Page 21 - Digital Church in a Lonely World

THE SEVEN INGREDIENTS OF

BIBLIC AL C OMMUNIT Y

How do we reimagine community in the digital age?

With everything going electronic and being stored on the cloud, will there be a reaction the other way?
A desire to be in a village? A need for high-touch physicality? A longing for simple things such as
sharing a meal?

Asking the right questions is essential to ensuring that our innovation is accelerating us down the right
path, instead of steering us toward the wrong destination. If innovation is not managed and disciplined,
it can easily become antithetical to our actual mission. Questions act as both a stimulus for creative
thought and a set of boundaries to focus our ideas.

Here are the wrong questions to ask: What serves the consumeristic Christian market? Will Christians
prefer a digital service over attending a physical gathering? If so, how do we cater to that segment of the
preference-driven market?

Haven’t we seen enough consumer-driven Christianity over recent decades to realize that, in the long
12
run, this does not develop resilient disciples, nor build depth in spiritual maturity?

With everything going electronic

and being stored on the cloud,
will there be a reaction the
other way? A desire to be in a
village? A need for high-touch

physicality? A longing for simple
things such as sharing a meal?

DIGITAL CHURCH IN A LONELY WORLD 21