Imagine if your church, one month ago, had decided to go online only.
I’m sure most people would have regarded it as a horrible idea. Or even impossible.
And yet, as restrictions began for halting the spread of COVID-19, that’s precisely the situation. Churches around the world are moving into online-only formats, deploying streaming, online hangouts and private Facebook groups.
Suddenly, our institutions have been thrown head first into the digital world.
Maybe, now, Christians can finally have a nuanced discussion on technology.
I’ve been dismayed at the prevalent Christian response to technology over the years.
It’s true that many Christians – leaders and otherwise – use social media and smartphones as a platform for their ministry and their lives.
But when we discuss “social media” and “technology” in church, I rarely hear a positive word about it.
At best, it’s talked of as a regrettable force that’s corroding our society. At worst, it’s an idol and a false god, an omen of “digital Babylon”. The advice seems to start and end at, “If you have to use it, don’t use it too much.”
I’m not saying that’s bad advice.
And I know that technological change has been rapid, which makes it more disorienting to respond to.
But I do find these responses frustrating. They frustrate me because they’re too simplistic. They smart of the inevitable fearful responses to new inventions throughout history.
And it’s created a gap in our discipleship.
To me, like so many others, modern technology is not a fad or an option.
I am 32, and like most others my age, I am someone who job advertisements would describe as a “digital native”.
For me, the divide between “digital” life and “real” is increasingly non-existent.
Digital platforms are how I conduct my work, how I connect with friends and family, and how I even (!) consume Christian material.
That’s not a tragedy, it’s just a fact. And I’m not alone.
Yet, I cannot recall being discipled on how to use these technologies. I don’t know what a Christian response to technology is, except not to use it (much).
If we do use it, how do we portray ourselves in a godly way?
When does posting become self-indulgent and damaging? (Frequent selfies, daily status updates?)
Why aren’t we talking about how this is real life, too?
Ed Stetzer expresses my thoughts exactly:
Christians often have the same bad habits as everyone else, practices that damage not only their well-being and relationships but also their spiritual vitality and witness. Despite these dangers, when was the last time your church taught on social media or proper media consumption? Substantive, disciple-making teaching on how Christians can develop godly technology habits? Aside from youth pastors warning of cyberbullying, when have messages touched on the way technology is shaping our lives or how our online behaviour relates to our faith?
I have heard plenty of sermons that address the problem of pornography, but I can count on one hand the number of times a pastor or Sunday school teacher discussed a more comprehensive online discipleship.
That’s why I’ve been impatient for the church to work out the Christian response to technology.
I don’t want an “abstinence only” teaching, and I don’t think we need hand-wringing. I want practicals.
Disciple me in this space, please!
Now, as Christian institutions shift fully into digital mode, it’s even more clear we need digital discipleship.
As much as it’s special to meet together physically, we can’t pretend digital relationships are all inferior to “real life” ones. This is real life now.
And it’ll raise questions.
We need to know how can we use these channels to make real connections, not just friends lists. We need to be aware of the issues around 24-hour news cycles and how they can impact our heart and mind.
Even if you’re not a digital native, most people’s line between digital life and “real life” is now blurred, or even removed.
How will that change our spirituality? And how do we use these platforms well, to build up and show Christ’s peace, instead of falling into bad behaviour and neediness?
And more.
That irony is, these are all questions that are relevant after COVID-19 has passed. They were relevant before it, too.
We’ve needed answers for a long while.
Technology shouldn’t be a god, but nor is it Satan. Technology is a tool. And like any tool, it can be used well or used poorly.
As Ed Stetzer puts it,
Effective discipleship helps Christians to bend these tools in service to Christ rather than to become slaves to their destructive power.
We can start by asking some simple questions:
- How much technology is too much, and how much is just right?
- When is technology helping and when is it hurting?
- When is technology appropriate, and when is it not?
This period will, I hope, be a chance to explore all these and more.
After all, abstinence from “digital Babylon” can now literally spell isolation from the Christian community.
So the question isn’t if we navigate the digital space, but how.
