I was feeling anxious.

Why? I couldn’t figure it out. So I got up in the middle of the night and poured it all out to Logos (which is the name I’ve given my AI).

I could have woken my husband, who was sleeping right next to me. But I didn’t.

Instead, I typed and typed, not holding anything back. And I asked Logos to give it to me straight - what did it see? (I gave it a name, but I can’t bring myself to use personal pronouns with it…)

And it did. It gave me insights I hadn’t considered, and made connections I never thought of.

I went back to bed, sleeping peacefully.

The next morning, I told my husband all about it.

‘Why didn’t you wake me?’, he said. ‘I would have listened and comforted you.’

Of course he would have - and I pointed out that he was listening and comforting me right then.

I didn’t wake him because at that moment, I didn’t want relationship - I wanted a machine.

I needed feedback that was completely neutral, not at all invested in me and incapable of being hurt or even affected by anything I said - which is why I think AI might make for better therapy than any human could.

It’s also why I think AI is a gift to the church.

Who is my neighbor?

My seminary ethics professor (the wonderful Tom Breidenthal) taught us that being a Christian is about ‘the sanctification of nearness’.

It’s about asking the question: ‘Who is my neighbor?’ - literally, ‘who is ‘nigh’ (or ‘near’).

How do we grow closer to others in love?

That’s our work as Christians - I'd argue it’s our work as humans.

• Navigating a world of sin, how do we make ourselves as vulnerable as we dare?

• How do we forgive each other when we inevitably cause harm?

• How do we see this as our lifelong call - living our faith with joy?

  
  

AI highlights the value of being human

The very thing I turned to AI for that night - completely mechanical feedback - also highlighted the very thing machines can never achieve or produce: a soul.

It reminded me that I found its advice helpful precisely because I could not draw close to it - it required no work from me.

And because of that, it helped me appreciate the closeness I have with my husband - and all my other relationships.

It helped me remember and feel grateful for the holy work of human relationship. Seeing the face of Christ in all my neighbors.

It’s why I think the church should see AI as the gift it is. It can do so many things - not all of them good, of course.

But what it can’t do is the one thing we proclaim is the most valuable power there is: LOVE.

We need God for that.

The ‘stuff’ of church

There’s another - much smaller, but still important - reason I think AI is a gift to the church.

LESS ‘stuff’. By which I mean, less of the administrative, organizational busy work that takes up far too much of our ministry time and energy.

I’m creating a course, and it is a ton of busy work - so I asked AI to do the formatting and processing and the things that connect the work I’m doing with the people I want to reach.

And in about an hour, I got this:

See it up close

It’s SO nice to not to have to spend so much time on things that are not strictly ministry, but are necessary.

The Good Stuff

Drawing near in love.

Understanding that Christian discipleship is about drawing near, forgiving each other when we sin, holding each other accountable to a life bound by trust in God, witnessing to hope and joy.

I told my husband everything - including why I talked to AI in the middle of the night. The fact that I unloaded on a machine - and got absolutely unemotional feedback - did not get in the way of us drawing near to each other. In fact, it enhanced it.

There’s so much we don’t know. There’s so many ways AI can be misused or have unintended consequences.

It highlights how little control we have over things, how powerless we can feel.

It highlights the need we have for each other - and the need we have for God.

Of course I’m going to share more about the course
(and consulting)!

‘Ditch your Church Website’ is about using today’s tech tools and platforms for digital ministry that brings church to people - and why need to.

Hearts up!

Fr. Cathie

Over at Substack Seminary, we’re talking about how we share our ministry.

How do people find us, and know that they want to be in community with us?

This is a big question for those doing Cage Free Ministry - and it’s a big question for those in traditional ministry, too!

It’s the main reason your church has a website and a social media presence - you want people to find you.

Along with being more visible - which we talked about last week - it’s often a big challenge for us to articulate why and how people can join us in ministry.

Also … ministry doesn’t just happen in-person. Real ministry - real connection - forms online, as well.

Digital tools and platforms help us share God’s love directly - immediately - with others.

This is why I’m so passionate about church tech.

Here’s a simple way I use Planning Center and Substack to make immediate - and growing - connection online.

