Disciple: Digital Ministry Has a New Name: Ministry
By Kyle Matthew Oliver
“Electricity is a significant part of our ministry.”
It sounds like a strange thing to say, right? We probably wouldn’t be inclined to claim that vestments are a key component of our ministries, either. Or the telephone.
But how about this one? “Relationships are a significant part of our ministry.”
Lee Rainie of Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project isn’t a minister, at least not that I know of. But he’s an expert in how Americans relate to one another.
And in what he calls the New Social Operating System (also the subtitle of his and Barry Wellman’s book Networked), the internet is fast becoming “like electricity—less visible, yet more deeply embedded in people’s lives.”
Consider Pew’s key indicators of the “triple revolution” that has reshaped our society: More than two-thirds of American adults have broadband internet access at home (“the internet broadband revolution”). More than two-thirds own smartphones (“the mobile connectivity revolution”). More than three-quarters of those who use the internet use social networking sites like Facebook (“the social networking revolution”).
All this social change means that a willingness to be present in digital spaces and to connect using digital tools has become a prerequisite of culturally engaged ministry in the 21st century. Digital connections and community support strengthen the relationships that are at the heart of what we do as churches.
In a world where local nonprofits are online, where community gatherings are organized and even hosted on social media, where people’s daily workflows and interactions are mediated by mobile devices, the choice not to adapt is a choice against growth and vitality.
It’s like trying to run a church without electricity.
WE HAVE WHAT WE NEED
Here’s the good news: the increasing integration of digital tools, spaces and practices into everyday life means that – more than ever – digital media ministry is just … ministry.
“Everything that we expect of people in the physical world is true in the digital world, and it brings us the same joy,” NPR’s Sarah Lumbard told a group of church leaders at Virginia Theological Seminary (VTS) in 2013. “You need trust in this world. That’s everything friendship and community is built on, and that’s all we’re talking about here.”
Does that sound familiar? Comforting? It did to me. Turns out the practices Lumbard fostered when vice president of content strategy and operations for the public media giant are the same rules we teach in any practical theology class: Be present. Be active. Be yourself.
There is genuine opportunity in the new media ecology for leaders with good ministry instincts. Our challenge is to learn how those instincts continue to apply.
The first person I know of to capture today’s significant social change in words and images that deeply resonate with church people is Lutheran pastor Keith Anderson. Anderson is author of The Digital Cathedral: Networked Ministry in a Wireless World.
He believes the new patterns of belonging and relating in our society call for ministry models that look more like cathedral ministry in the Middle Ages than congregational ministry in the decades following the Baby Boom.
I heartily recommend Digital Cathedral if you’re trying to wrap your head around digital ministry and how it works together with profoundly un-digital ministry. The book is full of vivid portraits of innovative practices taking hold across many denominations, regions and faith community configurations.
Consider this description of a church plant in St. Paul, Minnesota:
“Embedded in the life of the West End, the people of the church had literally made their entire neighborhood their cathedral. West Seventh Street, the main road in this part of town, is their nave. The side streets are the ambulatories. And the shrines, well, the shrines are everywhere—in parks and bus stops, coffee shops and pubs, churches and community gathering spaces, homes and apartments.
“These are not episodic forays into the neighborhood, or trendy ways of doing ministry. They reflect a deeply held understanding of sacred space with strong roots throughout the Christian tradition.”
Membership at a given church is not the be-all and end-all in the new paradigm. The best ministers today foster deepening relationship in the local community, which is both physical and digital. These ministers trust that increased involvement and commitment will follow for people who are ready for them.
FROM THEORY TO ACTION (AGAIN AND AGAIN)
Okay, so how do we actually do this? How can we make our congregations more like Anderson’s digital cathedral, with deep roots in the community and strong personal connections among members, friends and neighbors?
The most important thing to do is to start. Reading a book is a nice (but not necessary) first step. It needs to lead to wise and effective implementation.
In the Center for the Ministry of Teaching at VTS, we call this process action research. To improve you and your church’s digital presence, put on the mantel of an informal ethnographer.
Ask people at your church and in your community where they hang out online: What social networks do they participate in? What blogs and websites do they read? What YouTube channels and podcasts do they regularly or occasionally check out? What community forums do they look to for local news and discussion?
Read, listen and learn as much as you can. Share the contributions of participants you admire. Start to participate yourself before you think you’re ready, but don’t be in a hurry to tout your church or its services. If that comes up naturally, great. But concentrate on being yourself – not just your “church self” – and trust that your Christian identity shapes how others perceive you.
When you start to feel something approaching competent as an individual, then you’re ready to work with others to build or grow your faith community’s corporate presence online. By now, you’ll have absorbed some best practices for church websites, Facebook pages, e-newsletters and more. Online research and consultation with more experienced practitioners can help you fill in some gaps.
Work hard to gather teams that are willing and able to do the work. Try to include staff and volunteers, lay people and clergy. Set some policies and procedures, try them out for a while, then re-evaluate. Focus on fostering engagement among the folks who start to come together in your digital spaces. When conflict emerges, stay calm in the moment and do your best to engage with integrity. Case studies in conflict often help you move toward more effective policies.
Think about the full range of religious activity and how digital media can support it: Faith formation is happening for families using digital resource collections to support their religious practice at home. Evangelism is happening online through digital event promotion and engagement with social issues. Prayer is happening online with the help of daily office podcasts, email meditations and social media-based intercession groups.
Above all, trust that the Spirit is working in your community, including amid relationships that form or flourish online. When the Spirit is at work, then wisdom, guidance and growth in faith cannot be far behind.
Kyle Matthew Oliver (@kmoliver) is digital missioner in the Center for the Ministry of Teaching at Virginia Theological Seminary and a priest of the Diocese of New York. He leads the e-Formation Learning Community, a network of lay and ordained practitioners learning to use technology more effectively in their ministry.
Tags: North Carolina Disciple
