"I don't know if this is right, but I know it's working.."

"I don't know if this is right, but I know it's working.."

I couldn't help but bristle reading this quote from a well-meaning pastor.

It's just that one of my seminary mentors, Bob Lyon,warned us well (and armed us with Ellul, Bruggeman et al)) re: the dangers of a "means justify ends," "whatEver works" utilitarian model for ministry. Ellul even coined "inutility" as a worthy goal. And I have been greatly influenced by tribesters like McLuhan("the medium is the massage"), Nouwen (whose stark "I am deeply convinced that the Christian leader of the future is called to be completely irrelevant" is, well, completely relevant) and Hipps ("relevance is a moving target"154)

On visual technology, Tschetter () and Hipps() are to be wrestled with.

In context, the quote may be okay. But out of context it represents what any pastor is tempted to do/by default. Okay, the context:

Leadership: Beyond using visual technology to illustrate sermons, some churches are using video for the sermon. Is it just a novelty or the major trend for the future?

Stevens: We have three campuses, two of which use video. We literally gather in a theater at ten a.m., turn on the computer, and watch a DVD of a worship service—not just the sermon, but the whole service. Everything in me doesn't believe that it will work. I'm not sure I want it to work. But when you go to the service, you realize, it works!

We're experimenting with video with partners all over the world who don't have the resources to do a whole service themselves. I don't know if this is right, but I know it's working right now in a lot of places.

Hipps: You use the phrase "it works." Does that mean video preaching and worship brings people in?

Stevens: It's more than that. They're responding. They're connecting. They're growing. Link

On visual technology, Tschetter ("Sports Ilustrated Swimsuit Issue: Aphrodite, Sex and Projected Images") and Hipps('Video Cafes':TalkingHeads ,Whipped Cream, Graven Images") are to be wrestled with.