Life is moving fast. Very fast. What is different in your life compared to 10 years ago? Here are a few of my examples.
- I rely on my iPhone as an organizer, for email, multiple social networking accounts for personal and work use, camera, camcorder, news, entertainment, and much more. (I also send more text messages than phone calls)
- I do most of my learning and reading through the internet and other digital delivery.
- In the past, I used ISP specific email addresses. (AOL, Earthlink, Comcast etc…) Now I use Gmail to not only serve as my email client, but my Google account allows me to share documents, streamline information, stalk followers of my blog and much more.
There are many more tools that I use as well. There are two significant observations about these items.
Age
- The tools listed above (among others) are no more than 5 years old.
- Gmail was released to the public in 2005, with many more Google apps following
- Facebook came along in 05, with baby brother Twitter joining in late ‘07.
- The iPhone came along in ‘07 but paved the way for other such smart phones making the Blackberry irrelevant and the debate goes on which is the best of the many devices available.
- Don’t forget there are tons more tools, social networks and devices available, all of which are infants in their introduction to both nerds and normal people around the world.
Cultural Shift
We cannot deny cultural shift. How much have you heard about how young people don’t know how to communicate anymore unless its through a text message or Facebook status? Now we “LOL” when watching funny Youtube videos. Schools use digital textbooks and apps for education. I heard of a church that hired a new minister through listening to podcasts, reading his blog, and watching streams from his church, rather than the old parade of candidates.
Churches have online broadcasts, with small groups forming around the broadcast for teaching, then living out Christian community. These groups are in different cities, states and even countries. You can be a part of a service online, but belong to a house church that gets “sermons” online. A house church can get the best teaching, then use their money for Kingdom work without paying a staff or funding a building and utilities.
All of this to say, where will we be in ten years? Life and culture has shifted tremendously since 2001.
I work in a church of about 1,200 people. I lead contemporary worship in a casual dress environment that includes lighting and other visuals. Not what I expected to be doing 10 years ago. But as I think of that simple change, much less cultural shifts from technology and communication, I can’t help but wonder, will I be out of a job in 10 years? Will my role be irrelevant? Will church settings and methods used now be a dying dinosaur then?
Not that any of this is bad. I’m trying to imagine what things could lie in store. I also wonder what changes should I make in coming years? Do I need to consider education that would allow me to move and think outside of my current box? Yes. What? I have no clue.
The Holy Spirit will continue to move and lead the people of God. But where will head lead us? As companies and churches leverage Facebook and Twitter more so than the dinosaurs of web sites, what could possibly lie ahead? What mediums will carry the gospel to people?
Don’t be fooled. As much as you enjoy Facebook now, in 10 years current elementary students will laugh at such an antique. What’s on the horizon? Where will I be working in ten years?
I’d love to hear your thoughts on this.
Grace & peace,
jon
When I think about all of the changes that have happened since I started working its kinda staggering, when I started drafting in 1982 computers were just coming into age and I remember seeing the huge old cpu’s in a dedicated room and I thought wow this is so cool it felt like I was in a 007 movie or something so futuristic, it wasn’t until the early 90′s before I was actually using them and now I’m not sure how I could do anything without them let alone not being able to email. I don’t tweet cause I don’t have “smart phone” but I do face book and I do try and at least know what the latest gadget is, but if there’s one thing Ive learned, that everything is always changing no matter if its computers , people , job descriptions , churches what have you, but one thing has never changed and thats my relationship with God, I know now that Im on the back side of 40 that everything I used to worry about is getting smaller and smaller in my rear view mirror and the only thing I “worry” about is finding a way everyday of my life to love God a little more sure I have my up’s and downs like everyone but the valley’s are less deep than they once were and my love for my maker gets stronger and stronger.
I can’t answer the question of where you will be working in 10 years, but I can say that I know where I will be! The beauty of being a mother is that my job will not be over until I take my last breath. I know a lot of people don’t consider motherhood as a real job, but I beg to differ and will go toe-to-toe with anyone who disagrees. I kind of like that I will never be totally unemployed in this amazingly wonderful, difficult, and challenging field. My children will become independant (hopefully) and move on to parent their own children (hopefully), but leadership will always be needed.
I know this is not what you were looking for and I sincerelly hope you get some good feedback! Your thoughts are provoking/insightful and show wisdom in understanding that everything changes…the “cheese” will move!