I have written in the past about how being a tech director can be a lonely gig, and how it's important to find community for your own spiritual health. My heart has lately turned more outward though, and I have been looking at the community as a whole. I'm not sure about where you live but from here at my church I can see two other churches, and beyond that I could easily walk to four more. I think the saying about swinging cats and hitting churches comes to mind here (not sure why you'd swing a cat at a church, but I'm open minded.) Here is my question: Do you know the tech person at the church closest to you? Do they even have a tech person? Maybe they have a volunteer that is doing the best they can and is feeling overwhelmed.
I love Jesus' prayer in John 17, where he is praying for unity of future Christians as he has unity with the father:
20 “My prayer is not for them [current believers] alone I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— 23 I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
I am a big believer in the idea that we're all on the same team. I'm at a non-denominational church, there is a Methodist Church on the corner, and Lutheran Church on another corner, Christian church in the other direction. For me personally, I am far less interested in what divides us as Christians, because I can rally around what unities us and that is Jesus Christ.
Here in the Indianapolis area we have a group of tech directors that meets every month for lunch. Sometimes we'll have a leadership lesson, other times we just get together and talk. Often, the conversation is just to good to interrupt. The great thing is that it doesn't matter the church, your size, or if you're paid staff. So many different bodies of believers are represented it amazes me. I've made some great friends through this monthly get together. I've also made some great friends by just pulling up to a church and walking in and introducing myself. Through this, I've been able to come along side them and help them out in their ministry.
Like I said before, we are not islands in the tech community. You (yes you) need community for your own spiritual well being. However, you may also be a blessing to someone else who does feel like an island, just by reaching out. Learn from what makes our churches unique from one another and how we can help each other out. Find ways to partner together, because can almost guarantee there are more unchurched people in the neighborhoods around you than all the churches in the area have seats for. We're not in competition, we're on the same team. Go in Peace.
