Technology and Mission

Thanks for another great article on Narthex News. This site is quickly becoming one of my favorites and I applaud the conversation you’ve started here.

The article raises an issue I’ve been struggling with in terms of our Digital Ministry strategy. In my work with College students there are two very distinct groups.

First are the “Church Kids” who as the article mentioned were raised in the Church and have a fairly durable faith. (Within this group there are also small numbers of unchurched young adults who are open to participation in a religious community). Their relationship to all sorts of institutions has been “rewired” making their participation more sporadic. As the article rightly notes they expect to be more than casual observers at worship and other events, although I find that they still need some sort of organizational structure to enable that participation.

This generation of “Church Kids” don’t attend worship and other community events as frequently as previous generations but they are definitely still engaged. Digital ministry is one tool that keeps them engaged even when they aren’t physically present, but we’re still learning how to bring these technological tools into worship etc. This article contains some great ideas for that type of engagement.

The “Church Kids” still remain a distinctly small subset of the college age population, and competition among churches for their participation has become fierce.

As Evangelicalism begins to face declining numbers particularly among young adults there are more and more attempts to entice this population to become part of their communities. Typically such churches don’t realize that because of the rewiring of young adult faith building a congregation around them is difficult. But what this means is that everyone is competing for this relatively small group of young adults who are actually interested in being part of a faith community.

Then there is the rest of the population, many of whom were raised in a faith community, but have little interest in participation. Practicing their faith is simply not something that is a priority at this point in their lives. Whether they will “come back to Church” as previous generations have once they “settle down” and their lives become more stable remains an open question. Even if they are inclined to return to the Church the fact is that they probably won’t “settle down” until much later than previous generations. After being away from Church for so long it’s natural to wonder if they will actually come back.

This article focuses a great deal of attention on using technology to engage with “Church kids”, but if this is a relatively small subset of the population that can only be a part of a digital ministry strategy. How do we engage with those who have no intention of becoming part of our faith communities? It seems to me that this may be an even more pressing question than how we connect with the “Church Kids”.

I’ve been thinking a great deal lately about the concept of “peripheral participation” that Jessica Duckworth talks about in “Wide Welcome”, her fine book on the catechumenate. Duckworth argues that we should not devalue such participation because there are many who are unable to participate because of their present life circumstances. Although I wouldn’t go so far as to say that college age students are “unable’ to participate in church communities the transitional nature of this life stage does make such participation more difficult than many realize.

It seems to me that this part of the young adult population is perhaps an even more important digital mission field than the “Church Kids”. Technology offers opportunities to maintain some sort of connection with a faith community even when one is uninterested or unable to physically participate.

Working at a College of the Church I see the benefits of “peripheral participation” every day. Because reflecting on one’s faith is part of our curriculum many students do eventualy find their way back to the Church particularly toward the end of their College careers when they are looking for meaning and guidance. Church Colleges like my own that don’t require doctrinal conformity or worship attendance give young adults the opportunity for self determination in their faith lives while still keeping students engaged in faith reflection. I believe that digital ministry provides another potential avenue to maintain such connections in a manner that respects individual choices but leaves the door open for engagement.

I offer these observations realizing that my experience is with college age students who are themselves a smaller subset of the young adult population. But there is ample evidence that the patterns of religious engagement typified in the College years persists long after graduation. It’s with this part of the population that I see the greatest potential for missional engagement through technological opportunities.

Now how to go about actually doing this is another issue…