I couldn’t help but be slightly taken aback by this article in today’s Washington Post. Apparently American churches have found enough loose change in the pews to drop $8.1 billion on audio and projection equipment in the last year. Oh, wait, they do direct deposit tithing now? So no pew change?
Big screen and Hi-Fi, indeed.
Besides the somewhat mournful tack of the latter half of the article, perhaps WiFi church cafés and in-worship light shows aren’t necessarily a bad thing. Nothing prevents the pastor (no Fathers, Imams, Rabbis, Yogis or what have you to be found quoted in this piece) putting on a little pseudo-James Taylor (sorry Campus Catholic), queuing up the requisite scene in The 10 Commandments for his/her 200-inch projection screen and then delivering some serious divinity.
Will podcasting be the death of God? Hardly. Further, the Field of Dreams mentality at work here (“if you build it, they will come,”) probably isn’t far from the truth. Could it be that having the highest resolution projection cannon could constitute a holy calling? Must the modern religious leader walk gingerly through techno-Mammon to illuminate the Divine?
"Introduce a projection screen, Web sites, podcasts and an e-mail newsletter, and the church grows," said Scott Thumma, a sociology professor at the Hartford Institute for Religion Research in Connecticut, which studies trends in American churches. "This is not church like your grandparents did it. This has something to say about life today."
Indeed, but to borrow from Campus Catholic once again, this reeks of Christianity Lite.
What should bother Christians is not the fact that God is way cool in Hi-Def but that some folks are watching the sermon in overflow rooms/satellite campuses/at home. What should bother Christians is that there are a lot of other ministries going on at these churches that I’m sure could benefit from a collective $8.1 billion infusion.
Where’s the community in getting your worship through a monitor? Where’s the compassion in spending big money on sound systems?
Maybe Hartford Seminary, the people that compiled this very, very interesting report on Mega Churches in 2005, would consider trying to compile some statistics on revenue (estimated at around $6 million per mega church, by the way) invested in what I’ll call “show time” improvements and subsequent levels of church attendance.
Until then, you can find sipping tea outside the miniature mosque by my apartment. Its awful hot here and the two rickety fans inside that thing don’t look too potent. But the worship appears to be going along smoothly. Even without iTruth.
Comments (2)
And in 1967 I thought turning the lights up for hymns and down for prayers in my Methodist Church was a horrible misuse of technology to manipulate people's emotions! another fascinating revelation about church priorities. Thanks for the great writing, too!
Posted September 30, 2007 9:45 PM
Posted on September 30, 2007 21:45
And in 1967 I thought turning the lights up for hymns and down for prayers in my Methodist Church was a horrible misuse of technology to manipulate people's emotions!
Posted September 30, 2007 9:43 PM
Posted on September 30, 2007 21:43