I think churches in your situation are uniquely positioned to help those people get their feet wet in online technology. Why not teach them how to use email, facebook, your church website, etc? Inform them about local libraries that offer free computer time and internet access. Better still, put together a few computers from parts donated from the church and set them up in your church building for them to use.

What I'm saying is, ignoring the tech in your church for fear of leaving the older generation out isn't the answer (I don't think). They are being left out no matter what you do. I think it's better to shepherd them in a way that equips them to better fit inside and outside the church.

We all know older people that discovered email and facebook for the first time and it liberated them. They get over the tech-phobia and end up feeling more connected with other people in their life more than ever.

As I seek to make communication transitions with my congregation, I think it's important not to get in an either/or mentality and recognize that many churches particularly old mainline church's have both younger and older members. Even as I write that I am hesitant to use those categories because some "older" members are some of my most faithful blog readers. Similarly, we have an email prayer list that goes out weekly and older members predominantly utilize that.

All of that said, churches effective in communication will recognize that they don't have a single homogenous audience but multiple audiences and will use repetition in multiple medias. I have a lot to learn and adapt to improve our communication, but I have noticed that when I repeat information orally, in print, and online, people finally start to get it.

Lastly, I find regardless of age, people in my congregation seem to unanimously like when we email out pastoral care updates. Nobody seems to be getting twitter yet. On my blog, perhaps because I have predominantly older members, I find that at least 80 percent of my subscribers opt for an email subscription rather than using an RSS feed. Given those sort of realities, I find that I have to not just make a technology available, but for it to be used I have to educate people or make it as easy as possible. I am often introducing them to something new. For those of us bathing in technology daily, I think that is important for us to remember that many people are not.

I think this sounds good, and it would be correct…. if all of our churches were made up of 0-40 year olds (and that may be generous).

What do you do when you have hundreds of 60+ year olds in a large, multi-generational church who don't use email and refuse to sign up for anything except in person or by the phone? Write 'em off? Ignore them?

It's also dangerous to ask "What is the entertainment industry getting right that the church isn't?" "Getting right" is a very dangerous phrase that can lead us places we don't want to go. I'm reminded of Francis Chan: "I don't need Jesus to grow a big church."

I think we need to be careful when we paint one way as the only way to do it right and the other way as backwards, antiquated, and worthless.

I'd love for our church to use only web-based services for communication. But why would we do something that alienates 30-40% of our congregation? That seems like arrogance and bad stewardship, if not agism.

For whatever reason, I don't see people interacting with church services the same way. What is the entertainment industry getting right that the church isn't?

Looks like our convo was more timely than I thought!

1) They give me a ton of joy and I generally count them as my some of my very favorite ways to unwind, get caught up in a story and either laugh a lot and get really excited (Chuck) or go bonkers with theories, connecting dots and generally getting sucked further into the dense mythology (Lost). I find the story telling on those shows life-giving and energizing, and I don't have to turn off my brain like so much other television (this previously happened with The Wire & Arrested Development too). So I look forward to them, and knowing that there's new Lost & Chuck in existence that I haven't seen is thrilling and I want to inhale them as quickly as possible.

2) I want to be a part of the conversation, particularly on Twitter and some of the blogs that work through both of those shows. If I don't watch Lost live, I have to more or less stay off Twitter until I do watch it because spoilers are everywhere and that show can be ruined by even the smallest spoiler. With Chuck, I like connecting with other Chuck fans (#Chuck) because the people who love that show LOVE that show and seem to get drawn into intense feelings about other awesome things in the world to, so it's fun to track them down and be known by them as well.

So there's a felt punishment for getting behind on Lost, and there's a feeling that I'll get left out of something I want to be a part of if I'm behind on Chuck. And on the first point it's because of how wonderfully great they are to experience. Perhaps those could be three valuable metrics for a weekly church experience as well.