Download Technology and the Church

Technology and the
Church
Technology – Friend and Foe

Neil Postman
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“most people believe that technology is a
staunch friend … it makes life easier, cleaner
and longer … It’s gifts are not without a heavy
cost … it creates a culture without a moral
foundation. It undermines certain mental
processes and social relations that make
human life worth living”
Technology and the
Church
Exposing the problem that
technology has created in
communicating Theology, Doctrine,
and the Gospel
Technology and the Church

What problem?
 The History of our communication problem.
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Text Me – Communication Today!
 What are the current communication tools?
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From Smoke Signals to Books to Twitter
 What is the problem with today’s communication tools?
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What should we then do?
 Is this a fad or a paradigm shift in communication?
What Problem?

Remember When?
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People would travel from
miles around to listen to a
three hour debate.
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Lincoln-Douglas Debates
Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address
was an anomaly
Two hour sermons brought
revival instead of a pink slip.

Chicago Newpaper Reporter
re: Abraham Lincoln (1858)
 "Of his speech I will only
say that it lasted three
hours, and that during all
that time the whole
audience seemed perfectly
wrapt in attention"
Timothy Turner

“Consider the old preaching
model…hearers came to
church with a sober-minded
sense of responsibility to pay
attention to and to
concentrate on the sermon …
regardless of whether or not
the sermon was effortless to
hear or enjoyable to
experience.”
I Don’t See a Problem…TV
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I don’t even remember the
60’s and 70’s
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
Neil Postman

More than POT and LSD
Sesame Street, the Great
Educator
Not Lazy, just streamlined

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Active to Passive
My Job to Your Job
Work to Entertainment
Learning in the 80’s and 90’s

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Tell ME Why I Should Listen!
Be Quick – Re-engage Me!
Entertain ME!

“Our culture’s adjustment
to the epistemology of
television is by now all but
complete; we have so
thoroughly accepted its
definitions of truth,
knowledge, and reality
that irrelevance seems to
us to be filled with import,
and incoherence seems
eminently sane.”
Timothy Turner

“Every adult in your
congregation has watched
30-40,000 hours of TV …
the people to whom you
preach have a love affair
with TV.”
I Still Don’t See a Problem…twitter
The more I press in to Him, the more He presses me out to be useful
Nothing u do 4 the lord is in vain.
I have a hard time recognizing God in the middle of everything
Nice shirt JVo
Sometimes healing is painful
To be selfless, humble
He has given me so much
… could you in your church?
Talk to Me!

The Technologies
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Email
IM / Texting
Blog
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Personal
 Facebook
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Discussion
 SharperIron

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Twitter
The Style
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George Barna
Short Messages
Coherency and
Cohesion Optional
Multiple Conversations

“technologies have begun
to rewire the ways in
which people (especially
the young) meet, express
themselves, use content
and stay connected.”
TIME

“the creation of Twitter …
is as significant and
paradigm-shifting as the
invention of Morse code,
the telephone, radio,
television or the personal
computer.”
Smoke Signals?

Communication
Mediums

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Smoke Signals
Books
Twitter

Marshall McLuhan

“The medium is the
message”
What Should We Then Do?

Remember Step 1

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Admit we have a problem
Challenge the Source of the Problem
Technology and the Church - Recap

History of our Communication Problem

Some Current Communication Tools

Problem with Today’s Communication

Fad or Paradigm Shift?
Bibliography
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Gilley, Gary E. This Little Church Went to Market – The
Church in the Age of Entertainment. Fairfax VA : Xulon
Press, 2002.
Postman, Neil. Amusing Ourselves to Death – Public
Discourse in the Age of Show Business. New York : Penguin
Books, 1985.
Postman, Neil. Technopoly – The Surrender of Culture to
Technology. New York : Vintage Books, 1993.
Turner, Timothy A. Preaching to Programmed People –
Effective Communication in a Media-Saturated Society.
Grand Rapids, MI : Kregel Resources, 1995.
To Continue the Discussion
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http://www.ibfna.com/IBFNA-BB