ChurchMag is all about Church and technology.
It’s what we do.
We present to you the infographic of all infographics.
If you care about Church technology, and I know you do, pass this along!
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Tyndale University College & Seminary conducted a survey in the summer of 2011 to see how Ontario Churches are interacting with technology, and how they see it changing the Church. Three hundred and sixty-eight Churches replied to the survey ranging from rural to urban, from 20 member congregations to 5,000+, and from multiple denominations and ethnicities. Some of the information is collected in the info-graphic above.
I’ve already read it three or four times, just soaking this in.
Past it along!
Would love to hear your thoughts on this, let the discussion begin!
(Also, you can take a deeper look into this infographic as we take a closer look at using Twitter in Church and the two greatest obstacles facing Church IT.)
[via Tyndale]
Jeremiah Compean says
We encourage our people to use their phones and iPads at church. We tweet/post our worship set, scripture, topics that we will be discussing on Sunday, events, community group times. We just recently got our church app going through Subsplash and people love it.
Eric Dye says
AWESOME!!!
Charles Specht says
Great graphic. I need some time to spend with it and just chew.
Eric Dye says
Chew slowly.
Raoul Snyman says
The Internet and expensive technology (Apple being the chief culprit in this category) are not actually commonplace in South Africa. A lot of folks have mobile Internet, but short of geeks, most folks don’t do much with the Internet.
Unless you’re in a really big church (which is only really the charismatic/pentecostal churches), most churches don’t do much about technology. Data projectors have only recently really started to be common in churches.
I think if you asked any church in South Africa about technology, you’ll probably get answers similar to the chart above. If you ask them why they aren’t doing something about it themselves, you’ll probably get the answer, “we don’t have the money for that” – which is generally true.
South Africa is a totally different scenario to the USA and Europe.
Darryl Schoeman says
Hey Raoul
I’m from South Africa too and must agree with you that budget is sometimes a key issue. But I must also agree with these stats, especially if one considers the broad spectrum of respondents (from 20 sized congregations upwards, as well as rural America being poorer than urban America).
I have been directly involved with three denominational arms of church for all my life (Methodist, Pentecostal, and now Spirit-filled Baptist) and can say that over the 20 years of my direct involvement and 15 years in leadership, ALL of these churches have strived to becoming more tech orientated. Furthermore, our seminaries today are no longer blind to relevant realities. But as the study showed, the greatest challenge lies within the members themselves being RTC (resistant to change) and with their incorrect perceptions.
There is a saying that you should know – waar daar ‘n wil is daar ‘n weg (where there is the will there is the way). It all boils down to motivation. It is essentially lack of education, whether that be by the leadership themselves or by deliberate resistance on the part of the members.
Money is not the issue. People are. But in saying that, it also doesn’t have to cost an arm and a leg and it doesn’t have to be extravagant. It can all be done relatively cheaply. It depends on what one is comparing oneself to (rural church to say hillsong).
God bless
Darryl
Eric Dye says
Great thoughts here, guys.