Many of the Churches we encounter everyday are very forward thinking when it comes to technology and the Internet. They have user-friendly websites, lots of audio and video content, and maybe even an “online campus” for good measure. In reality, I think these types of Churches are actually in the minority. I’ve been to so many Churches that are trying to incorporate technology into their services, but just simply aren’t able to do it effectively for a number of different reasons. I want to explore why this may be the case, and why Churches are often the last groups to incorporate new technologies.
1. Money
I think this is one of the biggest hindrances to any Church being able to expand their reach, not only technologically, but in every other aspect as well. Many Churches today are struggling just to pay the bills, so how and why would they buy the latest digital sound console, or pay to have their website rebuilt by a professional? Unfortunately in today’s economic times, these are the kinds of choices many Churches are faced with. I know because I’ve experienced this first hand in my Church. There are times when we desperately need to upgrade equipment, but we simply can’t do it because there are other more pressing things that require money.
2. Knowledge
In many cases, Churches simply don’t have anyone who knows how to implement or operate the latest technology. In some ways, this situation can be even worse than the first. Imagine your Church spends quite a bit of money on new equipment, and then realizes that no one knows how to use it. This in turn could lead to the spending of more money to bring in outside companies or individuals for training. This scenario is obviously no fault of the Church’s, or anyone else, but it is a situation that many run into, which in turn causes them to be overly-cautious in updating in the future.
3. “Powers That Be”
This is another case that I’ve experienced personally. The “powers that be,” or in other words, the people who make decisions about how the Church should spend its money, don’t necessarily agree with the ideas and initiatives put forward. While a new piece of equipment may be needed, they don’t understand the need, or at least don’t want to understand the need. This situation is difficult to overcome, and takes humility and patience.
These are just a few of the reasons I’ve experienced in Churches that seem to be behind the times when it comes to technology. I don’t have all the answers, and in many cases, the answers to these situations could be very different depending on your Church. I’m sure there are many other reasons, and I’d love to hear some of the ones you’re struggling with in the comments. If you have any suggestions on how to best handle these, I’d love to hear those as well.
[Images via Wesley Fryer, Joshua Davis, Robert Terrell & bloomsberries]
The ironic thing about the money issue is that technology is cheaper than ever and keeps getting less expensive.
Sure, if the money isn’t there, you can’t buy it, but it would be nice to see churches invest in some technology and be able to see the long term payoff.
This is what i have noticed as well. There is a lot of technology out there that has a big initial investment but quickly recoups that loss in long-term freed up income.
Many churches (and small businesses) could save a lot of money with few smart tech investments.
So, true.
I totally agree with this post. I’ve experienced all 3 of these in my church, and the biggest hurdle is convincing the powers that be that we need to spend the money. They see the skills of one person doing something they want & expect that person to step up to the plate & use their skills for free.
I’ve noticed this more than I would like to! Being a certified audio engineer, and the bands I’ve worked with, I run sound for a living wherever it is a need. The hardest thing about this for me, is that churches expect me to run sound for no more than $50 dollars, and that’s with me having long talks about why I need to get paid and can’t do it for free. I remember working with one church helping to put in a new sound system and it took me about 6 months to get my pay from them. The sad thing about this, is that they were a mega church. What I find myself telling the churches however is, “They work at the church so they can pay their bills and provide for their family……. well running sound, and dealing with audio equipment is my job and doing things like this is what pays my bills and eventually will allow me to support my family” That’s what usually gets them to pay up for me.
Thankfully, I work for a church that I consider to be an exception to these rules, but understand the problem.
I place more of the responsibility on the technologist than I do the Church leadership or stewardship team. I don’t think Christian technologists are clearly articulating the return on investment. If they were, there wouldn’t be a problem.
One huge setback I see is that often times church leadership prefer to use “Christian vendors” over “excellent vendors.” But then the technology projects or solutions turn out to be failures, and ROI is never fully actualized. This discourages from future technology spending.
Our churches should go for excellence first! If I need heart surgery, I want the best surgeon and I don’t care two squirts about his religious worldview.
That’s a very good point. I think we as technologists need to find better ways to articulate the ROI to our leadership. I hadn’t thought about the vendor issue, that makes a lot of sense, and I’ve seen the effects firsthand.
So how do we articulate return on investment?
That’s a wonderful question. I guess since my main focus is audio, if I were suggesting an audio upgrade, I would focus on what the upgrade would improve about our audio quality or overall production quality.
