The Digital Equity Team

In the past two years, congregations across the world have adapted to incorporate technology into their worship services. For about 6 months at the beginning of the pandemic, technology was an essential part of church.

What we often forget are the inequities and barriers that arise when technology becomes a requirement of attending a church service. How are congregations to host an online worship service when they do not own high-speed internet? Or cameras and a sound system to ensure people at home can hear them well?

This is just with Sunday Worship, not to mention the multitude of other ways adequate technology propels the mission of our church forward. Providing wifi for employees to access when working in the church office, security cameras to ensure properties are being cared for, monitors and equipment to incorporate diverse teaching and learning styles in our small groups.

How do we live out our call to justice and equity through technological resources in this Synod?

Director of Evangelical Mission and Assistant to the Bishop Pastor Tita Valeriano developed a team of experts in the tech field from churches throughout our synod to craft a strategic plan to these unique challenges. This team consisted of Dave Birdsall, James Myers, Norman Puck, Diana Barrios, Jay Boddu, Sheela Gundala and Stephanie Puck. This team was built to address church vitality through technology, using technology as a tool to propel the ministry of churches forward in this season.

With just over $25,000 in grant money to be used on technology in an equitable fashion, this team drafted a vision for how they might establish a strategy of implementation and collaboration to solve technological issues in the congregations.