Originally posted August 4th, 2009

Today is August 4th, whee did July go! I'm back from a couple of weeks away from the office. Summer's here. Hot and humid, just like they said it would be here in Leamington.

General Council starts on Sunday. I have been thinking alot about the fires in B.C. Haven't heard if they are going to affect General Council which is being held in Kelowna. I will be followiing the proceedings of General Council and perhaps will have something to write about as the week moves along.

Thought a lot about technology and the church. Susan White from "Chritian Worship and Technological Change" says, "Men and women of every age have had to integrate technology into their personal communal perspectives, and to manage the social, oral and intellectual anxieties that the relationship with technology occasions. 'Every age then is truly and Age of Technology."

Every age has a way of dealing with and utilizing technology. So too, has the electronic age in which we live. Technology has created a number of challenges for the church as it endeavors to worship God, reach people for Christ and stay true to the Gospel.

I remember when I was the Administrative Director for Lambton United Church Centre back in 1988 trying to buy a modem to hook up to an old apple computer I used at the time in the Church Centre office. I think it was one of the first times that General Council moved to provide daily information of the General Council happenings using the information highway of the Internet. It was also the year General Council dealt with "The Issue". (I stand to be corrected, but of course my memory is not what it used to be.) Of course it's taken many churches some 20+ years to recognize how this new technology could be used to enhance worship.

People are always asking me "Why the use of a screen in our sanctuary during worship?" The only answer that I can give is that our culture is beginning to demand it. If we as a congregation and a larger church are going to have an impact on the culture in which we live and the people we live and work with, then we are going to have to speak their language. I'm convinced that we can use a screen in worship to reach those in our culture who have become solely dependant upon the use of technology and yet still hold onto the truth of the message of the gospel. Using a screen can help us to discover ways of worshipping God that we would not have embraced or considered otherwise. Len Wilson in a book entitled "The Wired Church" says, "A media integrated church does not abandon the traditions of the church, it reinterprets how that tradition speaks to its constituents at the place in which they live."

That's it for today. We'll have to talk later.