Mobile Ministry Magazine: Moving from Tech(know)ology to Tech(com)munity

Seeing mobile technology through the lens of Scripture

Welcome and thank you for visiting Mobile Ministry Magazine. Here, we explore the use of mobile technology and how it can be used by ministers, missionaries, and many others as a means to augment their abilities to share the Gospel. Read more about our mission to educate and edify at the intersection of faith and technology.

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Friday, March 16, 2007

Moving from Tech(know)ology to Tech(com)munity

Something that I find a hard thing NOT to do in this day and age is to find some technology, whether it is RSS, email, Treos, or that really really nice N95 (ok, getting back on track) is to measure my want to have a device that is cool with something that allows me to function as a productive and God-sharing member of community. There is this war, usually internal, sometimes not, that says that I want to have the latest and greatest, but I only want to use that which will work best.

So where do we draw the line? Really. Where do we get to that device or set of services where we stop looking over the fence in covetousness and only when it drives past in admiration?

I think that to get to that point that we have to first be honest about where we are and where we want to go with tech. Why did you want that device that yo have in the first place? Was it to meet a need within your family or ministry life? If so, what got better after you got it? Now, what has gone worse?

Then we are to be honest about what the devices/services that we do have cannot do. IF we got those things in that knowledge and accepted those failings, were we being impatient or prideful thinking that we could mold the tech in the way we wanted? There is a lot of self checking that we have to do at this question and its critical if we are to engage community and not technology with the Spirit of God.

Lastly, we have to ask about the effect of that device on fulfilling the mission God has called us towards. Is that new device going to make it any easier for God to reach people? Is that new service going to show God something thru people that He never saw before? How about people; are they going to fall in love with Jesus because of that new device or technology? Are they going to be able to discern God's heart for them and be motivated to share it with others because of the device or service?

If we are going to move from just knowing about technology to engaging communities with it, we have to be proactive about making sure that it is not the technology that we are ministering, but communities that we are minitering to because of it.