Technology is like a teenager: rapidly changing, sometimes frustrating, and full of potential. Lynne Baab, a lecturer in pastoral theology at the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand, is interested in helping the church and technology get along. She is the author of several books, including Fasting: Spiritual Freedom Beyond Our Appetites, which was picked this year by Christianity Today as a top five book for Lent, and most recently Reaching Out in a Networked World (The Alban Institute, 2008). BCL's Rachel Willoughby spoke with her–across several time zones–about visual literacy and using technology in church.

As you talked to church leaders, what were some common fears that they expressed about technology in the church?

Probably the biggest fear is that online relationships aren't real–that the only thing that matters in terms of relationships is face-to-face communication. One of the funny things I learned while working on my PhD was that when the telephone came into use during ...