We must effectively connect with our constituencies. High technology provides us a horizon for linking with alumni, supporters and prospective students in ways unimagined just a few years ago. Providing faculty messages, classes, family chapels and other materials through the Internet is an exciting way to expand Multnomah's ministry. But technology has a price. Besides the obvious financial costs of installing and maintaining this new technology-which rapidly becomes obsolete, there is the danger of sacrificing personal connectedness and community in a drive for technological efficiency.
High tech can replace high touch.
At the same time, we must remind ourselves that we are still called to serve people, and technology will remain an instrument of advantage, not abuse, as long as our core value of the worth of people is affirmed. We must complete our campus. We have joined a growing trend in college and seminary education to offer many doors and many windows to students through which they may enter the educational schoolhouse. Distance learning, extension classes, teaching sites, alternative programming and correspondence courses are among the options we are strategically considering. At the same time, we recognize the importance of learning and living in community.