With the rise of technology in our culture, it was only a matter of time before "the Church" was going to have to catch up in order to keep up. I suppose the first time hymnals were replaced with an overhead projector, transparent slides with the words of our choruses printed upon them, and a little lady with a bun hair-do sliding those transparencies up and down while singing with the congregation... we began this game of 'catch-up'. Since those days, we have giant screens and coffee bars and even nifty gadgets to inform parents that their children are in need of immediate attention for acting like wild heathen. With our 'behind-the-ear', flesh-colored microphones we've certainly come a long way from when Jesus shouted at people from a mountain side. If you walk into most churches today you'll find that modern technology has been embraced big time. The truth is, if we could afford it, we'd all have as much technology as we could get.
Think about it fellow pastors and church-employees... wouldn't it be awesome to have automatic flushing urinals and toilets to save us from experiencing some of those beautiful "fragrances of the fellowship" that have been left over from the weekend?
However, with technology has come some negative stuff too. With cell phones owned by anyone older than seven, we now have to give our polite, little announcements asking (pleading, begging, threatening) for people to "please turn them off... or at least put them on vibrate". Then, through some magical, demonic, wizardry someone figured out a way to put GAMES on cell phones! Then, with the invention of the infamous iPod... and now iPad... (and about 50 other hand-held devices that I can't begin to name) those games have gotten incredibly cool! And... it's not just games. The entire world is at a person's fingertips, via the internet, right there... as a person sits in a room full of others... at church.
If a pastor makes a reference to a current event, one doesn't have to wait til they get home... they can immediately check up on that pastor and make sure his facts are straight. "Wait a minute! Did the pastor, while talking about the importance of bringing Jesus to the world, just say that the capital of Argentina is Buenos Aires? I don't think that's right! I seem to recall it's San Juan... luckily I brought my handy-dandy, hand-held, battery operated encyclopedia here to check him out. Hmmmm... hey, wow... he was right, it is Buenos Aires. Oh well. Hey... he's already closing in prayer. Man, I sure didn't get much out of church today. I wish we had a better preacher that could hold my attention!"
Okay... so maybe I exaggerate? Or maybe not?
I suggest that if we fast-forward a few more years, with the rate of technology being grasped by the "Church", we are going to find ourselves in a VERY different place. It's going to get harder and harder for preachers/speakers/teachers to communicate to the tops of people's heads, as they look down at their tiny keyboards. It can be disheartening to hear of someone, after a service, who is going through a serious tragedy in their lives and desperately needed to be in the presence of God, the worship of God, and His powerful Word... but they couldn't concentrate and focus on what was happening because the person next to them was answering emails and playing Tetris.
Perhaps preachers... like this one... are just TOO sensitive? Perhaps we need to simply embrace the culture, shut up about this and keep doing what we've always done, allowing those who want to receive our messages, to receive them? Perhaps we only sound like whiny, control-freak, babies that simply want all the attention to be on us? Perhaps this is really 'no big deal'?
Still others might say, "Ban it all! Put up signs, put the ushers on alert, and keep that stuff out of the Lord's House!" But that... just doesn't feel right.
What do YOU think? I'd actually be very interested to know. I believe that this issue is something that is going to hit ministers and congregations all over the world, if it hasn't already. I believe that this issue is going to cause many ministers and teachers to 'throw in the towel', if it hasn't already. Why? Simply because it's disheartening to prepare, study, pray, and pour your heart into something... that seems to be falling on deaf-ears... or at least upon ears that are plugged with 'ear-buds' connected to an iPod.
Of course, we can't give up! The Good News of God's Gospel is just too important... and needed in our culture, as it is in every culture. So... we must be willing to try new things. Much like a missionary that God calls to another part of the earth might learn a new language in order to reach that particular people-group, so too I believe that we all should be willing to research and find ways to reach the very culture we find ourselves in now. As a preacher to this and the next generation, I'm open to suggestions. One thing we've tried recently is hooking up with YOUVERSION and placing some minimal notes of my sermons on line that the techies can follow along with, while I preach. You can see this weeks notes by clicking here: notes
I hope some will comment here with suggestions. I appreciate those of you who would give up five minutes to listen to the ramblings of a weird guy like me. I love you... with a super deep Jesus love.
Michael
