Blessings and burdens in a wired church
Posted by Carol Howard Merritt on 25 Nov 2009 at 05:00 pm | Tagged as: church, technology
Last week, I helped to lead a Moderators’ Conference on the blessings and burdens of technology. There were so many things that were fascinating about the dynamics of the meeting. It was a conference for the moderators of middle governing bodies (Synods and Presbyteries, if you’re conversant in Preby-ese).
Usually, when I teach conferences, people show up because they want to know about the topic. But this was different. People needed the Moderator training, and that’s why they were there. The technology stuff had very mixed reviews.
It was invigorating in so many ways. There were people who did not know the possibilities that social media presented. So when we talked about evangelism, and how congregations are using web 2.0 to reach out through sermon podcasts, blogs, and review sites, a light went on for many. All of a sudden, that command to reach the ends of the earth became a palpable reality.
In fact, we not only talked about this, but we saw it happen. At one point in the conference, there were about 150 Moderators in the room, but we were Ustreaming the event, so 940 people were watching it over the Internet.
Other people were not learning as much, but they were sharing what they were already doing in their own congregations, giving me great insight into what’s possible.
When we talked about being able to communicate with each other, about the meeting possibilities, we heard how people used to drive three and a half hours for an hour meeting, and then got in their cars to drive another three and a half hour drive. Now men and women can use Skype to meet with each other, and they can save the seven-hour drives for special occasions.
Many church leaders are conducting Bible studies on Facebook, allowing for busy parents to get the faith formation that they need. And when a pastor found that the elderly women in his church no longer wanted to brave driving in the dark for a study, he taught them how to set up a Facebok page and talk about the Scriptures there.
And of course, we talked about the ability to form communities and tribes through social networking. How our face-to-face communication is enhanced by Internet contact. I certainly found that as I was leading the conference with two Twitter friends. I had never met Melissa DeRosia, but I felt like we were old friends, because of our online interactions.
Even though there was this very exciting part of the conference conversation, there was also a frustrating undercurrent. People were worried about not having control over photos, comments, and content. They wanted to know who had oversight over the Presbyterian gathering in Second Life. People wanted their Presbyteries to have social media policies in place before they experimented, and some were shocked that I hadn’t set up rules and regulations before I jumped in.
I shrugged and said, “Well, I guess we’ll come up with the policy when we run into problems.” (This is when I’m reminded that I was not born and bred Presbyterian. I was raised by an inventor, which makes me approach technology differently.)
Other people were very angry over what they perceived as a generational issue. There was an idea that this was all for the “young folks” and once you get to a certain age, there’s no reason to learn it. They were angry that I would even suggest these tools for people who were over seventy.
It reminded me that the digital divide is not only between the rich and poor, but can also be with people of different generations. But…actually…it’s not really about age. There are people much older than me who are very wired, and people who are younger who hate looking at a screen after having to look at one all day at work.
After all was said and done, I took great comfort in Byron Anthony Wade’s words. He kept reminding me, “We’re just sowing seeds here. Some will grow. Some won’t.”
Good words to hear.
Carol, I’m thankful for your leadership in these areas, and for the way you bring back the thoughts of others. Have a Happy Thanksgiving!
To another “old friend” whom I’ve never met, thank you! Have a great Thanksgiving to you as well.
I appreciate your noting that older folks are using social media. I have a number of members — in their 70s using it. Most do email at the very least. It takes time, but it’s important that we understand the possibilities of making the message available in multiple ways.
And, to add to this, Progressives must jump in early and often because great numbers of younger people are going to miss the message if we don’t.
Yes! I know a lot of grandmothers who have gotten on facebook, because they know that it’s the best and quickest way that they can see photos of the grandkids.
Carol, I was at the moderators conference and I really appreciated your work. Clearly,, our old PCUSA has a long way to go on the technology thing, but I am confident that we can do this. I am a fifty something who has been on Facebook for about a year. I was nervous about it at first, but the possibilities I have seen in this social networking tool are astounding. I am in touch with people I haven’t seen in years, and have developed a wonderful community of friends that are there every day. In my church, Facebook is now being affectionately called “the prayer chain.” It has broken out quickly, without “guidelines.”
