The place of technology in Effective Church Communication

When desktop publishing was new and I was trying to inspire people with the potential we had with this new tool, I would often remind them in my seminars that church offices now had more powerful computers than NASA had when they put a man on the moon.

We've had over twenty years now to use this technology in the service of the gospel, but even though we arguably have the most technology in our churches than any other country in the world, I think few would say we are the most Christian nation in the world.

Tools and technology are important, but if we want to create communications that will change lives for eternity, we need a trustworthy place to search at, as it takes more than the latest version of the newest software. More than that, the software or the channel we use (e.g. the web vs. print) has absolutely nothing to do with how effective a publication will be be.

In seeing thousands of communications each year as I travel all over North America doing my church communications it astounds me how often people will say things like, "Oh, I did this with the latest version of XYZ software" and then proceed to show me a really poorly designed piece—half a dozen fonts on one page, no grid, no form or organization, chaotic layout, clip art mixed with photos, mixed with screens, etc. No matter how sophisticated the software, unfortunately there is still no software that will tell you (in spite of the numerous other messages that pop up for often no seeming reason), "This is too ugly to print, don't publicly embarrass yourself."

Technology is only a tool and a powerful one. We need to learn to use every piece of software well and more than that, church communicators need to learn the basics of good design, typesetting, layout, and how to combine graphics and words effectively.

But church communicators often don't have all the training they need or the time to get it and they often don't have the latest equipment or software. But a perceived lack in those areas should never make anyone in church communications feel their work is inferior and we should never assume for a moment, if we are well-trained or able to afford most costly software or hardware, that that makes our work more important.

You can create either masterpieces or garbage with any software. And more than that—the ultimate success of any project done to advance the Lord's kingdom, ultimately always and only succeeds because he chooses to use it. "Not by might, or by power, but by his spirit," and not by our software or technology, but by his mercy and grace, is anything of eternal importance accomplished by our communications.