Updated Friday, May 02, 2008

IM txting u: Ministry in an age of e-mail

By Milton A. Hollifield Jr.

BSC Executive Director-Treasurer

I recognize the title of this article is different, but it is also very recognizable to certain people in our culture who communicate by texting. Technology has made nomads of us all. With the advent of e-mail, cell phones, blackberrys, and GPS systems, we are virtually "in touch" most all the time. This fact caused The Economist magazine to recently write that we should be prepared to see "less of our office, more of our family, and still be unhappy."

How we can remain unhappy with all of the gadgetry at our fingertips unearths a deeper spiritual problem - one that cannot be solved with another human invention. Nicholas Negroponte in his book, Being Digital, proudly predicted that in the near future "we will find that we are talking as much or more with machines than we are with humans." Not everyone would call this progress.

As Christians, however, we are always eager to make use of technology to advance the gospel. Yet, the church can never substitute technology for the preaching of the gospel and true Christian fellowship. Computer chat rooms and blogs, while helpful, can easily regress into faceless discussions of the finer points of theology without ever truly engaging the heart through personal relationships which create real accountability and community. Our inventions, to paraphrase Thoreau, can be but improved means to an unimproved end.

If we are not careful, we may discover how easily technology can slip into idolatry, and Jesus warned us that the price associated with idolatry is steep. We must guard against this ever happening to us by thinking biblically about technology and its fruits. New problems have been created in our modern age because technological inventions have solved older problems. By doing so, modern churches often compete to outdo one another with "techno-savvy" worship services and educational facilities only to find that after thousands of dollars of investment and years of "tracking" their progress, their ministry is often no better off than when their ministry was performed person to person; face to face; one on one. Even in this Internet age, pastoral ministry still demands personal involvement.

At the BSC, our challenge is to position ourselves on the technological cutting edge while serving pastors and church leaders all across our state with a personal touch. Currently, we are involved with a massive re-ordering of technological priorities with the goal of releasing a new and improved web site later this year. With over half of North Carolina's residents using the Internet, we dare not miss this opportunity before us. As we seek to digitally connect with others, we must not digitally divide or else our future will be worse than our past. Christians are called to love people and use things - never use people and love things. We must learn to use technology - never worship it.

Speak to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another in the fear of God. - Eph. 5:19-21.