I wonder what it would like if we were to undertake an experiment right here in this digital community we're calling "Finding Faith In," simultaneously here on the blog and in our Facebook page?
What might it be like to build a virtual faith community that strives to connect a vast and varied Faith Family across great geographical distances and asynchronously to boot?
While we wouldn't gather each Sunday in a beautiful brick and mortar church, we could make a commitment to coming back to this page, or the Facebook page, for worship when it worked into our schedule and to also check in on the other members of this virtual faith community.
Sound outrageous? Sound too shallow? Sound to0 unfulfilling? ... I'm not sure.
I want to believe that with a committed community, we could build something that might not necessarily replace the Sunday morning church going experience, but would offer a new kind of faith community to many who might otherwise pass on the whole church experience.
Considering that I am a pastor at a nearly 100-year-old, beautiful, brick and mortar church that I love serving, from where does such a question come?
No, this isn't a veiled hint that I'm jumping ship on this church experiment that originated some 2,000 years ago with the birth of Jesus. I love serving our church, and can't imagine not being able to connect with my congregation on a regular basis.
But then again, there is something to this virtual world too, right?
We can all admit that the recent pandemic shifted numerous institutions in our culture, church being one of them. I know our congregation isn't the only that has lost attendance since we came out of the pandemic. However, if we're being honest, mainline churches were losing attendance long before the pandemic ever began.
According to a Pew Research Center study in 2019: "The size of America's church-going population shrank by 13 percentage points from 2007 to 2019, dropping from 78 percent to 65 percent of American adults. Similarly, in that same span, the size of America's religiously unaffiliated population increased by nine percentage points, from 17 percent to 26 percent."
That was the observation made by author Ryan M. Panzer, a technology industry leadership development professional, whose most recent book "The Holy and the Hybrid: Navigating the Church Digital Reformation" explores helping church leaders -- like myself and you too! -- think through what it might mean to be a hybrid church, one that caters to both the brick and mortar attending folks, and those faithful who long for a faith experience that meets their needs in the virtual world.
Setting the table: We are precipitously losing regular church attending faithful, while seeing more people say they're not sure if they believe in faith. All the while, there is a large percentage of people who if given a chance to experience church on their terms and in ways that still draw them closer to Christ, might give it a chance.
So, that is our challenge Faith Family. Each and every one of us because this isn't just about us professional clergy. We need to figure out this new faith experience paradigm, it's going to take all of us.
Panzer calls this challenge the "Digital Reformation," a take on the Reformation that Martin Luther, and others fueled some 500 years ago changing the church forever.
He contends that today's push toward the virtual world is reshaping what we know about church whether we accept it or not. So, he set out to write a book to discuss what a successful and inclusive initiative to build a fulfilling hybrid church might look like. The answer he came to was that this effort will take a dedicated approach so that neither our bricks and mortar worshipers, nor the faithful looking to create a meaningful faith experience online, get left behind.
Panzer writes: "The Digital Reformation is not a movement to churches without neighborhoods, worship without sanctuaries, or communities without face-to-face connections. Instead, the Digital Reformation is best understood as a gradual and continuous reimagining of what it means to be the church in the digital age -- to align the shared mission of the church and the shared values of our tech-shaped culture, to strive toward the optimal balance of face-to-face community and virtual connection."
Panzer isn't a whacked out digital evangelist who knows nothing about church. On the contrary, Panzer is a faithful member of an ELCA congregation in Wisconsin, and he regularly blogs about the intersection of church and technology. What he is not is a radical saying let's throw the baby out with the bathwater. Rather, he writes, "The goal is to build communities to serve as the hands and feet of Christ simultaneously online and offline."
And he frames it in this light: "We could study the effect of secularization on church membership or lament about families prioritizing other activities over worship attendance. But maybe our energy is best directed toward a manageable opportunity: how might we encounter people where they are?"
That, to me, is the $64,000 question. And, I think, it's true to the very mission of church from the outset. As Jesus told the early believers: Go out and find the sick, the lonely, those without food, clothes or homes, and tend to them. Well, if we listen closely, maybe God also is calling us to go out and meet the needs of those who might find it difficult to make their way into our churches? ... Whether that is because of mobility issues, health issues, mental health issues or just simply that their lives are overpacked.
I found this driving goal to be insightful, and something around which we could build a mission for this little virtual faith community of ours: "Rather, being a church in this era is about aligning with these values, embracing the definitive aspects of tech-shaped culture as we continue to proclaim the Word and administer the sacraments."
That's the key right there, Faith Family. As an ordained pastor in the ELCA, I am called to proclaim the Word and administer the sacraments. And I am agnostic as to what the superior way of doing so is!
There are weekly moments in serving my beloved congregation that move me to tears and leave unforgettable impressions on my soul. But I also have to be honest: I also receive emails every week thanking me for the weekly newspaper column that I write and which gets published in community papers in North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota. Some of those messages are deeply moving, and can sometimes remind me that sharing the gospel doesn't happen just within the confines of the four walls of church on Sunday mornings.
That is why Panzer's book piqued my curiosity. As I read it, my mind kept coming back to this little virtual faith community we have right here. What might we make of it? How can we serve each other? And how could we together be the hands and feet of Christ? Most importantly, how can we continue to proclaim the Word of God, and administer the sacraments right here?
After all, while this blog is fun and it serves to fulfill my creative side, I felt called to launch this ministry to reach people, to serve people and to find ways to provide a faith community that is welcoming to all those folks who feel unfilled elsewhere.
So, just how to I see this playing out? ... Well, I think if we are committed to each other, we could ...
Minister to each other on this blog and its accompanying Facebook page. We could do that through scripture studies, communal prayers and in a respectful exploration of meaningful ways to do virtual ministry together.
We can be flexible in the day and times that we pop into this virtual community to love on our neighbors.
We can work collaboratively to build a virtual faith community that is missional in nature. How would that mission play out? ... I don't know right now! But let's find out together!
And so that naturally leads to some questions ...
How do we through these spaces maintain the faith ties that bind us into a community? Maintain the connections that form community and inspire us to serve our neighbor?
How do we overcome the asynchronous nature of virtual worship, as we all check into these spaces at different times and on different days?f
How can we use this space to connect with those who long have found it difficult to connect with a brick and mortar church?
Panzer describes progress like this: "With these practices, we can become a collaborative community, one where all contribute to the mission, where we all actively serve as the hands and feet of Christ. Enacting this commitment to collaboration is the goal of all hybrid ministry and the core the Digital Reformation."
So, tonight, I pitch the question to you, Finding Faith In readers? How might we utilize this space to become a caring, compassionate, dedicated and mission-oriented faith community focused on proclaiming the Word and administering the sacraments?
I would be honored if you would share your thoughts!
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