This past Sunday in Wales, a group of elders gathered at their church building to pray. The ancient stone chapel had been without heating since a group of construction workers shut off the gas supply to the building earlier in the week, then forgot to turn it back on for the weekend. It was judged to be too cold for the morning worship service—scheduled two hours later—so the local telephone lines began blazing with elders contacting members of the church leadership team, who contacted small group leaders, who contacted everyone within their house group. It was decided to meet at an older (and smaller, but warmer) chapel building nearby. I’m not sure if the elders got to pray or not.
Unfortunately, this change of venue caught a lot of people by surprise: especially the church’s musicians, sound engineers, computer operators and the preacher. His entire message was developed as a laptop-based, visually-oriented PowerPoint presentation. Upon arrival at the old building, it was abuzz with people frantically running wires and junction boxes and speakers and a massive sound board so that the keyboard, instruments, singers, and the preacher could be heard in a room that only measured eighteen hundred square feet.
Some of the greatest movements of God happened long before the discovery of electricity, much less the arrival of computer geniuses like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. While I certainly don’t advocate wearing camel’s hair and eating wild locusts and honey, I have to wonder how many worship gatherings this coming Sunday would fall flat if some natural disaster shut down the national grids of electric power in megawatt-hungry church buildings around the globe. Thankfully, these sorts of things don’t happen with frequency, but on those rare occasions it makes one stop and think and ask a few questions:
- Are we more sensitive to the loss of electricity than the presence of the Holy Spirit in our meetings?
- Have we grown so accustomed to amplified music that we find it difficult to engage in true worship without it, whether it’s a pipe organ, a keyboard, or a five-piece band?
- What impact does technology have in a mega-church? A small, rural church? A house church? What about a contemporary church versus a more traditional church?
- How important is technology in attracting newcomers?
- Are there inherent dangers in such an attraction, like using music, lighting, and sound to draw people into a “church” where unhealthy or even heretical teaching is being promulgated?
Just a few points to ponder.
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One of the few church services that stand out in my memory completely happened by chance one snowy morning. Our old church met in the cafeteria of a local middle school and the power went out unexpectedly. It was too late to call everyone. So the musicians gathered round an acoustic guitar and a few other acoustic instruments and we sang Christmas Carols (it was Advent) and read scripture together for about an hour. It was absolutely beautiful.
Posted 22 Apr 2008 at 6:59 pm ¶Hi Bill.
Some fasinating insights there. It’s amazing how a generation has arrived at a theology of worship that is pretty much unimaginable without the advent of electricity.
Which makes you wonder … would we have such a thing as the modern ‘worship’ industry with its CDs and DVDs were it not for the presence of electricity? (Yes, I suppose it is a little hard to burn CDs without the aid of electricity. Or matches.)
Posted 22 Apr 2008 at 10:13 pm ¶I wish that our church relied less on technology. Growing up Roman Catholic, I’m used to basic microphones and a hymnal, an organ or an acoustic guitar, choir or song leader. It worked. I’m now a member of an Assemblies of God church, and while I love the greater freedom of worship, I also get frustrated by the roadblocks of technology.
I’d like to put out a plea to church leaders everywhere… look at your congregation during a service. Not just the first few rows, but the middle and the back, around the edges and at the door. Do you see small children tugging their ears, or people covering an ear ? Maybe they have sensitive ears or wear a hearing aid and your sound system is blasting their ear drums by amping up certain frequencies. Do you see people worshiping, and then suddenly just stop and stare uncomfortably ? Perhaps they don’t know the lyrics and your worship leader is following the leading of the Holy Spirit, but technology is leaving your congregation behind.
Posted 02 May 2008 at 5:22 pm ¶Excellent post!
I wrote about a power outage situation we had at church this weekend. one of my commenters gave us this post as a reference. I’ve linked to it.
Thanks for the great questions!
My thought.
Reliance on technology is the foundation for “self” worship. To rely on “something: to worship, begins us down a path of idol worship or self worship. I am sold on technology in the church, but never for the sake of glorifying technology. It is a wonderful tool, but God is always the project being worked on.
I heard a great quote today,
“Our greatest fear as individuals and as a church should not be of failure but of succeeding at things in life that don’t really matter.”
If we are known for something other than our Savior, I think that technology has taken the front seat.
Brent
Posted 15 May 2008 at 7:23 am ¶“
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