The Barna Group have just completed a study exploring “how technology is shaping different experiences and expectations among generations.” The study was done in America, but the results and implications are similar (I think) in other countries, such as Australia. I suggest you read the overview, but here are a couple of things I found interesting:

“Several spiritual elements were classified as emerging among the youngest three generations: listening to church podcasts and visiting their church website (measured for past year, not the past week). For their part, Elders have yet to move beyond limited digital access to spiritual content.”

Reflection: because different generations access technology differently, the people who are running churches (or holding the purse strings) need to be aware that people in their congregations and communities might be using technology (e.g. the internet) in different ways to how they do. This in turn affects our willingness to implement or try new technologies – church websites, podcasts, vodcats, Twitter, etc. You may not listen to podcasts, but if younger people in your church want to listen to your sermon on their ipod during the week – why not?!

“For church leaders, it is notable that a minority of churchgoing Mosaics and Busters are accessing their congregation’s podcasts and website. While technology keeps progressing and penetrating every aspect of life, churches have to work hard to keep pace with the way people access and use content, while also instructing churchgoers on the potency of electronic tools and techniques.”

Reflection: like it or not, technology is advancing at a pace never witnessed before. It’s hard to keep up with how technology is changing and being used. In part, this is why I launched Communicate Jesus – to help you stay on top of some of these advances. But it does open up some exciting possibilities for our ministries. Of course, these need to be considered and not adopted thoughtlessly, but let’s harness the potential, and discuss with one another the possibilities, without being scared off completely by the dangers.

On a related note, there’s interesting discussion on the pros and cons of Mars Hills global video campus plans, currently taking place at Michael Kellahan’s blog.

Read the media release with an overview of the study results.

Do you have any further reflections after reading the overview?