Observations
We Need Both Kinds of Digital Ministry
If you’re scrolling through TikTok or Reels or Shorts (or all three?!) and your algorithm has you at all cornered as the progressive theology, spiritual, deconstruction type, then your feed will likely be filled with Dan McClellan, Lizzy Mcmanus-Dail, Gerlyn Henry, Kristian A. Smith, Brandan Robertson, and more. And while I will gladly tap and…
Read MoreYou Are Us, You “Count”
Nearly without fail, the attendance taker on Sunday worship is at a loss on how to count those that watch online. I mean logistically I get it, the attendance taker can only “count” the units that show up in Facebook analytics or chat in while watching live. A “unit” could be one person or three…
Read MoreTransform Your Online Worship: Watch Your Own Livestream
Here’s a question worth sitting with: when was the last time you actually watched your church’s livestream – start to finish, as a viewer, not as the person running the board? If the honest answer is “never” or “not in a long time,” you’re not alone. Most congregations set up a camera, hit record, and…
Read MoreResource Spotlight: Digital Ministry & Inclusion
This piece by the Rev. Brittany Harrold Porch, published in The Presbyterian Outlook, deepened how I think about what online worship means for people with disabilities. Her argument is a clear one: livestreaming isn’t a technical afterthought — for many people with hearing loss, sensory needs, chronic illness, or mobility limitations, it’s the only way…
Read MoreWhy Online Churches Are Valid Communities of Faith
It is interesting to me when people want to debate or ponder the validity of online churches or digital communities of faith. My short answer to questions like this is that online community is sometimes life-saving. Anything that promotes life, saves life, and nurtures spiritual life is valid. Whatever strictures we might think must come…
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