Obsessed With the 'New'

I recently read this article on the need for evangelical leaders to embrace the "new" because they may miss the next big thing (e.g. the Catalyst Conference, the Willow Creek phenomenon or Rob Bell's NOOMA).

Interestingly, last night I read an article in National Geographic magazine about the Hadza, hunter-gatherers whose culture has experienced little to no noticeable change in 10,000 years. This people group of 1,000 living in northwestern Tanzania is nomadic, its members carrying their few possessions in small sacks on their backs. They resist change, are non-literate and have no understanding of or interest in the outside world. As the article aptly puts it, after 10 millennia, they have left no footprint on the earth.

So, here's the question: Is our obsession with change, progress, information and novelty a Christian value or a Western value? How does an expression of Christianity that places these values in such high regard engage with a culture like the Hadza that places a high value on tradition? One could argue that the introduction of medical technology, electricity, written language and hygiene to the Hadza would greatly improve their plight. In fact, some would say that these improvements provide a perfect venue for conveying the gospel.

But what if they don't want these things, and what if our insistence that they are backward because they don't becomes a hindrance to them accepting the one Thing they do need?

Is it any different here in the land of iPhones, big screens and H1N1 vaccinations?