Collide Magazine

We all know what it looks like when technology fails us: servers crash, projector bulbs burn out prematurely, and software fails to live up its billing. In those instances, we should absolutely blame the technology for its shortcomings. But it’s important for us to know when not to blame the technology. It’s important for us to recognize when we fail ourselves.

The other night a few church leaders got into a spat on Twitter that started out about doctrine and ended up with jabs and name-calling. My intention is not to criticize those involved or make a judgment about who was wrong or right (because things like that happen to the best of us), but I would like to use the incident as an example. Their dispute is a prime example of a poor technological choice–a failure to understand the strengths and weaknesses of a particular medium and then act accordingly.

Shane Hipps, author of Flickering Pixels, opened my eyes to this concept recently. He told me that as a pastor he has set a firm rule to never attempt to resolve or respond to conflict via email. He says that email as a communication medium is not capable of effectively clearing up confusion, rather email heightens it. If someone sends Shane a confrontational email, he responds in person or over the phone so that the matter doesn’t escalate unnecessarily. Those media–the phone and face-to-face conversation–are better suited to resolving conflict than email. Yes, email has strengths that the other two don’t, but Hipps doesn’t even consider it an option when it comes to conflict.

We need to do likewise. We need to constantly evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of different media and then act accordingly. When we don’t, when we make poor technological choices, it’s us that have failed, not the technology. We fail when we respond to conflict via a microblogging service. We fail when we reduce the gospel to a bumpersticker. We’d fail if we attempted to make a marriage proposal via a text message. We’d fail if we attempted to use pre-recorded video (which is good for a lot of things) as an accountability partner. The strengths and weaknesses of all the media available to us need to fit our purposes if we’re to be effectice 21st-century church leaders. Otherwise, we’re basing our communication and leadership tactics on the convenience and shinyness of the toys at hand. And that just won’t do.

Look for my article on Shane Hipps in the upcoming March/April issue of COLLIDE and grab his book, Flickering Pixels, immediately.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 17th, 2009 at 10:09 am and is filed under Tech. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.