Pastoring in the Digital Parish

New sessions are starting on September 6! We’ll continue to share stories of digital ministry while we explore our changing cultural contexts and how the digital impacts the analog experience (and vice versa).

Rev. Abigail Browka, founder of the Everyday Sanctuary app, provides the story of starting an app-based ministry centered on contemplative practices. She provided the unique challenges and benefits of starting a faith community in a digital space as well as some insights on thinking innovatively in ministry. Check out the Everyday Sanctuary community: https://everydaysanctuary.com/ This … Co...

Our television viewing habits have changed a lot over the past few decades, and so have our needs and models for ministry. This session of Pastoring in the Digital Parish shares some A-ha moments from this past season and begins to cast a picture of the future of ministry in the digital parish.

Rev Nicole Reilley shares her experience in being a lead pastor and leader in the church’s digital ministry. In many larger churches, online ministry is a delegated responsibility. So church leadership chooses and individual or team of individuals to lead an online ministry while senior leadership primarily focuses in different areas. Not all of us … Continue reading "Leading a church’s visi...

How have the emergence of digital-first culture and the cultural developments related to COVID-19 affected youth ministry? Are there ways we can utilize digital environments to safely and responsibly connect with young people? Chris Wilterdink joins Pastoring in the Digital Parish to share some ideas about youth ministry in digital space. Chris Wilterdink is Director … Continue reading "Yout...

We’re going to explore creating digital content that engages our online audiences WHILE we engage in a spiritual practice that hopefully gives us, personally, a bit of a power up in the midst of our busy digital ministry lives. This episode takes an older piece of content that is a great example of content that … Continue reading "Powering up through engagement and repurposing"

Is it safe to do ministry digitally? A lot of people have foreseen some possible scenario where our digital ministries enable someone with nefarious motivations to do harm to a member of the community.  Churches and youth organizations have long utilized guidelines to help protect both vulnerable populations of people and the caring people who … Continue reading "Establishing safe spaces onl...

Rev. Bradley Laurvick shares the story of a unique TikTok ministry, The You Matter Zone. Through the story, we learn how TikTok can be utilized not just for sharing information, but also for forming relationship. Pastor Brad also shares who this ministry, which has over 2 million engagements, relates the to the ministry of his … Continue reading "TikTok, pastoral care and puppets"

“I’m being called to minister in a digital space, but seminary didn’t train me for this.” Some seminaries and divinity schools have heard the need and are responding. Dr. Emily Peck-McClain will be teaching classes on digital ministry for Wesley Seminary. She joins Pastoring in the Digital Parish to reveal how her classes might help … Continue reading "Faith formation in digital contexts"

The machines are taking over! In this session of Pastoring in the Digital Parish, we set aside fears of a future dominated by robot overlords and look at several ways we can utilize artificial intelligence right now for digital ministry success. Much of this episode was generated by AI. It provided new content ideas and … Continue reading "Artificial intelligence uses for digital ministry"

Our culture and our relationship with technology are changing. Jeffrey Mahan points out that these changes have noteworthy implications for the future of ministry and leadership. What will a ministerial job look like in 10 years? What skills should pastors begin to implement and refine? Jeffrey Mahan is ordained in the Rocky Mountain Conference of … Continue reading "The future of ministry l...

Pastor Mark Lutz shares the story of Lux Digital Church–a fully digital church. Lux Digital Church is a church committed to the belief that a digital church can successfully achieve all of the core functions that mark any effective, healthy church. Mark Lutz is one of the founders of Lux Digital. Mark has been a … Continue reading "From passion to podcast to faith community"

Mitchell Atencio discusses the implications of Web 3.0, NFTs and blockchains for digital ministry on Pastoring in the Digital Parish. Mitchell Atencio is the assistant news editor with Sojourners–a magazine that is likely familiar to many of us. As such, the bulk of Mitchell’s work and writing centers on the magazine’s focus on social justice … Continue reading "The future of the Web and dig...

Have you heard of Lent Madness? It’s 32 saints placed into a tournament-like single elimination bracket. An online community votes to determine the victor of each matchup… of course with lots of discussion in the process. Lent Madness is over a decade old and continues to grow and inform. It succeeds in an area many … Continue reading "Lent, madness and digital spiritual formation"

A new season of Pastoring in the digital Parish is about to begin! Season 3 will get underway on February 23rd, just in time to power your digital ministry through Lent and beyond. In this season we’re going to continue to share best practices for evangelism and discipleship in digital spaces–and we’re going to do … Continue reading "Announcing season 3 of Pastoring in the Digital Parish"

We’re stuffing your stocking with digital delights for online ministry as we close out season 2 of Pastoring in the Digital Parish. While this episode details a handful of things learned in previous season 2 sessions, it also dives into a big question: What measurements really matter in digital ministry?

The biggest stressor for most of us when it comes to digital ministry is that the digital parish is not necessarily the campus to which we’ve explicitly been hired or appointed. Rev. Dan Wunderlich delivers valuable time-saving tips and tactics for staying on top of our digital ministries while trying to keep balance with the … Continue reading "Time-saving digital tips for local pastors"

In this session of Pastoring in the Digital Parish we hear from Dr. Kelly Price. Dr. Price provides an in-depth perspective on why many of us do the things we do online and how understanding our digital consumer behaviors helps us meet people and form community in digital spaces. Dr. Kelly Price is associate professor … Continue reading "Understanding our online behavior with Kelly Price"

In this mini-episode we’re celebrating the lessons learned and the creative expressions of ministry we’re witnessing in the digital parish!

Mike Kim discusses branding and relationships on Pastoring in the Digital Parish. Mike offers an important way of refocusing how we think about marketing and branding, making them a lot more palatable for those of us wary of business-ifying faith. Mike says that “marketing isn’t about a sale, it’s about  beginning a relationship.” Mike Kim … Continue reading "Building relationships through b...

Licensed social worker and minister, Lindsay Geist, shares practices of rest and healthy boundaries for digital ministers. One of the possible pitfalls or traps of ministering in a digital parish is that our field of ministry is always active. It’s always on and accessible. By extension, those of us engaged in digital ministry can feel … Continue reading "Rest for the always-on minister"

In this session of Pastoring in the Digital Parish, we’re talking Twitch. Have you heard of this platform? Curious about whether or not a livestreaming platform like Twitch has relevance for your ministry? Are you curious about how to get started and build a following on Twitch? Russel Dornisch and David Petty from CrossFire: Faith+Gaming … Continue reading "Understanding and getting started...

Click-through rates, drip campaigns, list segments, marketing funnels–we’re talking about it all with Randy Greene of Church of the Resurrection. Randy is a digital media director passionate about helping churches communicate better. In this episode, we learn about how to build engagement and relationships through email communication.

How do you move people from being passive viewers of online content to active members of a faith community? Steven Adair shares the story of Glendale United Methodist Church in Nashville, Tennessee–a small church that created a big digital footprint. This dwindling congregation used their digital presence to fuel a season of growth that continues … Continue reading "The journey from viewers...

We’re going to work on adapting our world-changing message regarding God’s grace for a digital-first culture. Let’s explore living the good word in digital space. This episode itself is an adaptation. It’s repurposed content from a training Ryan Dunn did. It answers questions about how we repurpose content for sharing across multiple platforms and how … Continue reading "Living the word in d...