Barna Group: Families Want Churches to Address Technology

Many adults and teens would like to
receive guidance from their churches on media and technology, a Barna
Group study revealed. The problem is, most of them aren’t getting
any.

The study shows that most parents and
tweens/teens (children ages 11 to 17) expect churches to address
technology, but “most families are not getting any coaching or
assistance when it comes to integrating technology into their family
life.”

“Technology is shaping family
interactions in unprecedented ways, but we seem to lack a strategic
commitment to the stewardship of technology,” Barna Group President
David Kinnaman says in a report explaining the results.

“The
Christian community needs a better, more holistic understanding of
how to manage existing and coming technological advances,” Kinnaman explains. “Parents,
tweens and teens need more coaching and input in order to face the
countless choices they make regarding how technology affects their
attention, interests, talents and resources.”

Forty-two percent of parents and 33
percent of tweens and teens showed interest in “a Christian or
faith-based perspective about how to be a good user of entertainment
and technology without letting things negatively impact your family
relationships,” according to the Barna Group’s report on Monday.

Kinnaman says the Christian community
needs to increase its concept of managing the area of media and
technology. “Perhaps technology should be added to discussions
about stewardship,” Kinnaman explains. “Technology is as old as
craftman’s tools. But today’s digital and emerging technologies
are in a different class than hundreds of other hobbies or interests
because they have come to significantly define the use of time, the
development of talent and the allocation of money.

Click here for the full Barna Group
report.

What do you think? Is your church offering any training on
technology? If not, would you be interested in it if they did?