TECHNOLOGY IN THE LIFE OF THE CHURCH
By Dan Hacker
During a time of quarantine, where shelter-in-place ordinances are established by government and living in close proximity can cause the spread of Covid-19, we as people have had to adapt, learning how to do life together in new creative ways. Social distancing, keeping about 8-10 feet between you and another person is one option, but a level of discomfort can still exist there unfortunately because of the potential to spread this virus. Thankfully for us in 2020, there are so many options to “be together” because of technology. We have had to figure out how to do life together in a similar way, but without being in the same room.
Because of technology we are able to work from home, school has continued in some capacity, we can pray with one another, worship together, play games like battleship and charades on video calls. We are able to laugh together, cry together, encourage and challenge one another, study the Word in DNA groups, listen to the Word being preached, we can take communion with our church family, have staff meetings, tell jokes together, and we can keep meeting as City Groups. Even the kids have been able to see each other, playing games with one another, being silly, making the most of this strange season in life. That is such a long list, and there are many more experiences that we have been able to continue even with this pandemic looming because of the technology that exists. This really is a gift, I can’t imagine going through a crisis like this and not being able to call or text friends and family, I can’t imagine this happening without the ability to FaceTime and have video calls with my whole church family all on the same screen at one time. If you haven’t taken advantage of these times together with your City Group or DNA Group you’re really missing out on what the Spirit has been doing in this strange season that we have found ourselves in. You can also joining in on the Sunday Gathering and Zoom Prayer calls, and I would really encourage you to get involved in these ways with the church family.
Even after considering all this good that technology creates, it does not take the place of what we were really created for. We were created to be together, in communion with one another. From the very beginning of the Story of God, we can see that humans were not created by God to be alone. We were made to be in fellowship with one another, we were made to be in each other’s presence. Genesis 2:18a, “Then the Lord God said, ‘It is not good that the man should be alone,’” and then Eve was created, not to look at each other on a screen, but to be with one another, to be able to touch one another, to be able to do all of life side by side, hand in hand, face to face! In this season we can clearly see that this world is not the way it was meant to be, as our face time with one another is only through FaceTime. We wait for all things to be restored, we long for things to be restored, and we do know that one day is coming where we can be together again. But thank God for the minds much brighter than mine that have created technology for such a time is this.
With the technology we have, many have still expressed longing for this to be over. What we have is good, but just not good enough. We long to hug each other, shake hands, enter each other’s homes, worship with our whole church body, go on vacation together, high five one another, hold each other’s new born babies… because we were created by a God of Fellowship, who within Himself exists as three persons in fellowship with one another, the Father, Son and Spirit, who are always in communion with one another, never quarantined from one another, existing together all of the time. This God created all humans similarly. Genesis 1:27, “So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” We as human beings, His creation, live with His attributes and this is why we have this desire to be together in fellowship with one another, just as the Father, Son and Spirit are in fellowship with one another.
So let us expectantly look forward to the day that this season this is all over, and we can gather again, with many, many, many people in our homes, having cook outs, going to the park to play together, watching the game together, singing praises Sunday mornings together, sharing meals around our tables, going out to eat together, the list goes on and on. This is what we long for, this is what we were created for! My wife is already planning our house party after this pandemic is over, we can’t wait!
Even when this pandemic is over though, many things will be restored, but nothing will be FULLY restored to how they were originally meant to be. Looking back in the Story of God, to Genesis in the Garden, human beings were perfectly in communion with one another and with God, with no sickness, death nor pandemics. There is this longing to be in a place and space where we will always be together, a place and space where we never have to worry about a pandemic like Covid-19 ever again, where there will never be an interference in our everyday life. A place where we are all partying and celebrating forever, and as we look forward in the Story of God, we can see a place just like this… it is the Marriage Super of the Lamb spoken of in Revelation 19, a place and space where sin and death are FULLY overcome by the death and resurrection of Jesus! There we will all be united together forever, a great multitude that no one can number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages standing before the throne and before the Lamb, crying with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” (Revelation 7). What a day to look forward to, a day when all is as it was meant to be! A day where there is no need for FaceTime, Zoom, no need for any technology, never ever again being quarantined, never separated from one another, no separation from God, no more sin, no more brokenness, no more death, no more hospitals, no needs for any more vaccines, but a place and space where we are united in Jesus, by Jesus, to worship Jesus together forever!
