Technology: Good or bad?

Between Two Worlds (Justin Taylor) pointed me to a new website, The Sola Panel, introduced here.

A recent post echoes thoughts I have had about the loss of personal connection in our technological culture. Drive up windows, atm machines, internet purchasing, grocery and library self checkout, all these things contribute to the loss of contact and the loss of opportunities to personally impact people for Christ.

Gavin Perkins writes this:

In each case, the technology is doing the same thing to me: it is reducing the quality of my relationships. The email sent to 10 members of a Bible study group giving them details for an upcoming social event might seem efficient, and, in one sense, it is. However, the email does not provide an opportunity for the unplanned informal conversations that build relationship or give mutual encouragement.

Of course, the reason why this matters is because ministry is always about relationships with people. As Paul writes to the Thessalonian church, he reminds them that his ministry among them was intensely personal: he was like a mother nursing a child (1 Thess 2:7); he was willing to expend everything he had for them (2:8); he exhorted them like a father (2:11-12); and now that he has been physically wrenched away, he desperately desires to see them again “face to face” in order to further his ministry amongst them (2:17, 3:10).

Ministry is about real relationships with people. So we need to ask ourselves, “Is technology working against that goal?”

Read the whole post and check yourself. “How can you and I be more intentional about relationships?”