All four areas have implications for Christian education. A key demographic target for growing the church deep and wide is the generation missing from many of our churches, the millennials who are in their 20s and 30s.
They are the “digital natives” who are connected 24/7 with smart phones and laptop computers. Multi-tasking to them is second nature. They communicate instantaneously across all boundaries. A pastor friend to youth and young adults discovered if she leaves a phone message on voice mail or sends an e-mail message she may get a reply in a day or two, but if she sends an instant text message she receives immediate replies.
Millennials populate Facebook and Twitter, maintain personal blogs and Web sites, and create video clips for YouTube. Bruce Reyes-Chow, the moderator of the General Assembly, is a prominent representative of this generation, as are other young pastors leading our church into the future.
Jesus’ last words to his disciples were, … you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8). Throughout the centuries men and women have responded to Jesus’ charge. So, today there are millions of believers on every continent of the earth and the Scriptures have been translated into more than a thousand languages. The mission field of past generations was located in the countries of the world. Now the mission field is cyberspace where the digital natives live.
Pastors, educators, and church teachers today need to approach their ministries to the digital natives the way missionaries of previous generations approached those they sought to reach. Faithful witnesses to the Risen Christ were motivated by a compelling call to “Go into the world.” They were clear about their mission. They learned the language of the people in order to communicate and to translate the Scriptures into that language. They learned about the culture of their mission field and adapted their strategies of ministry in order to be relevant. And, they used the best resources available to them.
What was and is true of missions to other peoples and cultures around the world is just as true today for the home mission field of our congregations, neighborhoods, and communities. We can find target populations like the digital natives in all three. The questions are: How committed and called are we to reach out to them? How do we learn their language in order to communicate with them? How do we adapt our strategies of ministry in order to be relevant to their worldview? What resources will be most effective?
The digital natives comprise a generation that is exceptionally literate technologically while many are functionally illiterate in their knowledge and use of the Bible. How do we increase the biblical literacy and Christian commitment of the digital natives? The question deserves a more thorough treatment than this article will allow but I would like to highlight several possibilities.
First of all, we need to learn about the culture and to speak the language of Web 2.0. If we do not know what that reference means then we will be even less ready for Web 3.0. We need to become conversant and proficient with what is involved in communicating with Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, blogs, Web sites, RSS feeds, webinars, and e-lists, to name a few of the avenues for communication. This is where the digital natives live. We need to meet them on their terms, in their world.
To learn the language of the digital natives we need to reach out and invite them to teach us about their Web 2.0 world. When we learn their language we will be able to communicate by using their “native tongue.” We will stumble at first but will catch on and step-by-step begin to see the world through their eyes and be able to enter into even deeper, more meaningful relationships with the digital natives.
Next, our churches need to be digitally friendly by using some of the technology that will connect us with them. Granted, technology has a price tag but there may be an even greater cost to being disconnected from the generation that is so creative, optimistic, and preparing itself to lead the church. Congregations that do not have Web sites probably have within their extended families a digital native who could lead the way. With or without Web sites church leaders could create blogs that offer a minimum of weekly entries to share something of meaning and invite comment.
A church I know sends a weekly e-message to all members and friends for whom they have e-mail addresses. The Monday message presents next Sunday’s Bible passages, the sermon topic, a thoughtful brief essay, and a few questions for reflection. Perhaps folks will forward these messages to the digital natives in their families. All of our college students are so digitally connected there is no better way to reach out to them while they are away.
For a reasonable expenditure a church could install hardware to provide wireless Internet access in rooms where classes and committees meet. With wireless access and a laptop computer with videocam, and perhaps a small portable LCD projector, there are unlimited possibilities for connecting with educational, Biblical resources as well as key persons in the mission field and denominational offices.
For the cost of just a little time and effort links could be provided in bulletins and newsletters to lead persons to daily lectionary Bible readings and/or daily readings from the Mission Yearbook for Prayer and Study, and the Outlook Web lectionary.
In order to reach the digital natives each church should consider forming a task group charged with the responsibility of exploring ways to reach those in our communities who are wirelessly connected 24/7 in order to fulfill Jesus’ charge to be his witnesses “to the ends of the earth,” which today includes the digital natives who spend a lot of time in cyberspace.
Donald L. Griggs is a retired Presbyterian pastor and educator living in Livermore, Calif., who is retooling in order to communicate with his grandchildren.
