'm not sure there is a lag in the church using technology anymore than the marketplace. My guess is because there are humans working in both sectors.
Seems logical Kevin. Good point.
Kevin, I think that's a great point. When we look at businesses using technology we tend to focus on large companies engaged in a national or even global marketplace. They tend to be quick to adopt technology because the environment is so competitive (and they have big budgets). But local businesses that are smaller and have fewer competitors tend to adopt technology more slowly, perhaps just as slowly as local churches.
For me, I think stewardship is a huge issue. I see three big reasons why churches lag behind industry: Ease of Use and Affordability
It takes a large investment of time to research and discover how to use new technology. Compared to industry, most churches are staffed very lean. We simply don't have the extra hours to dive and in learn new technologies. Over time, as the technology becomes accepted, it is much easier to see how others have implemented it. Also, the average church member lags behind in their use of technology. I'm just now seeing a surge of Facebook use in our church. There are only a handful of people who have web-enabled phones so technology based on their use simply doesn't make sense for us right now.
There is also typically a huge cost associated with being on the cutting edge. Many times in industry, you see companies spend massive amounts on a new technology, only to discover that it is obsolete months later. As churches, our mission is to make disciples. If the cost of staying current with technology interferes with our mission, then we must make tough choices. Technology is a great tool, but it is one of many that we must use in order to reach the culture we live in.
For most churches, we are limited by budgets. By waiting months or even years, we see how new technology can be implemented and used in a cost-effective way. For me, it is exciting to see many of the new web services start out with pricing models that are affordable to the church. Ease of use will be huge in the future. If something is easy to implement and affordable from the start, you will see churches jump on board very quickly.
Cool. Yea, "easy to implement" is relative I guess. When you're church is blessed with good tech peole on staff sometimes the things that were once challenging to get off the ground become easy. That being said, with the myriad of online web tools available it certainly is imperative that getting started with them is fairly straightforwad. The key, as many have said before me, is to have plan!
Just remember that over 60% of churches in America have less than 100 people and less than 10% have more than 500 people. When we think about the average size of churches and the level of technological knowledge in each one, it's easy to see why so many churches struggle with this. I would love to see churches cooperate more and share technology resources.
Yea, these are the numbers that encourage online web tools to keep their prices affordable. :). Thanks for your comments today Mike!
I'm not sure Ease of Use and Affordability can explain the lag entirely. It's very easy and completely free for a church to set up a blog, Facebook page, and Twitter account and yet most don't. I think it has more to do with churches being demographically older than the population at large, particularly their leaders. Elders & senior pastors tend to be older & less likely to read blogs, be on FB & Twitter, so they're less likely to see the value of those things.
Good points. I definitely agree that leaders play a huge role in whether or not the church adopts newer technology. One thing to consider, what one church considers cutting edge may be old technology to others.
In the sense that we judiciously weigh how to use technologies in such a way that what we employ is appropriate for getting the message across, and that these judgments are made with consultation of the Holy Spirit (and the intellect that He has given us), then yes, any "lag" would be God's "will", but so would any "advance". In my opinion, using technology just because it's available or "en vogue" is just as much a perversion of our call to "reach all" for the sake of the Gospel as ignoring technology because "we never did it that way before". I don't speak for John, but I think he gives off that same sort of vibe, that "wise use" could mean "early adoption" of a particular technology as well as "no adoption" of that technology – the point being: do (or not do) whatever ti takes to get the message across the best way.
Good stuff.
My remarks relate to the adoption of technology for outreach purposes. Local and global Digital Missions.
First, all things, including technology, should come under God's sovereignty and the Lordship of Christ.
That said, if the tools are lawful, there's no Scriptural basis for avoiding their use and they would be helpful to accomplishing God's redemptive plan, then by all means they should be considered. Aggressively.
Some churches will be called to be on the cutting edge, innovators, early adopters. That will be in their DNA. Others will have a leading to wait. Others may choose not to adopt modern technique at all. That's OK too.
Whatever the timing, the process of moving ahead with powerful communication technologies should include vision casting and good planning. To be most effective a technology plan should ultimately be integrated with a church's core vision. Technology, even just internal infrastructure, i.e. church management systems, touches everything. Technology silos drain resources.
Overall, on the subject of adoption and pacing I would say this. The "other side," is wasting no time in flooding the web with its wares. A festival of bad theology beckons.
Either the Church should adopt technology to be on the web in full force and with excellence, or not. If we should be there, I believe there's a risk of moving too slow.
The risk is, the lives not reached with the gospel.
Frankly, I believe churches doing Church Online and developing Internet Campuses aren't behind. There's still a long ways to go with respect to strategy, metrics, collaboration, etc. For now though, I see these churches leading the way for traditional Christian radio, television, broadcast ministries..anyone interested in using technology and media to reach the world for Christ.
The Church Online is showing the Christian media world what is possible.
I'm impressed with the people being called to these new church technology assignments, with their creative efforts and especially with their missionary zeal for Christ. I'm encouraged actually.
(Now, if we could just come up with more innovative ways to collaborate. That's another post.)
In order to collaborate, I can think of a few tools :). But I think the challenge is getting organized and proposing a process about it. In other words, it's got to be something that's important to people…collaborating on church tech that is.
Great thoughts from everyone. It is a tricky subject for sure. If handled wisely and with much prayer and following of God's leading, the use of technology could indeed be a few months or years behind the marketplace or even right in step.
I would also challenge and encourage those in the industry to also consider that like other subjects (art, philosophy, etc) we should also be aware that God may call us to lead the way (not follow). God is the supreme being – creator of heaven and earth. Sometimes I think we place too many limitations on what He can do through us and through the church – even with limited budgets and time.
Yes, we need to be responsible with the resources we are entrusted with, but at the same time we need to also consider the parable of the three servants (Matthew 25:14-30) and keep in mind Jesus wants / expects a return on those resources. How much do we risk for how much return? That will be up for endless debate, but I am convicted that too often church's hide aziness and fear behind the mask of "stewardship". I don't believe we should be wreck-less, but we probably could challenge ourselves more by stepping out in faith more (and not just with technology)!
I like it Greg!
I know you can overstate the case and use too broad a brush, but a key driver in the use and adoption of technology is the demographic segments served. The benefits of technology may be quite different for various cultures and sub-groups–or even be a negative. College ages probably want to be pushing the envelope. But imagine if you are an illegal alien, or if you are over 55, or if you live near the poverty level.
For the most part, the church in the west is aimed squarely at the middle class and/or those under 30. That drives a level of technology adoption that most people think is important.