My church has some of the best audio quality for our sermons because of what we do to the file. There are moves to simplify the process of recording sermons with an MP3 recorder, and simply uploading those raw files without any processing. What would be your response to that?
I guess it depends on who the audience is and what they’re looking for. If they aren’t too worried about quality and are just listening to the sermon then the un-processed files might be ok. If it were me, unless there are other reasons besides simplicity to move to the MP3 un-processed, I’d stick with the quality.
Love this. So very true. We need to come up with some solutions.
Wow…you actually showed a picture of my last Tech budget!
I would also add that numbers 1 and 2 are inexorably entwined. There are people with little knowledge (through no fault of theirs) of the equipment situation having to make decisions about where to spend/invest what seems to be an ever shrinking pool of financial resources.
LOL! funny.
I think that one of the biggest items to help overcome this issue is by helping the “Powers that be” to understand the value in making a larger investment in technology. It is our responsibility as church attenders, volunteers and staff to communicate with our respective church leadership to show how setting the standards higher, in regards to technology, will help to expand the Kingdom of God. If it is for the Kingdom, it is a great investment.
Those are very good points Justin, thanks for the comment!
Wow, couldn’t agree more Justin!
We are quite fortunate in our church, as EVERYTHING we do and want to accomplish is for the Kingdom. And if it means to spend a little extra money then so be it. I totally agree that as Christians we should ALWAYS pursue EXCELLENCE.
We should never lose sight of the BIGGER PICTURE!
That is one of the main questions I ask myself before proposing items to church leadership and the body as a whole: “Will this item/resource help expand the Kingdom of God?”. If the financial resources could be better utilized somewhere else for that same purpose, then it is a fairly easy decision for me. Absolutely, by always pursuing excellence with what you are given, God will truly bless you and help to take your church to the “next level”. Like He says in Luke 16:10: “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much”, if we do our best with what He has blessed us will, He will gladly pour out His blessings over us.
Overall, as long as the focus is placed on Christ, everything else will fall into place.
These are all very good points, thanks for reminding all of us that Christ is the main focus no matter what!
Love that, Justin.
I’d also add that the majority of technically-minded people are employed in the secular marketplace – it pays better and usually has more exciting problems (with the exclusion of some of the hurdles, say, megachurches may experience).
What incentive does a 30 year old engineer pulling close to six figures have to leave a job to work for half the salary in a space with less exciting problems?
Development isn’t easy. As long as churches skimp on the budget, they’re going to get a lower quality of work.
In bigger churches, when your first two problems aren’t as prevalent, the issue of scope arises. IT staff at this level have to understand the inner workings of each ministry at the church, while individual ministries only know their own. This becomes an issue when we, the IT department, try to solve someones problem by creating solutions for the global good. My “best” solution may require a ministry to change a process the’ve done for years, which they are reluctant to do because they don’t see the bigger picture. We definitely aren’t behind in the times, but keeping one step ahead begins to be the challenge.
GREAT point!
Ministry A has a big need.
Ministry’s B – F have a medium need.
Ministry G is cruising along happy as a pig in poop with no immediate needs.
Solution 1 solves needs for ministries A – F, but creates a minor need for ministry G.
Only excellent communication, a shared global vision, and strong, trustworthy relationships are going to help this scenario end well.
I’ve experienced something similar, but opposite in a way. I’m a big open source fan, and I tried to get my previous church to try to move over to open source software. For instance, they hardly use the main features of Microsoft Office, so why not move to LibreOffice.
Instead they carry on buying expensive software, ignoring me completely, and even going to the point of lying to me (I don’t think it was necessarily on purpose, but it did happen, none-the-less).
So I think one of the points that you might have inadvertently missed was that a lot of churches are resistant to change.
Great point.
One thing that I think churches should do no matter the size of the church, is have someone whether they are a volunteer or employee of the church, to be over all the audio equipment of the church. This way, when it comes time to upgrade their audio equipment, then they are the one’s to read the manual (one of my favorite things to do on a new piece of audio gear) and if there are other volunteers who run sound for the church, then the person who is over the audio equipment at the church, will teach the new gear to everyone else.
That’s definitely a great way to go about it, thanks for sharing!
Great insights! We responded with our thoughts on the Projector People blog. Please stop by and let us know what you think.
http://articles.projectorpeople.com/projector-experts/projector-people-respond-3-reasons-why-churches-are-behind-the-technology-curve/
Thanks, just did!