Dear RSNY Church Family and Friends,
As the church becomes increasingly involved with technology, some pastors are raising a pressing question: In an era when screens are everywhere—in the pulpit, throughout the church, and sometimes even in classrooms—how do we ensure that technology remains a tool for learning rather than becoming a substitute for the relationships and experiences that help our members thrive?
Something significant happens when church members put their phones away and begin talking with one another again. Recent conversations about technology and faith raise important questions about whether our dependence on digital devices is affecting our faith and our Christian walk.
Many of us now use our phones for almost everything. We turn to them for information, communication, devotional resources, Bible studies, and answers to questions about our daily lives. Technology is so readily available that it can become the default source for how we think, respond, and even understand our faith journey.
But perhaps the future of the church is not about more technology. Perhaps it is about better judgment concerning when technology helps us grow as Christian disciples and when it begins to replace the very experiences that form us.
Technology can fundamentally change how biblical instruction, interpretation, and application are presented on Sunday morning. Yet we must ask an important question: How do we ensure that our members are not merely receiving information but are developing the spiritual and intellectual capacity to become mature disciples of Jesus Christ?
As a Christian educator and Executive Minister of the Regional Synod of New York, I believe that meaningful learning often requires productive struggle. There is value in wrestling with Scripture, asking difficult questions, searching for understanding, and discovering connections within the biblical text.
The Bible itself becomes our primary tool for this work.
When we open the Scriptures, investigate what they say, consider their historical and spiritual context, and ask how God’s Word speaks to our lives, we are developing more than biblical knowledge. We are developing critical thinking, spiritual discernment, and a deeper Christian foundation.
Our faith should not depend solely upon having an answer immediately available on a screen. There must still be room for reflection, questioning, conversation, prayer, study, and discovery.
As schools reopen and a new season of ministry begins, our churches can also become centers of learning. We have an opportunity to create environments where children, youth, adults, and older adults can engage deeply with the faithfulness of God’s Word and respond with thanksgiving.
This also challenges us to reconsider how we communicate within the church.
We often say, “Let’s communicate.” Pastors and church leaders produce newsletters, emails, announcements, social-media posts, Bible-study materials, and other informational resources. But we must ask ourselves: How often are our members actually reading these communications, reflecting upon them, and determining how they can participate in the life and mission of the church?
Communication is not simply the distribution of information. Communication should lead to relationship, participation, understanding, and transformation.
Therefore, as pastors and Christian educators enter another season of ministry, we should intentionally plan for Christian nurture. We should provide resources that encourage our members not simply to consume information but to study, question, discuss, pray, serve, and live out the Word of God.
Technology has a place in the church. It can expand our reach, provide valuable resources, connect people, and support biblical study. But technology should never become the measure of our ministry or the replacement for Christian community.
The goal is not a church defined by technology. The goal is a church formed by Christ.
Our challenge is to use technology wisely while returning continually to the things that have always nurtured the people of God: the Word, prayer, relationships, fellowship, teaching, service, and the transforming work of the Holy Spirit.
When technology becomes the servant of discipleship rather than its substitute, it can help the church move forward without losing what makes the church the church.
We do not need less learning. We need deeper learning.
We do not need less communication. We need more meaningful relationships.
And we do not need technology to replace faith formation. We need technology to help us become better disciples of Jesus Christ.
Prayerfully
Rev. Dr. Micheal Edwards, Executive Minister