The Church and Technology: Ethics and Stewardship

You’ve probably received a letter or e-mail with this message: “(Name of organization) wishes to inform you of an incident that may impact the use of information you have provided to us.” Yes, there’s been a data breach. In the past year, we have received such messages from a prominent medical clinic in our city, an insurance company, and the custodian of some of our retirement funds. The hackers are out there, and they want your information. And don’t think that church will not be a target.

The tools of technology, like all others, can be a blessing and add impact to our work, but there is the potential for abuse as well. As we think about the church and technology, digital privacy is just one of the things we must consider.

Data Privacy and Trust: What ethical frameworks are we using to protect the data and privacy of our congregants in an era of increasing digital surveillance and data harvesting? If you have an online church directory, how is it protected? How do you manage the distribution of prayer requests? If you share information about missionary personnel working in perilous contexts, how do you protect their identities? We seek to be open and trusting in our communication, but we also have the responsibility to protect our parishioners.

Stewardship of Resources: How do we balance the high cost of tech upgrades (cameras, software, lighting) with our commitment to missions, local outreach, and helping the poor? Once again, we must consider our church’s vision, mission, values. Does our investment in technology align with who we are and aspire to be? On the positive side, use of technology can be labor saving both for clergy and support staff, freeing up time for ministry and outreach.

Artificial Intelligence: As AI becomes more prevalent in content creation, what are our boundaries for its use in sermon research, prayer prompts, or liturgical writing? This is such a major topic that we will address in a post of its own.

Technology can be an asset or a burden for the church. Fortunately, we can make choices that favor the former over the latter.

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