This week, I bring to light a conversation that is not being discussed enough in the church technology realm online.
Secular technology companies and culture identify different forms of gender discrimination.
Is this happening in church technology too and we are just not talking about it?
[Video via YouTube]
Jeremy Smith
Jeremy is owner of ChurchAndMentalHealth.com and the Co-Occurring Program Coordinator and a Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor at a community mental health center. Jeremy has a history of working as a ministry director for Youth for Christ for 8 years and then working as a mental health and substance use adult counselor in Colorado and Ohio, specifically running an Opioid Residential Treatment Center.
Great discussion about church tech culture, gender bias, and awareness, Jeremy.
From your own context, what have you seen and experienced? True or not true? Mountain out of a molehill?
I remember working with the first woman on our sound team at a church several years ago. She had a really good ear. But I don’t think that we (me included, sadly) had the grace to provide the same amount of patience we gave to the other “tech-inclined guys” we thought were good candidates. I feel like it was a very subconscious thing – but very real.
Honestly, Jeremy, I think we give a lot of lip service to this topic, but we don’t always dig deep and confront the issue on a conscious level. That’s why I appreciate your candor on the topic.
So, no – it’s not a “mountain out of a mole hill”. I think the stigma can still exist in some places. Some people and personalities may need to work on it more than others – but we are not exempt from the responsibility to do better. And I include myself in that.
Dude, so well thought and written. Thanks for sharing. Further, I appreciate your willing to share so personal of a story. I’ll admit that this is not an easy discuss to have with people. Thanks for opening up and hopefully a dialogue can begin now.
Thank you Jeremy for bringing this issue to light.
and thank you James for your honesty and transparency.
Lip service is exactly how I would put my general experience working in tech alongside my church. In business I teach people how to run online businesses and with God’s guidance, I created Daily Video Bible – my ministry to reach the world with God’s Word.
I’m almost always included in the email/meetings requesting information on a new website/social media/live streaming…but have found that two things happen: One, guys with way less tech experience have a louder voice (and are usually the ‘we’ve always done it this way, so if I create enough confusion we won’t change’ people) AND everyone suddenly thinks they are tech experts (too many faux cooks).
I remember offering to create a new website. (They had a flash welcome page when I joined. smh) I paid for a lot of it out of my own pocket, spent numerous hours creating a plan and work flow that incorporated not only the church’s voice/ministries/beliefs but also the missing social media/audio/video pieces. Every single meeting was with a bunch of older white guys with no tech experience and every single meeting involved them telling me how to do something they knew nothing about. It would be the equivalent of me sitting in the Pastor’s weekly meeting and telling them how to preach.
I’ve had men tell me that my tech choices were ridiculous, then watch them turn around in a meeting and offer up the same option as though it was their idea. I’ve had grown men belittle me and talk down to me in meetings with tones that don’t belong in any conversation. I finally had to stop that work because I needed to be a good steward of God’s resources – and I was getting nowhere.
We have a new pastor now who is tech-minded, so that helps. He is very respectful and defers many questions to me. Respect coming from the top down has made a huge shift in that culture in our church and I’m seeing things slowly change. Granted they are just now getting around to live streaming our services EIGHT YEARS after I brought it up – lol.
Thank you for bringing up this topic. Hopefully it opens up a much needed conversation in a lot of hearts and churches to rethink the gifts that are brought to the table by everyone. We truly are one body of Christ that can’t function correctly if certain parts are dismissed or their voices diminished.
This absolutely won’t be the last conversation on the topic. I’m deeply afraid that your story is not the only one. Further, the response to you being so courageous and vocal probably has been and will be met with adversity. That’s why I wanted to start this conversation in general is to get ahead of the topic before it became the defacto response.
Thank you for sharing!