Digital DNA has possibilities

Digital Storytellers: The Art of Communicating the Gospel in Worship, by Len Wilson and Jason Moore, has wonderfully helpful nuggets buried in a rather cumbersome written presentation.  If the reader can sort out the changing voices of the authors, Len and Jason offer valuable insights into the preferences and outlook of younger adults.  (The one caveat of which the reader needs to be aware is that this book is now ten years old.  In the day of rapidly changing technology, some of the media suggestions are already dated.)

   

Len and Jason, as they refer to themselves, are at their best as they describe what is unique about young adults today.  The authors say “Digital DNA” is the necessary mysterious ingredient needed to understand the digital generation.  Ministering to the next generation is possible, Jason and Len suggest, even for those of us with Dino DNA, if we are willing to pay attention to the characteristics of the digital generation.

Len and Jason point to three characteristics in Digital DNA, brought about with the rejection of Modernism .  Young Adults appreciate ambiguity.  Because Postmodernism seeks to embrace more than one truth, Young Adults today are more inclined to appreciate the opportunity to look at a problem through multiple lenses and are comfortable with holding paradoxical answers.  With this rejection of a single truth, Young Adults value story and metaphor as vessels of truth.  Truth for the Digital generation can be affirmed through a story that rings true with one’s experience or a metaphor that captures the essence of an idea.  The argument for creativity as a characteristic of Digital DNA seems to come out of the authors’ own creative bent.  They make the case for a diversity of media experiences among younger generations who have been immersed in multimedia from childhood.  An appreciation of participation and team are closely linked.  Jason argues that one way to decrease control, which is rejected by younger generations, is to increase participation.  Likewise a decentralized approach to power requires a team of people to make decisions. 

Finally, Len and Jason maintain that “People in digital culture aren’t looking for information about God.  They are looking for an experience of God.” (p. 48).  A key characteristic of Digital DNA is experience.  The move from an analytical culture to a culture of experience, they believe, is the most significant change in the move from Modern to Postmodern thinking.  They stress the most powerful experiences are those that employ all of the sense of the body: sight, hearing, taste, touch and smell.

I find this particular description of digital culture helpful because it allows preachers who speak in a variety of worship settings, from contemporary to traditional, to attend to the real cultural distinctiveness in younger adults.  Jason and Len actually speak to this point on several occasions, recognizing that not every congregation is ready to remodel their sanctuary and throw digital images on a screen tomorrow.

 Jason and Len are clearly interested in using a variety of digital media to make worship more meaningful to young adult worshipers.  They spend a significant portion of their book redefining the purpose and meaning of “art”.  They are eager for the church to understand digital media as a new form of art that speaks to a new generation.  The book includes a CD of images and video.  Unfortunately I found the artistic offerings less than compelling and their arguments strained.

For those who are just starting out in digital media or who are preparing congregations to explore such new horizons, Jason and Len offer terrific suggestions about working with church boards, building support and expanding creative choices.  They are also good at pushing the reader to think outside the box.  The later chapters about creative use of digital media are full of interesting ideas that could be useful to worship teams that regularly create worship together.