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August 30, 2005

technology and the church

In class today, we've been discussing the development of technology and how the church can use the ever adapting culture to its advantage for communication. The discussion has been fruitful, but we looked at a couple of websites for things that I couldn't believe:
  • Wi-fi church – Granger Community Church in Indiana has some added bonuses in their Saturday night services, among them a "Starbuck-esque cafĂ©" and a Wi-Fi "to soothe your inner geek". (for me, I would hope that my sanctification would slowly shrink my inner geek and make me more like Christ... not that he wouldn't make a good computer engineer if there had been C++ back in his day...)
  • Online retreat – Creighton University Collaborative Ministry Office has developed a 34-week "Online retreat". This sounds totally crazy to me, but their feedback page seems really positive in its results.
So the last thing I need to do is to soothe your inner sceptic, but am I crazy for thinking there is a line to be crossed in going too far?

4 comments:

Justin said...

A line...too far...why don't we just pod cast all our sermons & music and get rid of our big sanctuaries and buildings.

-inner skeptic, seattle

Anonymous said...

yeah, I agree there is a line that shouldn't be crossed, like when church isn't actually being part of a church family, but just catering to our needs as lazy human beings. But then again, providing technological services appeals to the younger generation who thinks church is only for old people who don't like drums during worship and only show up for the social aspect of it. Technology is a great tool, but it should be used lightly.

Anonymous said...

There are many idols to be found in the church community. The "church", as we live it out in its many forms, can become an idol. The "community", as we often experience it in close-knit in-grown cliques, can become an idol. And in this day and age, technology can most certainly become an idol.

That being said...we just had an interesting online theological conversation via this blog that I entered into at 2:55 AM on a sleepless night between bottle feedings and diaper changes.

lbrodine said...

Brian,

Thank you for your comment, since we're keeping up our community across time and distance.