Technology and Missions (Part 1)

The thing that I had feared the most occurred to me this afternoon. My cell phone ended up in the wash. Needless to say, it came out clean but not worth the plastic and wiring that it is made up of. My wife felt terrible. I felt stupid for not emptying my pants pockets when I came home. But there it is.

When did we become so dependent upon technology that we feel naked and cut off when we lose the ability for people to contact us at any time? I refuse to even consider getting a Blackberry; I have enough trouble leaving the office behind without carrying it along with me like that.

The sad thing is that we impose this upon the people that we work with overseas. We want instant contact, instant answers to questions, instant updates on programs and stories that we are covering. What many ministries end up with is staff in the developing world who are not necessarily spiritually mature believers, but those who can speak English (usually) and who have access or the ability to adapt to our technology. Needless to say, these are not always the right people to work with.

Technology is changing the face of missions and we need to seriously think through the ramifications of it before we embrace all of its possibilities uncritically. The medium always impacts the message. More on this in the weeks to come.... Right now I have to charge my new cell phone.