Upgraded? Conversations on technology and worship

Cancelled

We are sorry to report this event has been cancelled. Please contact the Church Leadership Center if you are interested in participating in future conversations around this topic.

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.

Being the church in a facebook world
Laura Lehman Amstutz, communication coordinator, Eastern Mennonite Seminary

Focal living and Christian worship
Arthur Paul Boers, associate professor or pastoral theology, AMBS

Curated liturgies: Media and images in the tradition and practice of worship
Irma Fast Dueck, professor of practical theology, Canadian Mennonite University

How the letter influenced congregational life
Jacob W. Elias, professor of New Testament, AMBS

The psychogeography of sacred space
Aiden Enns, journalist and publisher, Geez magazine

How the name tag represents everything wrong with modern worship
Brent M. Graber, director of information technology, AMBS

"Everything has become new!": How worship shapes Christian approaches to technology
Paul C. Heidebrecht, Ph.D. candidate, Marquette University

Add as friend: Social networking, mediated intimacy and Christian communal life
Bryce Miller, pastor, Shalom Mennonite Fellowship

From Alms to ATMs: Technology and the ritual of offering
Craig B. Neufeld, student AMBS

"Skyping" our way to Sunday: the Internet and worship preparation
Rachel Siemens, pastor, First Mennonite Church (Wadsworth, OH)
Ryan Siemens, pastor, Grace Mennonite Church (Prince Albert, SK)

The video projector and Anabaptist interpretation
Alan Stucky, student, AMBS

Interruption or invitation?: Social media and congregational worship
Jon C. Swanson, executive pastor, Grabill Missionary Church (Grabill, IN)

"Our Daily Bread": Technologies, cultures, and pentecostal oikonomia
Isaac S. Villegas, pastor, Chapel Hill Mennonite Fellowship (Chapel Hill, NC)

Registration

This event has been canceled. Please contact the Church Leadership Center if you are interested in participating in future conversations around this topic.

Questions?

Contact the Church Leadership Center:
Eric Saner, administrative assistant
office: (574) 296-6269
toll free: (800) 964-2627
ChurchLeadership@ambs.edu