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Interim Minister and President’s Message
Technology has broadened our connection as Body of Christ
May, 2001
By Erwin R. Bode
If the last 50,000 years of human existence were divided into lifetimes of approximately 62 years each, there have been about 800 such lifetimes. Of these 800, 650 were spent in caves.
Only during the last 70 lifetimes has it been possible to communicate effectively from one lifetime to another, as writing made it possible to do. Only during the last six lifetimes have we known the printed word. All we know about the computer has been developed in the 800th lifetime. And the computer has changed everything about how we communicate with each other since its arrival on the scene around 1950.
This became a reality for me in a World Future Society meeting I attended in 1980 in Toronto. Seated in the room were 20 scientists from every sector of the world. They had never met in person before that moment. And yet they had been in regular communication with each other via a computer network for several years. It was an awe inspiring moment for them, and for me, as well. A new world view had begun. The computer had revolutionized everything for us with its unprecedented power for analysis and dissemination of extremely varied kinds of data in unbelievable quantities at speeds that stagger the mind.
No wonder the Conference has adopted Communications in the 21st Century as an integral part of our Vision for Renewal and Growth. I like to say that our task is to discover ways to communicate with each other as a community of 100,000 persons, the collective membership of our 432 congregations. Prior to our generation we would not have considered such a goal. In the 21st century we must address it.
With fresh eyes I view Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 18:20 where he says “where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.” This teaching has always presupposed that Jesus’ presence is only with us in community when we are physically together, even if there are only two or three of us. What do we do when we are computer connected with tens of thousands in the flash of an instant? It broadens immensely the possibilities of our being connected as the Body of Christ.
Of our 432 Conference churches 240 have an email address, and 145 have Web sites. The Northeast Area newsletter went “online” in March. Daily emails in our conference, association, and local church offices are growing, and at the same time telephone messages are decreasing. It has already impacted the way we do committee communications and the way we prepare for meetings. We email each other down to the last hours before face-to-face meetings. In the midst of a major communications revolution, we are heading toward the development of a communication community eventually connecting our entire 100,000 total membership.
I am not suggesting that this electronic explosion will take the place of our human interactions. Jesus’ teaching about being in our midst, even if there are only two or three of us in the room, is central to us. Our personal relationships are still at the heart of who we are in the United Church of Christ. People AND computer relationships are complementary aspects of the same reality. But everything is different because of the computer. The opportunities for enlarged communication is exponentially changing us. The ways we communicate with each other in congregations and associations and Conference are radically different in the 21st century. And we can’t even imagine how it will be ten years from now.
If you need assistance in your congregation with computer upgrading and training or Web site development, please contact Tiffany Vail of the Conference staff. More than 100 of our churches have already received financial support through our CONNECT program to secure new computers, software, modems, and training.