Page 49 - Digital Church in a Lonely World
P. 49
Online and offline should work together in a complementary fashion.
We have only scratched the surface of how we can advance digital ministry. And, frankly, as pastors,
we are a little scared of it, because we are not sure if it will make our physical gatherings redundant or
cannibalize our core model. If we can land instead on a model in which online elements complement
but don’t replace physical church, then we can pursue innovation with total passion.
Through budgeting.
Through our best staff.
Through ideas.
Through experimenting.
Online and offline should
work together in a
complementary fashion
We referenced earlier that COVID-19 was an inflection point for churches in terms of their digital
strategy. In hindsight, most pastors did not really get the chance to truly innovate during that season.
We were scrambling and surviving. We were dealing with not one but three pandemics (see “The
Promise of Pain” for more on this). 23
We reacted.
We set up webcams.
We did live streaming.
Pastors cared for and loved their people away from the stage and pastored in obscurity.
DIGITAL CHURCH IN A LONELY WORLD 49