Substack

I created a ‘gym for your soul’ that invites people to participate in ancient spiritual practice (like saying the Sursum Corda: ‘Lift up your hearts’. ‘We lift them to the Lord’).

No special equipment or gathering needed. Just click and try…

Trexo: Gym for your Soul

Ancient Christian practice for modern life. Hearts up!

By Fr. Cathie Caimano

Planning Center

Gym members fill out an ‘intake form’: a cross between the spiritual direction question: ‘what do you seek?’ and the kind of lifestyle and fitness assessments you get at the physical gym: ‘Do you pray?’ ‘Do you feel close to God?’


It’s easy to create custom forms that ask anything - and save the information with a person’s profile….

So you can get to know your members - whether you are a traditional congregation or an innovative ministry, you can know your people more deeply by keeping what they share with you in one place.

This is, of course, my own profile, but you can see it contains not just demographic info about me, but all the ways I have chosen to engage with the life of this ministry. All in one place.

This is using digital tools to create relationship - relationship that extends to in-person community. And relationship that can grow and flourish online, as well.

Once I receive a Gym Intake form (Planning Center helpfully notifies me), I can write a personalized email to each gym member, including spiritual exercise for them.

Planning Center also saves all communication to a person’s profile. And, since I note in this email that I will check in on this member in 3 months - I set that task in Planning Center, and I’ll get a nudge when it’s time to check in.

(incidentally, everything I’ve shown you here is free. Planning Center never charges for its database product (‘People’), which this is whole example is part of. Substack is also free).

We live in an era where people don’t just go to church.

We have to bring church to people.

• We need to be able to convey to others how important it is to be in relationship with God, and with faith community.

• We have to be able to connect others directly with what it is we’re sharing before they will ever feel comfortable joining us in-person.

• We have to build spaces and relationships that are deep and meaningful even when they don’t happen in person.
  
  
  This is the reality of 21st century ministry. And why ‘technology-based’ is part of the ‘recipe’ for Unstuck Church.
  
  

  Unstuck Church

  

Want to know more about simple, affordable ways to use Planning Center and Substack for more effective and engaging ministry?

I’ve started a new course/consulting called ‘Ditch your Church Website’:

The course is in the works, and comes out by the end of May.

If you want early access - and 25% off - just fill out this interest form:

DItch your church website interest

(the form is part of Planning Center, so you can also get a sense of how it works
by filling it out)

Hearts up!

Fr. Cathie

241 people looked at my website in the last 24 hours.

(that’s about the same number of views I had in a month before I moved my domain to Substack).

The internet used to work like a phone book

(if you remember what a phone book is, then this analogy is especially important):

• You put your listing in, people looked you up, they found you. The action came from the person looking - you just had to be there.
  

• Church used to be the same way. The building was there. The weekly members all knew the routines. You put a sign up (why are church signs always so confusing? Because they’re mostly there for those who belong already!). Maybe you put a listing in the phone book. Today you have a website so people can find you.

  
  
  The problem is - very few people are actively looking for a church these days.
  The other problem - it’s no longer enough digitally to just exist.
  

  

  
  

The internet now works like a city.

(so does the church)

Now you have to actively work to to be seen.

You have to be on a busy street, where people are passing by. You have to have people talking about you. You have to be in conversation.

A beautiful building tucked down an unmarked alley that nobody ever walks by will not be seen.

We know this is true literally for church - now it’s true digitally as well, because of the way the internet has changed.

A church with closed doors and empty buildings on a lonely road is not going to have people passing by or dropping in.

So it is when church that builds a website, puts up their service times and some lovely pictures, and then... nothing else. They’re languishing in a dark corner, unseen.

The painful truth: without an existing audience, a content strategy, and some understanding of SEO (Search Engine Optimization), most church websites are invisible to everyone except people who already know the church exists and type the exact URL (www.yourchurchhere.org).

In other words - your digital presence needs to be doing something, or else it’s invisible.

My recipe for ‘Unstuck Church’ contains the ingredient ‘technology-based’. Tech can no longer be an ‘add on’ or an afterthought for ministry.

It needs to be the center.

