Dan Doriani made some excellent points in his sermon on Sunday regarding the difference between the underlying message of the Gospel and the way it should be presented to various groups. He showed how Paul phrased his messages to Jews, Farmers and Athenian Philosphes very differently based upon the experiences they had. But of course Paul didn't have the variable of medium to contend with. He had his voice and pen and papyrus (or parchment). Modern messengers have a much wider choice of media and formats to communicate ideas, concepts and truths. Depending upon the audience and circumstances it can make quite a bit of difference in terms of comprehension and effectiveness. So how does one choose?
The first thing we need to recognize is that technology is driving both a cultural and a cognitive shift in the nature of communication. The cultural shift is obvious: paper to electronic, prose to texting, aural to multimedia, narrative to experiential. In every case our children are growing up in an environment where the traditional written word is less important and the visual is more so, where the storyline is less about watching others and more about participating. This isn't as new as it seems. Gutenberg ushered in a shift from poetry and chanting that could be memorized by the unlettered to dense and long-winded prose that was published. People substituted hot, caffeinated drinks for alcohol allowing them to stay awake through long prose speeches or sermons. Over time as education filtered down to the masses the standard language of messages was simplified. Instead of appealing only to a lettered, clerical elite whose stock in trade were words and logical propositions, the message shifted to simpler, shorter prose using common allusions and imagery. The medium shifted as the audience did.
This has persisted into our own age where video, audio and virtual reality/first person experiences have become ubiquitous - leading to expectations that Biblical exposition will follow.
But it's not just techno-cultural, it's also an actual shift in cognition. Cognitive scientists tell us that they can measure a significant gain in basic intelligence among the young. Because of the constant exercise of the visual cortex delivered by video and video games the ability of younger generations to analyze and experience knowledge in a visual-spacial manner is rising markedly. Our children are measureably better able to process information that comes to them this way. And relatively small shifts in cognition, when coupled with radical shifts in technology and culture mean big problems for traditional communication forms. The younger generation expects faster, more immediate and richer interactive experiences and will punish anyone who doesn't respond with the Bronx cheer of inattention.
So what does this mean for the way we should organize the presentation of the Gospel? It seems to me that the shift from prose to visual and from narration to experience is most marked the more distance one puts between the messenger and the receiver. In prayer, when we are alone and the Holy Spirit is right there with us, there is very little room for the medium to vary. Perhaps the young visualize more imagery and put themselves in a scene while my generation conceives of the conversation more as dialog. Either way, the amount of difference is small. The same holds for face to face interactions one to one or in a small group. While there may be some recourse to new media to to tell a story, when there are two, three or four people together, the interaction remains voice and gesture driven and the truths deeply personal.
Move out one more frame of reference to the 'class' and things begin to shift radically. Recent meta studies of pedagogical techniques by the US Department of Education reinforce the notion that learning happens best when it is broken into small chunks tied to review and testing that can be consumed by the student at their convenience. In addition, group learning is often best facilitated on line between groups of students with similar needs who can share tips and techniques with each other. Finally learning happens best when it is 'just in time': the lessons coming at the point in time when they will be applied and therefore reinforced. This is a far cry from the Industrial Revolution model of schools as 'learning factories' that attempted to economize on expensive teaching talent and books by centralizing learning in large facilities governed by rigid time tables only tenuously connected to the actual learning needs of the student.
The traditional worship service with its mix of worship, teaching and quasi-administrative activities is really just a special case of the 'class'. Like the school, the worship service is in part an artifact of the need for economies of scale: learned preachers of the gospel were scarce, worship media such as music and hymnals were expensive and administration activities like keeping connected with the community's status (prayer cards and attendance) and gathering offerings (the collection plate) were all manual 'snail mail' activities best facilitated at one time and place each week.
Clearly worship is a communal activity, one in which the combination of voice, song, many people and the Holy Spirit lead to a sense of community and joy. It should not be done 'virtually'. It is an essential aspect of creating Christian Community. But what of preaching? Preaching is simply concentrated teaching in a communal setting. As such it has some benefits and some drawbacks. It is the one time that the entire community hears the same message, making it a common, unifying experience. On the other hand it either meets a lowest common denominator of teaching or it flies over the heads of many of the audience. Teaching that has the narrative prose style that appeals to older listeners does not resonate with younger generations used to shorter, multi media and interactive experiences. And of course administration can be done in many different ways that are longer tied to paper or a specific facility and time.
The final ring in the circle of communication is remote messaging. In Paul's day the painstakingly copied scroll was the only way to convey information remotely. With the advent of the printing press, the cost of conveying information at a distance began its inexorable slide to zero. Bibles and other commentaries became common. Handbills, fliers and newspapers could be used to get the word out and connect people back to events and sources of authority. Today this process has only accelerated with personal digital assistants like IPhone and Android creating whole communications environments that leverage video, music, text and link them to the possibility of immediate response or virtual community. The younger generation really only operates in this style of communication. They don't do phone calls, they text. They don't read many books, they read shorter textual presentations interspersed with other media that they have a cognitive advantage in integrating. They are comfortable cultivating friends and collaborators that they've never met physically in environments of shared affinity. These radically transformative media are leading a shift in how the Gospel is and can be proclaimed, both directly and via life wisdom, help and love lessons.
In future blog entries I will (most likely in vain) attempt to explore further this revolution in communication and what I perceive is its implications for our churches and ultimately all of us.
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