Technology

Technology & the Young

Personally, I thank the Lord for technology. I know it can be very un-nerving when faced with the latest developments in technology. I admit that whenever I get hold of a new, usually different phone, I immediately seek out a teenager to explain how it works. I have even thought of a new service, “Rent-a-Kid”, to show us older folk how the latest technological marvel actually works. I mean, look how it’s all advanced even these last two years. The latest i-pods, i-pads, the so-called ‘android’, and i-phones. The latest games machines like X-box and Playstation 3. Blu-ray DVD players, HD TV’s, and so on. You need to be aged 9-15 in order to keep up with the technology even at a reasonable pace.

Yet, dare I ask, what if we no longer had any of these things. What if we had to go back to the days when a mobile phone was simply a telephone and not just a phone, text machine, camera, fax machine, video player, camera, and MP3/4 player all in one small unit? How would we cope? More to the point, how would the younger generation cope, because we, the old fogies of planet earth, grew up without any of these other things. We played games of our own invention from dawn to dusk – frequently quite dangerous games too. Yet we survived, not just survived but we thrived on it and became quite normal adults – well educated in the ways of the world rather than in the intricacies of modern technology.

Therein lies another problem caused by all this have-it-today technology. Young people today, even those relatively young, say in the age group 13-25, are beginning to realise that, although they can “have it all”, there is still a big hole in their lives. There is something, and ‘je ne sais quoi’, something missing – a hole that needs filling; a role that needs to be played for them rather than by them. That role, it seems to me, is that of mentor and spiritual advisor. This is where very many churches are failing their locality and their local people. They really cannot keep pace with the young people, so they just ignore them. The church oh so frequently does nothing for their youngsters – the next generation of Christians is being forsaken and left behind because of fear and ignorance.

Is that harsh? Not nearly as harsh as the Lord’s judgement on us if this happens to be true. How will we face Him if we really have let our own children down so badly. Just as we need our youngsters to carry on our families, so God, too, needs our youngsters to enrich and carry His family forward. So, when you see your young people apparently growing away from the church, don’t ignore it for you may just give the next generation over to the enemy.

I am not saying that the church needs to compete with the technology era, but it does need to nurture and take notice of its own next generation. The church needs to somehow stay relevant to each new generation. We must never ignore them as in the past as that would be like surrendering the entire war to the enemy, but we must, with God’s help, fill the holes and gaps in their lives as they discover them. We must give each new generation the reason for our living as a reason for their living too.

The Bible talks about ‘signs and wonders following’. I sometimes wonder if the current trend and increase in signs a wonders in this present age is, in part, God’s plan to combat the rise in technological wonders that so easily inveigle today’s young people. Apart from end-times signs and wonders, I can also believe for witness signs and wonders, for combative signs and wonders, for signs and wonders to amaze the unsaved into belief that not only is there a living God, but also that He is interested in each of us from cradle to grave – even teenagers.