Why You’ll Need a Digital Pastor
Alan Hirsch stated that “the Gospel is transmitted along relational lines.” In other words, people are introduced to the brilliance of Christ through relationships between people. These relationships can take on a few different forms:
- Wide. A pastor or preacher has a “wide” relationship with the people who come to hear her or him speak.
- Deep. Think of your best friend, a spouse, family member or roommate. You know more about this person than you probably should.
- Wading. These are people whom you interact with on a level that’s deeper than acquaintance: Your neighbor, personal trainer or a co-worker.
With some varying degree, almost all of our relationships fall into one of these categories.
Technological Relational Lines
Why is this important? Because it is through the bonds that God translates the reality of Christ to others. He utilizes our connections with other human beings to share something of himself: His light, truth and created reality.
Throughout the course of human history, communication in these relationships has morphed and integrated with the prevalent technology of the day: Written word, telegraph, telephone, radio, television and now, the Internet. The relational lines through which the Gospel can be transmitted continue to develop, becoming more comprehensive and complex as we evolve.
I believe the human race is experiencing one of the largest shifts in communication since the invention of the printing press. Perhaps even more so. As such, we need guides, early adopters and forerunners to navigate these new technologies and show us how to use them. Use them for:
- Commerce
- Education
- Finance
- Social Interaction
- Religion
What’s Religion Got to do With It?
That last reason, religion, is why I believe your church’s next hire must be a digital pastor. A digital pastorate involves more than just opening a Twitter account and getting a Facebook fan page for your church. A digital pastor is someone who is forerunning the technological advances in communication and integrating them faithfully into the life of his or her local church. The digital pastor has a firm grasp on the abilities, possibilities and dangers of technology in communication. A digital pastor is someone who can establish, maintain and build relational lines in an online community setting.
It is doubtful that humanity will stop one day and say, “Gee, that Internet thing was sure a great little fad. Look how silly we all were! Time to move on.” The Internet will not go the way of bell-bottoms and perms. As the Internet becomes more integrated into everything we do, the Church will necessarily need to understand how to best leverage it for the Kingdom of God. This is the job of the digital pastor.
Ultimately, the digital pastor is not unlike the millions of other pastors throughout history: Their end game is always relationship–establishing relational lines through which the Gospel can transmit–but their methods are those of the 21st century.
So are you considered as Hope's digital pastor?
The Internet may constantly redefine itself as new tools are developed and throughput improves, but the concepts of easy accessibility and communication have forever changed us.
Do you think pastors will ultimately have to adapt or do you think they can rely on others in the local congregation to “take care of the Internet” for them? I've seen some congregations that try to empower church members to handle facebook accounts, twitter, blogging, etc. I know how I feel about that but I'm curious about your thoughts.
???
Sorry. Realize I was vague there. Do you feel like you're serving as Hope's digital pastor? If not, do you think someone else does? If not, do you feel that Hope needs one?
Ha ha. No, you weren't vague. I knew exactly what you meant!
I used the ??? because I'm really not sure
I agree with this post – I think the direction of the internet and social network sites are definitely something that will be forever with us – there are certain technologies that once created stick around and evolve, just like the light bulb. That being said, I think it will be interesting to see ways that the church will HAVE to change in order to continue engaging culture through the internet. We need to take up the challenge of being creative and initiate a conversation that points people to God and brings reconciliation with the Church and those that have been hurt or offended by Christ's followers. It will take sites, such as this – to usher others into that conversation. Not to take anything away from bedeviant.com – there's also a new site out there at mychurchsucks.org that is trying to do just that. After reading your article on being a futurist, I think it's going to take more forward thinking as you've brought forth in this post. Thanks Justin. Keep it up!
Mychurchsucks.org – isn't that more or less what churchmarketingsucks.com does? Seems like there's some overlap there.
Churchmarketingsucks.com is geared towards the 'Digital Pastor' – the marketing guys to better brand the church, whereas Mychurchsucks.org is geared towards those that don't feel welcome or feel out of place within the Church. The difference is the target audience, though I think they both go hand in hand.
This is an interesting discussion. What do you all think of eschewing titles like 'pastor' and simply providing a place for others to meet and discuss, like here? How to make that a place that attracts folk? How to be secure without being exclusive? How to manage that and 3D life too? Commercialise it? Throw FB-style games on it?
Justin,
I agree with the sentiment that the church needs to go out into all the world (including the digital one) to make disciples. I think many churches (with small or non-existent staffs) struggle to find a way to include this as part of their ministry efforts.
What would you recommend to the small church pastor as an approach to get started and to be able to fold it into their daily efforts?
That’s a great question. I’ve got a post coming up that will answer this question to a “T”!
Justin,
I agree with the sentiment that the church needs to go out into all the world (including the digital one) to make disciples. I think many churches (with small or non-existent staffs) struggle to find a way to include this as part of their ministry efforts.
What would you recommend to the small church pastor as an approach to get started and to be able to fold it into their daily efforts?