Paradigm Shift
What does the economy and soaring oil prices have to do with educational technology and the church? If oil prices continue to climb, and the cost at the pump starts to hit $4.00 per gallon, $5.00 per gallon, and up, then the U.S. is in for a major paradigm shift unlike anything this generation has witnessed.
Recently, I visited with a couple of missionary friends who are serving in Western Europe. Fuel in Europe hovers near $9.00 a gallon! At this price, all decisions are funneled through the lens of cost per mile. You can no longer afford to travel 30 miles for a meeting, class, or Bible study. Here in the U.S., high fuel prices are impacting the cost of food and transportation, but as of this writing, the cost per gallon isn't slowing consumer travel.
In a church setting, we are already discussing how high fuel prices could impact ministry. Grace Church (where I serve as pastor of adult education) is a regional church. We have families who travel as far as 45 to 60 miles each way to attend church. Many of our families travel 10 to 20 miles each way. Multiply this times the number of trips each week families attend church, and you have an average of 50 to 150 miles each week per family.
Right now it's not a problem. If gas prices tripled, however, it would be a problem. We would have to rethink how we do everything.
To start, we would have to rely much more on a home church model of ministry. We might be able to bring everyone together to one central location for a weekly service, but multiple trips a week to the church would probably be too costly. As a result, many of the connection opportunities would have to take place in homes.
Second, we would need to place much more emphasis on training and teaching via the Internet and digital video or audio. Many of the classroom functions that happen now at the church would need to be moved to the digital classroom.
Third, we would need to enhance our social networking capabilities as a church to keep the church members feeling connected and plugged in to the mission and vision of the church.
This, of course, is only a microcosm of the larger problems facing the U.S. as the cost of energy slowly transforms our culture. As John Loeffler observed on a recent Financial Sense Newshour:
... these higher prices also means there is a great wealth transfer that’s taking place from energy-deficit countries to energy-surplus countries. But that also means power. Power always follows the money flow and I don’t think we have seen anything like this in world history before. This is a radical paradigm shift that’s occurring right before our eyes. And again, on the geopolitical scene, you don’t see that reflected in politicians’ eyes – not just in the US but in reading what’s going on in Europe they haven’t grappled with what this means yet. [Financial Sense Newshour for April 26, 2008]