I’ve been asked to contribute to an upcoming article in Collide Magazine by Scott McClellan (Thanks Scott for the op!).
I thought I’d share with you guys what I wrote and solicit some feedback and start a conversation:
The Church in 25 Years: A Technological Perspective
The Church in 25 years from now will look very similar as it does today, and that’s very much a good thing! We have now more than 2,000 years of proven historical precedent (methodology and theology) that has helped the Church grow and fulfill it’s purposes, one of which is to reconcile lost men to a merciful and loving God.
The way in which we actually “do” that is going to change, has changed, and will continue to change.
Speaking from a pure web-technology perspective, we’ve already seen the pains of childbirth as digital entrepreneurs have pushed the boundaries of how we engage with both the lost and the current body of believers. We’ve seen the rise of digital-evangelism and the use of the blogging medium as a creative and powerful platform to communicate encouraging words and to attract thousands to the Scriptures, either directly and indirectly. We’ve seen the use of microblogging services rise (and perhaps by this time fall) and other semantic web technologies being adapted and used by the Church at large.
But in 25 years from now the practice and use of web technologies will be much more refined as innovators, thought-leaders, and ministries will have the ability to leverage a quarter-century’s worth of best-practices, lessons-learned, and examples of how to use it wisely and as well as a number of ways in which to do it poorly.
In addition, the Church will be much more “ubiquitous” in it’s presence technologically than it is today as portable devices get faster, better and smarter (and smaller), the transferability of identity increases, and usability becomes paramount in engineering, the result will be a phenomenal rise in the level of connection to the internet, and the Church will be right there with it.
We’ll be “one-click” away from our local body, our congregation, our pastoral staff, and those we are ministering to where ever we go, where ever we are, and have the ability to perform tasks, once thought improbable, with ease (and even without having to “touch” anything: Hyperspeech Transfer Protocol).
In 25 years we’ll begin to “do” things with web technology that we do not do today (think Kindle and reading books), and the Church, being forever refined by the Holy Spirit, will stand victorious over the technological battle scars that the previous 25 years produced, and we’ll be better for it.
Jim says
i was hoping for the Rapture before that…25 years from now I'll be 65 years old. Rockstar Grandpa!
human3rror says
yeah. that would be nice…
JakeSchwein says
Nice…it also makes me think about all the churches that will "swing the pendulum" away from technology. Why they would I don't know…but it happens with anything in the church. Churches moving away modern music to ancient music, churches moving from modern worship to liturgical worship….etc. I wonder if the Omish community will grow!! π
human3rror says
perhaps! i think you mean “Amish”… π i'm a spelling nazi. my bad.
JakeSchwein says
Thanks…ummm….maybe…I was creating a new group of people that shy away from Technology. The "O"mish!!
human3rror says
i think so… it's friday.
JakeSchwein says
Thanks…ummm….maybe…I was creating a new group of people that shy away from Technology. The "O"mish!! HA!
Vy Tran says
"We have now more than 2,000 years of proven historical precedent (methodology and theology) that has helped the Church grow and fulfill it’s purposes, one of which is to reconcile lost men to a merciful and loving God."
To be honest, I'm not so sure how "proven" our historical precedent really is. Keep in mind the that church in the United States is shrinking in proportion to the size of the total population, meaning the effectiveness of our message at home has been diminished. May I also add that a message is pretty useless if there is no action. I think we can blog about how awesome God all we want, but a skeptic probably won't buy it unless he/she can actually see how we live our lives.
Sorry if this came across as being…unfriendly. Just wouldn't want you getting too comfortable with where you are, is all. π
human3rror says
Vy,
Good thoughts here, but I'm not sure how you could ever assume that I'm comfortable…! I'm trying to push it each and every day, and I'm getting in more trouble than ever before…!
What i am trying to say is that we can bank of the word of God and the models that he's established for us. perhaps not all the praxis, but the core message and relational aspects of delivery.
thanks so much! it's a great reminder.
Graham Brenna says
I understand where you're coming from here… You're right, we can blog about how awesome God is all we want… but unless someone sees how he works in their life, it won't matter to them. Which is EXACTLY why blogging is so important! A blogger who is able to be "real" and vulnerable about their faith on their blog… will no doubt have some sort of impact on the skeptic.
The more we talk about how God has worked in our lives… the more opportunities we're creating to connect with the skeptic to show him/her that our lives aren't that different. Only different in the sense that we recognize that God is walking with us.
Vy Tran says
Alright, I can buy that. I dunno, I guess I'm kind of old school in thinking that nothing replaces face-to-face interaction with other people.
human3rror says
and yet you've been hanging out here and we've established a “connection”… perhaps it'll eventually lead to a face-to-face…?
π gotta start somewhere… and technology enables that first step to occur.
Graham Brenna says
I will never downplay face-to-face interaction. I believe it to be extremely important in ministry too! I see the value in both.
Justin Wise says
This is a great post… As I told you, I’m totally stealing the “digital entrepreneur” title for JustinWise.net – WHICH by the way is framed in the beautiful Ipseity theme!
Thanks for leading well, bro.
JMW
human3rror says
that's hawt.
π
Shawn K says
Excellent post! It's never easy transitioning a Church into a new way of doing things, especially if they're already 20 years behind (yeah, huge wall for me to break down), but to stay in touch with those who need Christ, it's essential.
Keep up the excellent work you do, it helps and encourages me.
human3rror says
thanks shawn! your encouragement is well timed.
Graham Brenna says
John… YOUR encouragement is well timed too! I second what Shawn said… π
Ancoti says
What will be interesting is that the pace of change is so rapidly accelerating compared to the past 25 years. An article written in 1984 (1984!) trying to describe the church of 2009 would be interesting to read from the aspect of how we do church and how the technology of the day was being used by the church and what it said to people about what they saw in the future.
We need a good church historeoblogger here.
human3rror says
yeah. we do. wanna volunteer?
Ancoti says
Not qualified. Maybe after I take Bingham's course in a few years.
human3rror says
puaha. that guy is awesome.
Graham Brenna says
Great post man! This is obviously right where I'm at. I can't wait to see the church in 25 years… and I feel so blessed and excited that I get to be a part of it!
human3rror says
thanks graham… i'm liking how there appears to be some “regulars” that are here now adays…
Graham Brenna says
π the "face-to-face" interaction b/w you and I is in our avatars! haha… luvin it.