In this part of the 21st century everything is moving incredibly fast.  Technology is no exception.  Technology is changing the world due to two primary factors - the advancement of hardware and software and the adoption of technology by the next generation.

I'm not going to spend time talking about the advancement of hardware and software, if you've been reading this blog at all or any of the other technology blogs out there you'll already know this.  What is more interesting is that children are being raised with access to technology and consequentially they are far more immersed in the capabilities of technology than those over the age of around 30 (as a generalization).

This fundamental change will have an impact on the way the church is composed, how it ministers and even how one qualifies for membership as the future unfolds.

Right now, churches are starting to take their content online.  Sermons, songs and more are being made available publicly for anyone to consume.  The classic example of this is Mars Hill Church in Seattle (http://marshillchurch.org) who run seven services over three campuses each Sunday and publish selected parts of those services on to the Internet for anyone to listen to.  They include sermons from one or more of their services as well as some of their worship songs from the services.

Mars Hill Church is aimed at younger people more than older people, and caters for their needs well.  Their audience is not restricted to the areas of their physical locations, they are all over the world (myself included).

In addition believing Christians are already using the Internet to connect with other believers.  I've had several people from around the world reach out and introduce themselves to me through my own website (http://burling.co.nz).  The reason these people have reached out is that they see that I'm a believer and reach out looking for common ground in Christ.  In fact this is how Rob and I met.

This is just the beginning.  Churches have to move from only meeting physically to being interactive daily around the world.  Technology enables this to happen regardless of geographic boundaries.  Churches need to start thinking about how they can grow their membership outside of the four walls.  How can we reach out to the lost who are not in our neighborhood?  How can we reach out through online communities?  How can churches build a culture of discipleship without being restricted to the people in the church to do this? These are the sorts of questions that churches need to start thinking about.

Churches are made up of individual believers - and as individuals we need to let our faith be known on the Internet - and reach out to other believers and unbelievers.  This will serve as the starting point for new ministries out of the church that reach beyond the walls of the physical church building.

Churches will and should always be comprised of physical meetings, but the time has come where this is not the only option and we need to move beyond the traditional concept of the church as the only concept.

I hope to explore this a little more over the next few months, so I'll put more thoughts down as I work through this.