As a presbytery moderator, I would like to use technology to better connect our churches. Presbytery meetings desperately need reformation, and interactive and virtual technologies could really make a difference. This will be a challenge to introduce, but we have no choice.
I appreciate your thoughtful comments on this blog. Keep at it, as people like me have a lot to learn. I have been in ministry for over thirty years, but in many ways I feel like a beginner.
I am one of the seventy-year olds who is on FaceBook and Twitter. I have been using and teaching about technology since 982. And I want to tell all those of my generation to get with it or get left out (except of course those who don’t have enough money to afford the technology or physical impairments that prevent one from using it). And like Carol said, you can visit with your grandchildren (I use iChat).
But being older does present some problems for technology use. Older people may have vision issues and even more important many have never learned to type, so it takes more effort than many realize for my generation to get into technology. There is also the problem that many older persons need help when things don’t work and so churches need to figure out how to help them. Or they have old outdated very slow computers that someone else set up and they don’t understand what is happening on their screens. So we need to provide support.
The rewards are well worth it — my community on facebook is wonderful and today tried the #tworship on Sundays on twitter, after I get home from church.
I follow Bruce Reyes-Chow and Carol on Twitter and Facebook and sometimes get left in the “virtual dust”,but it is such fun, I won’t quit. Love your God-complex shows. I listen through podcasts.
I want to start a facebook group for the adult Sunday school class I lead. Hope to get that going next winter or spring.
Like Carol, I just jumped in. Policies etc. can come later or as you go.
I was a participant at the conference and appreciated Carol’s contribution enourmously. She knocked herself out to be approachable to the older ones of us. (I’m 56.) She wore a handsome, conservative business suit. (I wore jeans and open collar shirts bought from Goodwill.) She eschewed jargon. She gave us bite size pieces, half a bite at a time. She even had a “confession” moment about something she’d gotten hassled about in the course of her work. (I thought she needn’t have apologized for something that at least I wouldn’t have considered wrong, and told her so in the kindest upbrading voice I could muster.)
I’m not at all sure that it’s unPresbyterian to leap into things with curiosity and passion, but I do think that we Presbyterians have grown increasingly scared during our years of decline. We’re afraid that any misstep will bring the next disaster (usually someone quitting the church over an alleged slight).
On top of that, communication techologies have changed — and changed *us* — so dramatically over the last 20 years that we can’t help feeling insecure. I suspect that some of the resistance is given voice in the comment I’ve heard often, including on the floor of the conference, from people who’ve decided in advance that they don’t want to like Twitter: “I don’t *want* to know what you’re having for breakfast!” (Code for: Even though my breakfast menu is exactly the kind of small talk I make to be friendly, something about reading it online annoys me.) Maybe people are just afraid of seeing too much data about each other, and they’re not sure they can filter out the extraneous.
Which leads to my second suspicion, given voice in the frequent complaint: “Whatever happened to talking to each other in person?” Carol and her co-presenter did an admirable job of explaining why that fear is unfounded, but they may as well have been talking to a wall. I suspect that people are in fact feeling cut off from each other, that their humanity (as social beings) feels as if it’s been compromised over the last couple of decades or so, that they fear that future generations won’t care about the personal connection they’ve found in the church for their own lives.
Carol’s description of the conference here is very generous, and the kindness is appreciated. I think, though, that we’ve been both overly fearful and overly patient with each other’s fearfulness. I really hope that I and my age cohort are not as fragile as we’ve been trying to make Carol’s generation feel. I’ll bet that we won’t fall to pieces if the next generation moves the church into the 21st century, even if we go kicking and screaming. Actually, I, for one, am willing to learn what I can about how to make it all work in a new way, even if I stumble and stagger my way along. If my years of experience are good for something, I’m glad to share of them whatever proves useful. If not, well, it isn’t as if there’s a lot of evidence for the success of my bunch.
I’ll do what I can and never mind what isn’t needed.
Why? bc im sick & tired of being mired