Evolution of Communication
For my interview to join the Diocese of Manchester, I was asked to create a presentation on why it’s important for churches to embrace digital means of communication as part of their ministry and outreach. My presentation began with the history of communication in general. My quest for deep understanding led me to cave drawings from 100,000 years ago and to reading about how AI models are now being used to track bird chirp sounds, to some degree of success apparently.
But anyway — back on topic…
It’s clear that communication is most effective when it uses the technology of its time, and that applies directly to preaching the Gospel. From scrolls and codices to the printing press and radio, the Church has always used the tools available to reach as many people as possible. So what’s the next frontier? For many churches, the next frontier was the ‘digital’ world — and in many ways, it still is: social media, livestreams, online ministry. The pandemic forced churches to innovate and pushed us to reimagine how we grow, nurture, and serve our communities — while reaching new ones, too. So what’s going on now? What’s happening to the modern Church?
Lead by Example
Let’s look back (again). One could argue that the Church was once at the forefront of leadership, music, art, culture — and dare I say it, communications. We could debate when that changed. Or whether it was ever truly the case. Some might even argue it still is. But I invite you to imagine a world where, to see the best in photography, design, video, or social media messaging, people looked to the Church. Imagine if, instead of looking at Apple.com for UX inspiration, people came to the Church for the best examples. Dystopian? Maybe. But should that stop us from trying? Paul reportedly used all means available to him to preach the Gospel (1 Cor. 9:22) — be it by road or by river. The mission was always the same: to go, by all means. To use what we have. To reach who we can, using any tools available to us. Do you see where I’m going with this?
The Myth of the pivotal moment
You’re on a blog about preparing churches for the age of AI, so you’ve probably blasted through the last few paragraphs waiting for something of worth.. I promise it’s coming. Maybe that should be an addition to the end of the title of this blog. Hasn’t history always been full of these ‘pivotal moments’? One of the best books I read in university was The Myths of Innovation by Scott Berkun, where one of the myths was around innovation always being touted as a pivotal change. We’re talking humanity changing. I’ve heard this analogy that humans are like a caterpillar with one preset condition – to innovate. We’re not satisfied with the iPhone 15. We want a better camera, more efficient battery, lower cost, you know the game. But much like the caterpillar, we’re crawling towards the birth of something altogether new. Perhaps this is AI. Perhaps the creation of something sentient is what human-beings are blindly marching towards with our constant thirst for innovation. I realise this isn’t a strictly Christian world view, but I appreciate the sentiment as I said earlier, I love going off topics. So, I know we’re going a little off piste here, but funnily enough I was in a North-West communications meet-up with other dioceses last week, and I made the bet that AI or specifically AGI would be a bigger innovation that the internet. Time will tell…
Caterpillar or the Butterfly
So, AI. An inevitable step on our long crawl towards metamorphosis, or an overhyped tool that people are blowing out of proportion. If you ask me, it’s somewhere in the middle. Throughout these blogs, you will likely pick-up on my love for the grey area and the middle ground. I often find myself torn between rationalism, existentialism, and empiricism, so forgive me as this blog devolves into a pit of philosophical nonsense. Are we the caterpillar? What would the butterfly look like? Augmentations, brain interfaces, merging with the technology itself. These are questions the church WILL have to face one day. We’re already merging. We already have the world of information at our fingertips, there’s just a lag between our action and the result. The lag is currently around 15 seconds. The time it takes for me to pick up my phone and ask a question. But this lag is being worked on and reduced everyday, and with advancements in AI, it’s only a matter of time before medical implementation is available to a select few.
To wager a bet – well I literally did – I think it’s more towards the utopian than it is the underwhelming. The latest reports around some of the capabilities of the latest models, let alone the earliest models available to the public are truly staggering. I hope to highlight a range of these reports and innovations in this blog, but this is more of an entry-level contribution to the flood of AI literature at the moment. For now, let’s round things off and talk about what this pivotal moment means for us.
Why this blog exists
So I promised it was coming. Something of worth amidst this wall of endless <p> ramblings </p>. My contribution is my intention for the future of this blog. Sorry if that’s underwhelming, but to me this is pivotal moment. I’ve been asked by so many to provide resources, links, information, insight, training, resources on AI that this blog felt like a necessary step. A step for churches, but a step for us all to understand, discern, discuss and detail our next steps in this digital world. So I release this first edition to the world, let me know what you think. I’m certain that right now, at this very moment, thousands of bots are crawling over this content and using my words to improve their algorithms, rank the content, perhaps even deciding whether I’m worth keeping when AGI truly becomes sentient. For now I’ll continue to tap away in hope of the birth of something revolutionary for mankind. Your kingdom come, your will be done.
Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish – Whole Earth Catalogue
(Not Steve Jobs – still a legend though).
Thanks reading,
