This paper will focus on the Digital Missional movement that the Church is going through today. It is a revolution that is currently eating away at our clergy base which tends to be older and less technologically adept, although, there are some pastors like my senior pastor at Brunswick UMC who is very adept and ready to learn.
Newbigin argues in his book, The Open Secret, while the missionary thinks that they are bringing God into a context that God is already there and has been there from the beginning moving within and God will continue to be there long after the missionary is gone. We as missionaries are not introducing God but finding God within the current context and trying to connect with the Divine’s mission there. (Newbigin, 66) The theological assumption behind Digital Mission is that people in the ether are seeking God and through that meaning, although they will use many different means of doing this.
Digital ministry is a relationship-based experience. The tools we use in pursuing this relationship are vast from art to music to spoken word to eBooks, podcasts, Sub stacks, social media etc. The tool kit is vast because these are the building blocks for creating extensions of a local community’s mission.
Newbigin argues adeptly that people are not monads spiritually isolated from God and that God is not isolated and separated from creation, it is the inter-relatedness of God to creation and people with each other in community that creates a wholeness and a glimpse at the Garden of Eden restoration envisioned in Genesis 1. (Newbigin, 69) Digital Missions (I will also use Ministry), therefore, is creating connections between God and a web of people in relationship to achieve the work of restoring creation.
Many people are turned off by the physical church, but they are not turned off with worship. We know this because people view worship online, watch worship videos, and join social media groups that help them with their journey. One of the most shocking things I learned in my two years of Digital Ministry on behalf of my worshipping community and conference has been how many communities Christians belong to! It is not that people are rejecting the Church per se but building a portfolio of spiritual resources that enables them to experience God in a way that fits how God created them. I have spoken with several members of the Church I serve and many attend Catholic and Orthodox liturgies, they give to many television and radio-based ministries and have done mission trips with non-UMC based groups.
At first, I was under the impression that most pastors were aware of this. But my experience on the UMC Clergy Facebook group has demonstrated otherwise. In many cases pastors are consumed by how to physically bring people into their churches again. During the pandemic they have in many cases simply shut down or streamed a service online that was barebones. And sadly, even this bare minimum has proven not even be in line with that congregations overall missional vision. As Newbigin argues our pastoral cadre in many cases has reduced grace from unconditional blessing that is universally available to all into a contract that can only be fulfilled through physical interaction within the Church. (Newbigin, 74) Faith comes by hearing the word of God and there is nothing in the Bible that limits HOW this is word is spread.
