The Theology of Technology
The ministry has always been committed to sharing the Gospel and offering people an opportunity to respond. How that happens has changed quite a bit in the two plus decades of history of Need Him Global. The media component has gone from Christian radio to secular radio and television to now an almost unlimited number of options. The conversation component has grown from telephone to online chat and text messaging to an ever-growing number of social media options.
Last month, we were fortunate enough to participate with a small number of ministries at the Global Impact Summit. The goal was to discuss how believing in God changes how we use technology and how ministries can use technology for even greater impact. The meeting was hosted at Google headquarters in California and, in addition to a select few ministries, included Christian representatives from multiple technology companies including Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Gloo, Cloud Factory and Salesforce.
The event included multiple speakers and tracts on different issues ranging from discussions on Where Technology Fits in Your Mission to How Technology Offers New Discipleship Opportunities. The objective was not to pick one-size-fits-all winning solutions or come up with a single best approach. The time was spent sharing how different organizations use technology to define success, measure impact and use information to shape future direction and decisions.
We have all benefitted from how technology changes our lives and offers new ways to experience community, communicate with others and get information. At the same time, we have likely all experienced how technology can be misused and not result in a better experience in each of those areas.
It is easy to be negative about how technology has been hijacked for so many unhealthy and sinful purposes. However, that would be blaming the tool instead of the user and ignoring the fact that God can use anything for His purposes. It is always encouraging and enlightening when committed believers gather to identify ways to use the technology and the tools of today to more effectively share the truth of the Gospel with more people.
