Two articles the past week have got me asking the question of “what’s next after we’ve poked the mobile?” After we’ve built the app, created the service, or even built the curriculum, what then?

The initial spark to this thought came via an article at Church Mag. Eric Dies posted about an excellent take on utilizing the entire capabilities of the iPad (hardware and software) and combining it with a multi-layered and interactive story to create something that just can’t exist in another medium. The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore was created by an ex-Pixar artist, but really points to what’s possible.

I left that article going “wow, amazing take on storytelling. What’s the kid/adult going to do when the story is over?” You can’t just read a story that engaging and then be done – what next? I feel like that after some passages of Scripture. I’m not so much looking to go back and read it again as much as I’m inspired to live differently.

The second spark came via a Wired article (How Khan Academy Is Changing the Rules of Education). I don’t have kids, but I did have parents that would have jumped all kinds of hoops to put that kind of material in front of me. I constantly needed to be challenged in school, and it reflected in both the positive and negative. A resource, no matter how crude, that can or does constantly adapt itself to the reader/student would be excellent – and (as pointed out in the article) make some skill-sets more developed faster than others.

It also leaves the question though of “what next?” What happens when a child/student gets past all the levels, unlocks all the achievements, and (for all intents and purposes) can game the system to just look busy? The Khan Academy surely does show one possibility of filling in a gap – but what it cannot answer is how do you take this person who’s now prepared earlier than normal and make what they’ve learned culturally or socially relevant while not reinforcing the gaming methodologies they learned?

So, back to the initial point – I’m looking at the bible apps, tracts, social networks, and such, and going “this is good, its here. Now, what do people do next?” If you will, if the presentation on a mobile was so engaging (which was good if we were using mobile as a channel to rebroadcast materials), to whom are they empowered to teach/disciple? Or, if they finished the “Rosetta Stone of Scripture lessons,” are they now equipped to lead a small group, integrate into a local church or para-church organization to take those lessons to a wider audience?

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that every mobile ministry activity has to think beyond their purpose or niche. But, there is a responsibility that if we are enabling, teaching, filling a channel, or even distracting from another media element, that there’s something next that we’ve got to be ready for. Are our pastors and teachers ready for the life that mobile causes? If not, should some of us be putting our energies there, not simply into the bucket of “go mobile because its the thing to do?”

What are your thoughts? Should mobile activities in ministry have some perspective of “what’s next?”