Upgraded? Conversations on technology and worship
August 7-9, 2008
From the moment the congregation gathers to the time it disperses, technology shapes our worship experience. Microphones, projectors, sound recordings and video are the most obvious forms of technology we might encounter each Sunday. Yet our hymnals, the pews or chairs we sit on, the lights in the ceiling and the check we put in the offering are all products of technology as well.
In day-to-day life we face a growing array of technological options. Some of these can enhance our worship while others can undermine this sacred time. How do we make decisions in the wake of this reality? How do we assess the way our choices change our worship? How can our worship practices shape our choices about technology? This consultation will bring those questions to the forefront.
Featured resource person
Eileen Crowley, Ph.D., is assistant professor of word and worship at Catholic Theological Union, Chicago, Ill. Dr. Crowley brings together the interrelated worlds of worship, arts and communications. A liturgical scholar and professional communicator, she studies how these areas intersect in contemporary worship around the world. Her research into the use of multimedia arts in worship has led her to develop liturgical, pastoral and aesthetic criteria for the evaluation of media-in-worship practices, Catholic and Protestant. She is author of Liturgical Art in a Media Culture. She holds a Ph.D. from Union Theological Seminary and an M.A. from the University of Notre Dame.
Sessions and presenters
Group discussion engaging the presenters will be a significant aspect of this conference. Each session features a brief presentation with ample time for respones and discernment together.
- Laura Lehman Amstutz — Facebook and Christian worship
- Arthur Paul Boers — Christian worship and focal living
- Irma Fast Dueck — Media and images in the tradition and practice of worship
- Jacob Elias — Pauline use of the letter
- Aiden Enns — Structures and sacred space
- Brent Graber — How the name tag represents everything wrong with modern worship
- Paul Heidebrecht — How worship shapes Christian approaches to technology
- Bryce Miller — Social networking and church community
- Craig B. Neufeld — Technology’s impact on the ritual of offering
- Daniel Seifert — Being missional in 'Web civilization'
- Ryan Siemens and Rachel Siemens — Skype and collaborative preparation of worship
- Alan Stucky — Video projectors and biblical interpretation
- Jon Swanson — Social media and congregational worship
- Isaac Villegas — Middle class culture and technology
Contact people
Please direct your questions to:
Rebecca J. Slough
Academic Dean and Associate Professor of Worship and the Arts
Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary, Elkhart, IN, United States of America
rjslough@ambs.edu
Craig B. Neufeld
Senior M. Div student with concentration in Youth Ministry
Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary, Elkhart, IN, United States of America
B.Sc. Computer Science with concentration in Software Engineering, Brock University
cbneufeld@student.ambs.edu