Whoo Hoo! This is not only a dream of mine, but it appears, that of others too! You know what I’m talking about if you know me at all. Cell phone ministry. The church having the same access to media forums as the secular world. Have you seen the commercials for Amp’d Mobile? They have streaming videos that look good. You can now rent and stream an entire movie on your cell phone with Sprint. And that’s no choppiness, just a good clean stream, for under $5! Movies that were in the theaters as soon as 3-4 months ago. Some churches have seen the future and understand that everything, let me say it again, EVERYTHING is going to cell phones. You can already check movie tickets with Fandango on your phone, not to mention take credit card payments with some Nextel phones. E-mail, on your phone? No problem, it’s standard now. What about being able to track the lost child, or closer to me, the person with Alzheimer’s? No problem. One more time, for dramatic emphasis, in the future… EVERYTHING is going to be done on your cell phone! Why can’t the church do it too?
The question is, will the church jump, or take the usual ‘wait until it’s been tested and the technology is 15 years old’ route. I’ve said it before, the church can no longer afford to try to reach the same generation that grew up on Nintendo and cable television with Flanograf boards. Technology is constantly getting cheaper, will the church adapt? I’m not talking about a projector and you watch video clips for sermon illustrations. I’m talking about website, wireless, podcast, fusing everything together to effectively reach this generation. Let’s not look at history, we might not like what we find. I get saddened everytime I hear of a pastor that wants to get moving in the right direction, only to have the board ask if it’s really necessary. The importance of technology? Take away their television, radio, cell phone and internet and they’ll begin to understand the necessity of technology. What does it take for the church, as a whole, to understand the importance of technology? Leave me a comment, let me know.
One thing I explained to my pastor. You may not have camera phone right now, but by the next time you go to upgrade your cell phone, you will have a phone with the option of a camera, internet access, text messeging, and the ability to watch live television or movies. All from your cell phone. Maybe even take credit card payments, PayPal payments and have a projector on it. Where is your church at in the technology game? Think about it.
Until next time.
Filed under: Blog, First Impressions, Future Planning, Internet, Movies, Multimedia, Outreach, Technology, Websites, church
you are dead on… i think that we need to be operating ahead of the curve and not behind it, i go to a larger church, and the other week i was ill, and loved that i could worship due to the live streaming webcast… Thank God for the technology…
What do I need to do to develop a mobile ministry. I would like our ministry to be able to send text messages to cell phones, ie daily devotionals and/or scripture. Is there a company that offer these services?
Fundamentally I agree with your thoughts. Some form of every tech application eventually will end up on cell phones. Using tech to enhance/enlarge/expand the ministry of a church is crucial to survival. I worry, however, about the churches that (1) see tech as the silver bullet that solves their problems, and (2) the high-tech church that remains in an attractional mode (sort of a Christian Cineplex).
It seems to me that first, a church should understand its particular mission in its particular context, then evaluate what technologies will enable it to perform that mission with greater precision, accuracy, and results.
In other words, let’s make sure that technology serves the Church, not vice versa.