"How has the business world's penchant for being “efficient” gradually been adopted by the church and how has this tended to make the church (possibly unwittingly) put greater emphasis on "measurable productivity" (how many people the church ministers to and how many converts it produces) rather than emphasis on "people" - and how does this subconscious mindset dehumanize Christians?"
"EFFICIENCY" - THE BUSINESS WORLD
Due to the rise of technology, businesses have become increasingly more efficient - especially in their ability to communicate and process information. Think of the advances in technology over the past 20 years or so: you have the advent of fax machines, email, the internet, cell phones, PDA's, etc... All of this has allowed businesses as well as individuals to work at rates never before achieved. There are obvious benefits to this - not the least of which is increased profitability due to quicker processing and turn around times with this new found ability to more rapidly disseminate information.
As I've discussed before, the advent of technology is one of the things that has helped lead to a more "dehumanized" work place. There is less and less of a need for "face to face" (human to human) interactions. Face to face interactions (by nature) force a worker to "interact" with people and these "interactions" (by nature) are "personal" and “human”. Usher in the age of technology and a lot of these types of interactions are eliminated. Removing personal interactions from the “medium” by which the information is conveyed dehumanizes that “medium” (which dehumanizes that “person”) turning that “medium” into more of a "resource". It is no longer humans conveying information face to face, but rather computers conveying information to each other as the information is entered by humans. The primary “medium” is no longer human. And, although, the secondary medium IS human, the human element has been (to a significant extent) removed as it cannot be conveyed completely through the primary medium. In other words, you can argue that it is still a person that is conversing on the other end of an email, but a certain amount of "personalness" has been removed as one cannot tell the tone of the other’s voice nor see any type of non-verbal communication in their email. We've all experienced this - someone misunderstanding what you've written in an email - misunderstanding that you were kidding because they could not see your facial expressions nor hear the tone of your voice.Now, this is all well and good from a business perspective because the ultimate goal of a business is “growth of the corporation” over and above “growth of the individual”, so removing the "relational" element from the work place and thus "dehumanizing" that same work place is of secondary importance even though it is an unfortunate by-product of “corporate growth”.
"EFFICIENCY" - THE CHURCH
I keep harkening back to the church in which I grew up. Yes, that fire and brimstone preaching, women's hair in buns, stodgy old hymn singing church which, little by little, doesn't seem so bad to me now in some ways. Oh, don't get me wrong, I don't want to go back there! But it can be argued that there are aspects of that non-technological church from my youth that are more biblical than the technological church in which I now find myself.
Growing up, "Sunday church" had a regimen (there was no deviating from this regimen for fear that hair buns would most certainly come undone). It went something like this. Everyone sat in their usual seats (of course, there were unofficial assigned seats - why else would everyone sit in the same seat every Sunday?). We would sing one hymn while the choir entered. Remember the attendance chart on the side of the wall that I mentioned in a previous “blog” entry? These numbers were put up for everyone in the congregation to see. A few more songs were sung. Then, the announcements were made. These ranged from pertinent Wednesday night service announcements, to "shut-in" meeting times and locations, to any other meetings or events that were going on that week, to ministry needs within the church. The pastor took the time to go into great detail about each event and, at times, there was even a short conversation between pastor and parishioner to clarify more details. We sung another hymn, the choir was dismissed, the sermon began, there was an alter call, the congregation was dismissed, everyone chatted with friends as the pastor shook hands with all of the congregation members. The point here is that all of this occurred in what would be considered “face to face”, personal interactions and these “face to face”, personal interactions all occurred in “one room” and under “one roof”.
Now, fast forward 30 years. In larger churches (which seem to be the trend), the sanctuary might actually be comprised of numerous rooms: the main sanctuary and a satellite room where the sermon could be televised. You might see an overhead screen scrolling through announcements before the service starts. Since (in larger churches) there is a time crunch to accommodate multiple services, singing usually leads directly into the sermon with “spoken” announcements omitted. Another song is sung upon dismissal and everyone leaves because the next worship starts almost immediately. But not to fear! Any pertinent information you need to know concerning events going on within the church, or ministry needs within the church (as well as illnesses or current needs) will be mailed or emailed to you.
