The other day I read a post by Seth Godin that emphasized something I’ve been putting a lot of thought to lately — the format of a technology (or medium) should reflect the audience’s comfort level of reception.

“Zikes! What did he just say?”

I’ve realized that ministry principles and philosophies translate quite well into new technology formats. The principles of a one-to-one conversation such as respect, listening, being positive, caring, enunciating, communicating clearly, explaining, etc all still apply when moving that same message to video, audio, and print. With a new format comes certain characteristics that are different than another format, but that’s just the point.

Ministry online isn’t any different than ministry offline. Except it is.

You still need to let people know there is a presentation to be taken in, you still present it, and you still need to follow-up with them. However, the tools you use inside each of these strategies vary and the choice of which to use should not depend on the available technology, but on the audience’s ability to receive it.

Should you show a video to a blind man? Should you play an audio file for a deaf woman? Should you create a podcast for people who don’t have computer speakers or headphones? Should you print your gospel presentation for an illiterate family? Should you tell a student who only speaks Russian the Good News if you only speak English?

It’s the audience that should drive the format of the conversation, not the technology.

Play with the technologies. It’s fun. Instant message. Blog. Podcast. YouTube something. But realize it’s place in your overall ministry strategy. Put these under “research and development” until you see how they can be used to reach your target audience…or until you realize you’ve uncovered an unintended audience that you are able to converse with.