iPad & Ministry?
Church Crunch has an open thread conversation going about this topic, and reading through those comments inspired this post.
Here’s what I wrote:
At first my ADOS (Attention Deficit ooooh shiny…) came out, and I was salivating more than Pavlov’s dog. But the cool effect has worn off.
I really think @TimMcDaniel nails it with his 6th point, “…this is not a device to help creatives create – but this will be perfect for presenters to present.”The welcome center, the kidcheck stations- all great stuff, albeit very cool as well!
More on my post inspired by this convo….
~NickShoe
Many contributors see the advantage of Apple’s latest and greatest for presentation effect. Be it in a church’s welcome center or utilized as a KidCheck station, the cool factor will definitely be there.
It appears that more than just a few of the commenters could see the use of the iPad from a participation standpoint- using it to instantly download sermon notes and read scripture. While I like the idea behind this slant, I also have to agree with this post:
I kinda think that we sometimes rationalize ourselves into using some form of technology because we wanna get our hands on it, not because it actually helps with anything. ~Tom
And this is where I take pause and allow the cool factor to fade.
While I am a huge fan of technology and it’s use in worship, I have to ask- How much technology do we need for worship? Where’s the line going to be drawn?
I just watched Surrogates (starring Bruce Willis) last night. Great flick. In a lot of ways it reminded me of Wall•E. In both movies humanity invents technology that does everything for them and becomes either massive blobs with little or no bone structure (Wall•E) or detached, bath-robe wearing, cave-dwellers (Surrogates).
In light of this “sci-fi” (but is it really?) perspective, do we need more technology in worship? At what point do we need to realize that we may be “(rationalizing) ourselves into using some form of technology because” it’s cool, shiny and has an apple on it?
Just my thoughts. What about you?
~NickShoe
No related posts.
I definitely think that the iPad is a cool toy, and it could be useful in replacing a laptop for presentations.
But I like the down to earth attitude that you have brought (well you or "tom") is really helpful. We don't need any technology to worship. There is a level to which is assists and enhances worship, but we don't need it.
This doesn't take away from the fact that the iPad is seriously cool, and I think Christians would be stupid not to at least consider it's ministry applications.