Similar to the business world, there is a certain amount of "connectedness" (intimacy) one loses in an email or in snail mail. The intent on conveying the information is the same, but there is an element of relationship lost. An email saves the time in having to "telephone" someone, or the more time consuming "talking to someone face to face" and this all for the intended purpose of becoming more efficient and/or more productive. Time is saved during worship by not making announcements – time that can be (supposedly) better used for other more “productive” things so that the "most" can be made of the time allotted. The point is not that we should reject technology or not worry about the most efficient ways to go about our business (no pun intended), but rather to understand what sorts of unintended side effects come along with it and, for the sake of what - "efficiency"?, "productivity"?, physical growth of the church?
“YOU’VE GOT MAIL!”
Obviously, technology is being utilized by the church. The use of computers and email are probably the most prevalent technology being utilized as most churches are completely equipped with computers and possess email capability similar to that of most businesses. Add the fact that most congregational members have email as well, and you have the natural progression of utilizing email as the primary source for communication within the church. Remember, our culture loves to be “productive” so there is this natural gravitation toward emails since they save time and are designed to make you more productive. You can disseminate information more quickly and more efficiently. But the unintended effect is a bad one in that it creates another way in which Christians within the church become "dehumanized".
I have seen the tendency to handle a lot of church ministries through email. If you have a church where 100% of the work is done by 10% of the people, then this becomes even more prevalent. Fewer bodies to “do” the work results in there being more of a need for one to be efficient “in doing” that work. Email becomes the natural choice of communication for doing church business in this instance because it is the fastest way to disseminate information. After a while, it becomes second nature to interact with congregational members through this medium. Personal “face to face” interactions become replaced by impersonal emails thus dehumanizing some of the aspects of the inner workings of the church. An “emailer” of information concerning a certain ministry is usually the leader of that ministry. But if email alone is used here, then the ministry leader becomes merely a “source” or “resource” of information rather than a personal “vision caster”. There is a personal element in vision casting that cannot be replaced by technology. Unlike “business vision”, “church vision” must be conveyed through personal interactions because there are emotional and spiritual elements involved as opposed to just intellectual elements.
WWJD – NO REALLY!
I think about the Church's efforts here to be efficient and I think about whether or not this is the way God operates. Is God efficient and productive? Did God give the edict that it was more holy and more in line with His plan to be efficient and productive? Or does most everything in Scripture lead us to believe otherwise? Is maximizing time really biblical? It seems to me that God is much more concerned with the "process" in our lives than He is the "end results". Indeed, if we are Christians, the end result is a done deal – we are sealed for heaven! I think God is much more concerned with the "way we do things" than "the amount of time it takes us to do those same things". Look at the children of Israel in the wilderness. I don't think 40 years of wandering looks productive or efficient to anyone. Yet God was patient and was more intent on purifying (the process) the Israelites than he was with their final entry into Canaan (the end result). And look at the story of Jonah, what do you think God was more concerned with - the final outcome of masses of Assyrians repenting and coming to Christ, or the process by which Jonah would come to realize his own sin and thus become more holy and Christ-like? It can be argued that God was as concerned with what was going on inside of Jonah. Indeed, God could have been "productive" and "efficient" by bringing the Assyrians to faith without Jonah as is evidenced by Jonah's lackluster message of impending doom and God’s use of that lackluster message to stir the hearts of the Assyrians that resulted in their subsequent repentance (practically in spite of Jonah).
CONCLUSION
Again, all this is not to say that we should not use technology, but that we have to be aware of the side effects of adopting within the Church certain practices from society and the business world – none the least of which are the concepts of being efficient and productive and incorporating the utilization of technology to be so. We cannot sacrifice “processes” for the sake of “progress and productivity”. We cannot sacrifice the spiritual growth of the congregation (process) for the sake of gaining more converts and gaining more ministries (progress and productivity). Otherwise, the church becomes as the house built on the sinking sand of “visible productivity”. We have to build solid (often invisible) spiritual foundations at every level of the church building process otherwise it will crumble under its own physical weight right before our eyes. Anything that puts spiritual and emotional walls between the church and its congregation to the point where the emphasis becomes what the congregation members are to “do” as opposed to what the congregation members are to “be” is building a poor foundation. The business world can afford the collateral damage of creating a dehumanized work place because its main goal is growth of the corporation itself, but the church cannot be so. If the church’s main focus is solely on “growing the business” through evangelism and ministry, then the members of the church will become mere “resources” (dehumanization) by which this will be accomplished. The church is inherently human. Anything the church does that is “productive” is so because of humans and their ultimate spiritual growth. The church’s main focus should be on the individual spiritual growth of its members as much as (if not more so in our current culture) evangelizing an unbelieving culture at large.
