Daniel, thank you for your blog post regarding the use of technology specifically in your context. While I do not work in a church, my context is somewhat similar to yours in that I work in an international, non-profit, religious organization. I agree with you that in a context focused on reaching out to people with the Gospel the primary use for technology is to connect people so that we might share Christ with others. I think there are many ways that technology can help us in building community and in sharing Christ.

The church that I attend uses a social media platform called Realm. Realm helps members of the church connect and provides a place for announcements, small group discussion questions and social events to be posted. The end goal of this technology is to communicate information so that people are able to connect in real life. This helps everyone be informed of what is going on in the church and allows members to decide what they want to be part of.

Beyond connecting church members, I think technology can also be used to help reach out to the wider community. I think of churches that host community events, or run programs such as Alpha. Social media platforms and church websites are a great way to get the word out to the community about these opportunities. A church’s website is also important in attracting new congregants. In the United States of America thirty seven percent of people reported looking for information online when looking for a new house of worship (Pew Research Center, 2016) and that number is even higher among millennials with fifty nine percent reporting looking up information online (Masci, 2016). These numbers also go beyond looking for a church. The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (2014) reported five million people making decisions for Christ through their online evangelism ministry.

As we look at engaging in sharing Christ with people I think it is imperative that we leverage technology. In my experience, Christian churches and non-profits sometimes seem to be behind in technology use. I think a contributing factor to this is that leadership is not necessarily experienced in technology use that would be beneficial. That is why it is so important that we use our crowd, the people we have around us, who often are capable of solving these problems better than we can (Smart, 2015). I think as we look for ways as Christian churches and non-profits to further incorporate the use of technology into our contexts, we need to listen to those we are leading for ideas that will keep us innovative and relevant. However, I think we need to balance that with the mission and vision of our organizations and not get caught up in being trendy. It is a delicate balance, but one I think we have to continue to explore.

References

Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. (2014, December 31). Year in review: Nearly 9.5 million hear the Gospel through Billy Graham Evangelistic Association outreaches. Retrieved from https://billygraham.org/press-release/year-in-review-nearly-9-5-million-hear-the-gospel-through-billy-graham-evangelistic-association-outreaches/

Masci, D. (2016, August 23). What do Americans look for in a church, and how do they find one? It depends in part on their age [Blog post]. Retrieved from http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/08/23/what-do-americans-look-for-in-a-church-and-how-do-they-find-one-it-depends-in-part-on-their-age/

Pew Research Center. (2016, August 23). Choosing a new church or house of worship [Blog post]. Retrieved from http://www.pewforum.org/2016/08/23/choosing-a-new-church-or-house-of-worship/

Smart, J. M. [John M Smart]. (2015, April 8). John Smart – Leadership of tech change – WFS 2013 [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhdWqLNUJns