One of the most exciting and sadder moments in MMM history came when doing the MMM Mobile Experiment. Exciting because there was this uncharted and overwhelming exercise to answer a question that no one was asking (loudly) at the time – what happens when you take the website off of conventional servers and make the entire community experience based around mobile tech. Certainly, it is something that is well ahead of thinking even today. And hence, the sad moment – here was this exciting idea ripe with potential, but we (meaning technologists) were not able to find a clear enough vision to run after to make something like it happen.
In the years since that experiment, I am personally still rolling with a mobile web server (it serves as a primary contact point, a digital business card that interacts with the physical one if you will. But, a bigger lesson from that experience drives me forward. This idea that we are on the cusp, and in some respects in the midst of the most engaging communication changes since the advent of the printing press. Mobile, or in this context, mobile ministry is the term that can be given to this change, but I see it as going a lot further than just mobile tech or ministerial applications. There’s a fundamental change to how we relate to one another being poked and prodded at, and these technological streams are continual pokes in the rib.
Stating clearly what that looks like is in many respects difficult, and in others gets very simple. For example, one of the changes that I find more easy to chat about is the change from a passive behavioral component to fellowships to that of an active and dynamic fellowship experience which serves the spiritual and logical needs of communities. We see this in the use of social networks and house churches/small groups to better equip believers for community-relevant matters of the Gospel. But again, that was easy to explain, what isn’t – and probably shouldn’t be, is the implications of these changes. To that, we need to recognize some of the things already said.
Five years ago, Ray Ozzie (former Microsoft Chief Software Architect) penned what many regard as a genre and industry defining report on the state of and the implications of the (then) current direction of computer technologies. The report, titled The Internet Services Disruption, spoke on things that we could easily miss in view of the speed of technology over the past half-decade: the up/down nature of advertising supported ventures online/offline; the change of delivery mechanisms for software (anyone see that new Mac App Store, yea, its not going back to shrink-wrap anytime soon, or ever if others have something to say), and the power of a great user experience (iPhone/iTunes anyone).
In effect, Ray Ozzie outlined the threats and opportunities to what computing looked like then. And then in his most recent report (Dawn of a New Day), itself an update to The Internet Services Disruption, he takes a further look at what happens when these experiences start to converge and lines are no longer boundaries but opportunities for continuous experiences. In respect to not spoil too much of what’s shared there, the point is that we move from this idea of services for everything, to just a thing. Computing moves from being a set of nous and a specific temporal place, to a verb describing and enabling communication across several types of industries, hardware, and regions. Computing as a verb takes the PC out of its conventional frame of reference and puts it in a rightful place as a a servant of the man/woman of God.
Also published via Google Docs for comments/discussion
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The Homework of Visionaries and Ministers (Part 2)
Friday, October 29th, 2010Continued from Part 1
These views (The Internet Services Disruption and Dawn of a New Day) of technology then take us back to this understanding – or growing body of knowledge – to what mobile ministry is and how it fits in this conversation of visionaries and ministers. Mobile ministry is a genre of a genre. And in many respects its a term that means something to those who still see computing as a noun rather than a verb. For its brief history, mobile ministry has been characterized by the communication media (7th mass media) and the application/layer of the Gospel message on top of that media in order to further evangelize and disciple others into an understanding of the Christian faith.
It can and should be seen differently. Mobile as a technology presumes personal connections, micro-interactions, macro-infrastructure concerns, and an interconnectivity that will soon pull another mass media to the forefront. Mobile as a ministry should therefore pursue those personal connections, chance interactions, and mass elemental/environmental effects which cause us to meet at the result of the Gospel’s implication – John 17:20-26.
And so I go back to that MMM Mobile Experiment and those lessons learned, those lessons that weren’t technological, but spiritual. Where was the application of the Gospel? There was innovation, but where was that innovation centered on the relevant approaches to community advancement which spoke towards characteristics we are familiar with in the history of the faith? It wasn’t there, and for that viewpoint, mobile ministry took a backseat to a vision that while great, just wasn’t framed right.
The homework of a visionary is then quite clear – where is the framing for the vision? Is it based in the reality of what is needed right now? Certainly, this is the case for many of us whom are involved in approaches to ministry and media where there are practical needs such as shoe-string budgets for multimedia-needs/wants. There are those who are in missional fields where the needs are to serve or record certain types of content, but there is no understanding of the cultural dos and don’ts towards what should and should not be transmitted, even if we are talking about the experience of the Gospel.
And then there’s that homework that’s based on what will be needed? What are the impending implications of the various economic and environmental issues which will mean that we have to be better educated/equipped to handle multiple streams of thought (resources, languages, core utilities, etc.). How does the visionary teach “go forward” when the resource says “make best with the bread you have today.” In other words, you have to be both disruptive and directive at the same time – and do so while crafting an understanding around what is understood and what is accepted about those things digital and those things traditionally assumed as spiritual (analog).
To the minister/ministry who is taking a look at the digital landscape and wondering what’s next, your assignment is nearly as simple as Paul’s statement in Romans 12:2 – with the context of going digital (active, participant) from digital/analog (passive, responsive, reactant) in our response to the needs of the culture ability to hear the Gospel that we present. It is more than just having the understanding of the silo of mobile or web, it is taking our approach from nouns to verbs. When computing becomes a verb, we start looking at how it connects and adds relevant value to our lives. In the same view, mobile ministry as a verb looks and acts a lot different than just adding a mobile phone or snippet content to an effort. Yes, this is part of it, and certainly such formatting of hardware, software, and services breaks down the ability to change the applied tense of the word we are using. Yet it is a step beyond – and that step takes a change to how we behave towards the history of ministry.
The Christian living in today’s context sees no difference between online and offline – computing is a verb. It is either engaging their abilities to touch the world with the Spirit of God, or hindering their ability to see clearly the Body in motion they heard about which provoked their faith at the start. And while the context of how someone gets digital might be different, mobile shows us that the disruption that is come to technology and culture is meant to bring the kind of light to all people – at least to all people that can be served digitally, we need to walk to the rest – the kind of light which is going to be a fundamental change to them because as the object of the Spirit, the tech will point.
Also published via Google Docs for comments/discussion
Tags: discipliship, MMM Mobile Web Experiment, mobility, social networking, social web, spirituality, The Homework of Visionaries and Ministers, trends, web
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