{"id":32341,"date":"2022-09-10T16:05:50","date_gmt":"2022-09-10T21:05:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/3-reasons-pastors-and-theologians-need-designers-and-coders\/"},"modified":"2022-09-10T16:05:50","modified_gmt":"2022-09-10T21:05:50","slug":"3-reasons-pastors-and-theologians-need-designers-and-coders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/3-reasons-pastors-and-theologians-need-designers-and-coders\/","title":{"rendered":"3 Reasons Pastors and Theologians Need Designers and Coders"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Kevin Ku photo – Pexels<\/div>\n

By Helen Gibson<\/em><\/p>\n

Do pastors and theologians need digital designers and coders?<\/p>\n

If you ask John Dyer, he\u2019ll say yes. In fact, Dyer sits uniquely between these two worlds.<\/p>\n

On his personal website, he describes himself as \u201ca former youth pastor turned web developer\u201d and says he\u2019s built tools for companies like Apple, Microsoft, Harley-Davidson, and the Department of Defense. He\u2019s also a dean and professor at Dallas Theological Seminary, and he spends a great deal of time writing and teaching on theology.<\/p>\n

Dyer recently spoke on the convergence of these two worlds at Lifeway\u2019s Faith Leads Tech conference, a one-day, single-track conference designed to bring together followers of Jesus Christ who are focused on technology and innovation.<\/p>\n

Here are Dyer\u2019s top three reasons why people from these two seemingly disparate professions need one another.<\/p>\n

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1. God is creative, and He values human creativity. <\/strong><\/h3>\n

Dyer began his talk by pointing back to Genesis and describing God as inherently creative.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re introduced to God as a creator, and a few verses down, it tells us we were made in His image,\u201d Dyer said.<\/p>\n

\u201cTheologians spend a lot of time telling us what the image of God means, but certainly one of those things is that He is creative, and when we create anything, we do something that is bearing the image of God.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dyer went on to say that God\u2019s instruction for humans to fill the earth in Genesis doesn\u2019t only imply that humans should reproduce. He argues that it\u2019s also a call for us to be creative ourselves.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll the things we make \u2014 music and roads and beauty and art and symbols and language \u2014 all of these things are what God is hoping we would do, and at the same time that we\u2019d keep and guard and preserve something of creation and humanity,\u201d Dyer said.<\/p>\n

After all, Dyer said, human creativity is not just for this age, but for the one to come too.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we think through to the future, to the re-creation of all things, we don\u2019t go back to a garden,\u201d Dyer said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t frolic naked among the trees, do we? What do we do? Instead, the Scriptures tell us that God will remake the new heavens and the new earth, and He\u2019ll bring down a city full of all the things humans have made \u2014 roads and trumpets and banners and thrones.\u201d<\/p>\n

2. Creativity and technology are a part of God\u2019s story. <\/strong><\/h3>\n

Dyer added that God\u2019s display of creativity doesn\u2019t end with the act of creation. Instead, God weaves creativity and technology throughout the rest of the story of Scripture.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe church needs creators and technologists and designers not just because technology\u2019s good at telling stories, which it is, but also because technology\u2019s a deep part of the story of God,\u201d Dyer said.<\/p>\n

Moments after the fall, we see this start to take place. Stitching together fig leaves, Adam and Eve immediately take on a creative act and create something new.<\/p>\n

\u201cThy run, and they hide, and they immediately engage in creativity,\u201d Dyer said. \u201cThey figure out there\u2019s a problem here, and they want to solve it by making something new.\u201d<\/p>\n

This story certainly has theological implications, but Dyer said it also points to something else.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s also saying, you know what, in this day and age, you\u2019re going to have to be using technology in part to overcome some of the effects of the fall, to push those things back, to help clothe the naked and help the blind to see,\u201d Dyer said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is what you\u2019re going to be doing in the rest of your life, and God makes this so clear through story after story.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Dyer also adds that it\u2019s human creativity that leads to the creation of the Tower of Babel and the cross\u2014objects that humans intended for one purpose, but God used for another.<\/p>\n

And as a carpenter, Jesus himself was a creator.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s amazing to see here is that Jesus is fulfilling Adam\u2019s role to be righteous, but he\u2019s also fulfilling Adam\u2019s role as being a creator,\u201d Dyer said. \u201cHe\u2019s fulfilling all of what humanity was meant to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

3. The ways we use technology matter\u2014and perhaps nobody knows this better than designers, coders, and technologists. <\/strong><\/h3>\n

Just as different tools at the gym work different muscles, Dyer said different forms of technology can imply different messages and have different outcomes, and perhaps no one understands this better than designers, coders, and technologists.<\/p>\n

He uses the history of how technology has impacted Scripture as an example. Before the invention of the printing press, people often memorized Scripture, Dyer said.<\/p>\n

After the printed Bible became widely distributed, things started to change. Suddenly, people began reading Scripture for themselves, which led to choosing favorite verses and inventing \u201cquiet times.\u201d<\/p>\n

[epq-quote align=”align-right”]\u201cThe Word of God hasn\u2019t changed, but when we put it through different conduits, it has different effects.\u201d[\/epq-quote]Dyer recalls his own experience of starting to use a projector in church services for the first time. He thought this change would keep his church members from having to pass out Bibles in the service; he didn\u2019t realize this would also lead to fewer and fewer people bringing their Bibles to church with them.<\/p>\n

At the same time, however, having the Scripture on a screen led to more unity.<\/p>\n

\u201cInstead of everybody having their own version of the Bible\u2014different translations, and some people had the teen study Bible and some people had the cat lover\u2019s Bible and all these different things that were very much about them\u2014all of a sudden, we\u2019re kind of restoring something of the community by all looking at the same thing. And now, we all bring our phones into church, and that brings us more translations and more wonderful things,\u201d said Dyer.<\/p>\n

\u201cRemember, the Word of God hasn\u2019t changed, but when we put it through different conduits, it has different effects.\u201d<\/p>\n

Designers, coders, and technologists have the insight on how to best use technology, and they have the knowledge and the skills to use it well. They can be integral in helping pastors and theologians figure out how to best share the message at hand.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are the ones who are going to be able to help our churches say, \u2018when do we use technology to build trust, to build connection, to have confrontation, and when can we use our media in a way that helps us continue and deepen those relationships?\u2019\u201d Dyer said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re the ones who are equipped, I think, to best help our churches do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

To watch John Dyer\u2019s full talk \u2014 in addition to 20 other talks, interviews and presentations \u2014 purchase the Faith Leads Tech conference recording. To learn more about Faith Leads Tech, explore the conference website.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Helen Gibson<\/h2>\n

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Helen is a freelance writer in Nashville, Tennessee.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n