Ministry Today

QUOTE: "It's a constant tension between trying to use communication tools that actually penetrate people's consciousness. The church has to have technology, or at least youth workers have to have some level of comfort with these things, not so much to be relevant but because you can't communicate otherwise. It's like not being able to use the telephone." -David Kinnaman, president of Barna Group, on the timeless challenge of keeping up with and using technology to reach younger generations while keeping the core message intact. Among the youngest group (the Mosaics-18- to 24-year-olds) included in a recent study analyzing various generations' use of technology, Kinnaman found that "what we're seeing is that besides their attention deficit, in being so focused on technology, is a craving for real relationships, both physical and emotional, that often are best facilitated in a face-to-face relationship." [crosswalk.com, 3/9/09]