We’ve poked at this kind of a point a few times already (being part of a movement as well as being a digital advocate). So it only makes some sense to point towards yet another stream in this discussion, the question of whether a person can be called as a techie missionary.

There’s an article that broaches this subject, so we won’t go too far into restating what they have stated. Here’s a snippet of that piece:

…If you asked many Christians what a missionary was, you’d probably get an answer talking about someone who travelled out of the UK and into some foreign clime, either to preach the gospel or work in a medical or community capacity.  So why does Mick Leggett call himself a missionary, when he spends most of his time working in the UK, and often works behind a computer screen when he does? Inspire asked him about his mission role …

Read the rest of Is God Calling You to be A Techie Missionary at Inspire Maagazine

That’s indeed something to think about. I do think that its worth exploring the question. Here are a few questions that came to mind in reflecting on this article (and the subject of theological/spiritual implications to mobile technology):

• Is the skillful use of computing technologies a gift of God or a learned branch of (modern) culture?
• Is there something unique that is transferred by the use of or service of information technology that demonstrates understood characteristics of the Christian faith?
• Are there abuses of information technology that diminish the providence of God on the lives of the faithful or the faithless?
• What does it mean to be a missionary?
• Is digital a destination to be evangelized, domesticated, or redeemed?

That’s a lot to think about. And honestly, it probably puts at a pause some of what we might have been doing as minsitry in order to think and act more carefully in this wise.

One of the examples that I give when talking about MMM is that of the design of the tabernacle in Exodus (25 or 31 or thereabouts). God didn’t just ask for Moses to commission a tabernacle, but one that communicated the magesty of God and his ability to go anywhere with the people. While He is indeed Most High, I kept seeing the with us nature of God just as important to the development of faith and technology practices.

If you are a techie missionary, is this what you consider? Or, is it merely that techies are craftsmen for the priests who do the minstering (yup, totally throwing the whole “we are kings and priests” contexts under the bus)? Let’s hear from you. Is this a calling worthy of our attention?