Because of technology we are able to work from home, school has continued in some capacity, we can pray with one another, worship together, play games like battleship and charades on video calls. We are able to laugh together, cry together, encourage and challenge one another, study the Word in DNA groups, listen to the Word being preached, we can take communion with our church family, have staff meetings, tell jokes together, and we can keep meeting as City Groups. Even the kids have been able to see each other, playing games with one another, being silly, making the most of this strange season in life. That is such a long list, and there are many more experiences that we have been able to continue even with this pandemic looming because of the technology that exists. This really is a gift, I can’t imagine going through a crisis like this and not being able to call or text friends and family, I can’t imagine this happening without the ability to FaceTime and have video calls with my whole church family all on the same screen at one time. If you haven’t taken advantage of these times together with your City Group or DNA Group you’re really missing out on what the Spirit has been doing in this strange season that we have found ourselves in. You can also joining in on the Sunday Gathering and Zoom Prayer calls, and I would really encourage you to get involved in these ways with the church family.
Even after considering all this good that technology creates, it does not take the place of what we were really created for. We were created to be together, in communion with one another. From the very beginning of the Story of God, we can see that humans were not created by God to be alone. We were made to be in fellowship with one another, we were made to be in each other’s presence. Genesis 2:18a, “Then the Lord God said, ‘It is not good that the man should be alone,’” and then Eve was created, not to look at each other on a screen, but to be with one another, to be able to touch one another, to be able to do all of life side by side, hand in hand, face to face! In this season we can clearly see that this world is not the way it was meant to be, as our face time with one another is only through FaceTime. We wait for all things to be restored, we long for things to be restored, and we do know that one day is coming where we can be together again. But thank God for the minds much brighter than mine that have created technology for such a time is this.
With the technology we have, many have still expressed longing for this to be over. What we have is good, but just not good enough. We long to hug each other, shake hands, enter each other’s homes, worship with our whole church body, go on vacation together, high five one another, hold each other’s new born babies… because we were created by a God of Fellowship, who within Himself exists as three persons in fellowship with one another, the Father, Son and Spirit, who are always in communion with one another, never quarantined from one another, existing together all of the time. This God created all humans similarly. Genesis 1:27, “So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” We as human beings, His creation, live with His attributes and this is why we have this desire to be together in fellowship with one another, just as the Father, Son and Spirit are in fellowship with one another.
So let us expectantly look forward to the day that this season this is all over, and we can gather again, with many, many, many people in our homes, having cook outs, going to the park to play together, watching the game together, singing praises Sunday mornings together, sharing meals around our tables, going out to eat together, the list goes on and on. This is what we long for, this is what we were created for! My wife is already planning our house party after this pandemic is over, we can’t wait!
Even when this pandemic is over though, many things will be restored, but nothing will be FULLY restored to how they were originally meant to be. Looking back in the Story of God, to Genesis in the Garden, human beings were perfectly in communion with one another and with God, with no sickness, death nor pandemics. There is this longing to be in a place and space where we will always be together, a place and space where we never have to worry about a pandemic like Covid-19 ever again, where there will never be an interference in our everyday life. A place where we are all partying and celebrating forever, and as we look forward in the Story of God, we can see a place just like this… it is the Marriage Super of the Lamb spoken of in Revelation 19, a place and space where sin and death are FULLY overcome by the death and resurrection of Jesus! There we will all be united together forever, a great multitude that no one can number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages standing before the throne and before the Lamb, crying with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” (Revelation 7). What a day to look forward to, a day when all is as it was meant to be! A day where there is no need for FaceTime, Zoom, no need for any technology, never ever again being quarantined, never separated from one another, no separation from God, no more sin, no more brokenness, no more death, no more hospitals, no needs for any more vaccines, but a place and space where we are united in Jesus, by Jesus, to worship Jesus together forever!
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