Following on from the piece in the Church Times the other week in a ‘post-pandemic’ world, I engaged in an online webinar – it was split into two halves, and I’m in the first half:
Tag: Church Times
I was commissioned to write a piece on technology and the church for the Church Times, for the post-pandemic special. The article starts:
IT HAS been fascinating to watch long-running debates about the use of technology go mainstream. There have been heated online discussions about the importance of church buildings. Alongside weekly services, weddings and ordinations have been cancelled, funerals can be attended only by a few, and ministerial licensings are conducted on Zoom.
Theological questions have been raised. Are “holy spaces” places that have been consecrated for worship, or simply wherever people gather (including online)? Are “holy people” required to be physically present for specific liturgies, or can more be translated online?
The extent to which technology is now so embedded in our lives was evident in the way in which many churches were able to “pivot” so quickly to putting services online. My digital spaces were full of ministers turning to each other to pass on tips and insights. Many church members were confident and ready to benefit immediately.
You can read it all here.
Thank you to Rachel Collinson and Andrew Graystone for feedback on drafts, and Vicky Walker for final sub edits.
My name has been flagged up as appearing in the Church Times this week, in an article by Rev Simon Cook:
This is to ignore the fact that the way we live “in the world” is becoming more digital, like it or not: work, social interaction, banking, shopping, and even medical appointments have increasingly moved online. Furthermore, “real relationships” have been mediated successfully through technology for many years, as anyone with a pen pal or a family member overseas will already be aware.
The literature around the subject tends to simplify the Christian response to one of “tech as threat” or “tech as opportunity”. The book iGods, by Dr Craig Detweiler, for example, suggests that digital media have usurped the part that faith and church used to play in building relationships and community. In contrast, Dr Bex Lewis’s guide for families, Raising Children in a Digital Age (Interview, 9 May 2014), is clear that people bring their pre-existing values to the digital world, and its technologies can be used for good and evil — and talk of “conditioned” behaviour is usually an excuse.
Read full article.
Find the full article online, and see more about the book Raising Children in a Digital Age.
An extract from the article:
That said, finding a use for my cartooning skills here has been incredibly difficult. It feels as if most cartoons, especially those involving any comparison between aspects of life in Uganda and the UK, would be inappropriate. Although, perhaps, a better cartoonist would manage it. There is plenty of humour being shared by the people, but I would need to stay longer than a week to begin to be a part of it.
There are many aspects of this trip which I want to remember: not least, some of the lessons learned. Chief of these is to be slow to complain about difficulties in my life, when I have so much; and to remember that a great deal can be made from just a little.
Read whole article (including my photo credit for Dave on a bike!)