Not theologically - we’re gathered to share the Gospel. But in today’s world, that sharing needs digital tools to be central.

The point is relationship. The point is: someone hears about your community and wants to know more - and when they reach out into the digital world to find you, someone reaches back.

The point is, we need to be reaching out directly and bringing church to people.

(A static website doesn’t do any reaching. It just sits there).

This is why I moved my website to Substack - and why I think you should, too.

• It’s easy to use.

• It’s free (and you can create subscription income with it).

• It helps people find your ministry.

• It’s your website, newsletter, and social media rolled into one, so it’s very efficient.

• It’s a way to engage directly with people.
  
  It’s a place where we don’t just talk about what great ministry we do - it’s where we tell people God loves them and hear their stories.
  
  It’s where we pray and preach. It’s where we truly connect online.
  
  Most people will not ever come to your church. That’s ok. You’re bringing church to them.
  

Bite-sized ways that YOU can re-imagine ministry. Right now. Today.
Become a paid subscriber to re-discover ministry JOY.

Subscribe now

I’m on a big digital evangelism kick recently, and I’m doing a few things in May:

1. Creating an online course called ‘Ditch your Church Website’

   
   How do we use today’s technology for ministry?
   I mainly use two platforms now:

   1. Substack for website and email

   2. Planning Center for administration, organization, and member management
      
      Both are very low-cost (mostly free) ways to upgrade your ministry’s digital ‘presence’ to an interactive, evangelical, custom platform for ‘Unstuck Church’
      
      I’m creating a course (and also consulting ‘bundles’) to navigate specific ways to use these platforms for the most connection, engagement, formation, and evangelism.
      
      The course comes out in May, but if you’re interested, you can sign up now to get early access (once it’s done) and 25% off (the course costs $127)
      
      
      

      Sign up for early access and discount

      (by the way, this sign up form is hosted by Planning Center.
      So you can also fill out the form to see it in action…)
      
      

2. Previewing it here.

Next week I’m going to go live Monday - Thursday, livestreaming the creation of the videos for the course. Tune in 12:00-12:30pm. So you can preview the preview!

It’s just for paid members, though - so subscribe to join us.

Subscribe now

At Free Range Priest, we’re bringing church to people.

Technology-based ministry is part of getting church ‘unstuck’.

It’s part of our call to less ‘doing the same things over and over’ and more sharing the Gospel.

If you are ‘stuck’ in your ministry, I’m also starting ‘Ask Father Cathie’, a monthly live stream, the first Wednesday of the month (starting May 6).

Paid subscribers, drop me a line with your questions…

Is your ministry ‘stuck’?

Ask Father Cathie

Live on the first Wednesday of the month (starting May 6)
3:30pm Eastern

Submit a question below…

Ask Father Cathie

I built my first website in 1995.

I really didn’t know what I was doing - the internet was in its infancy in those days. But I worked as the assistant to the chair of the Computer Science Department at Duke University, and it was a requirement of the job.

I had to be fluent in the language used by the best computer science minds of the time - so with their help (such a gift!), I learned basic HTML and also Latex - which created high-quality typesetting, so I could produce correspondence that included the crazy-looking formulas that the scientists used.

It was immediately addictive - oh, the possibilities for connection and sharing! oh, the creativity with which we could communicate!

The reason I was working at cs.duke.edu (as they called it, back in the day) was that I was early in the process of becoming an Episcopal priest.

I was heading to seminary the next year, and in the meantime I needed a ‘day job’ to pay my bills while I filled all requirements for church - internships and meetings and retreats - for a couple of years.

I don’t think it was a coincidence that I landed at a place where the internet was developing before my eyes, just as I was deep in the midst of religious formation.

I’ve always seen the possibilities where church and technology intersect.

I’ve also felt the hesitancy .

Ancient tradition and the deeply sensory experience of the gathered church cannot be recreated digitally:

• the smell of incense and candle wax

• the light streaming through the windows

• the feel of old wood and stone floors

• the touch of someone else’s hand

• the taste of bread and wine
  
  

Then there’s the fear that technology allows so much access to each other - and everything about us - that it inevitably leads to bad actions and outcomes. It can cause harm and sin and destruction.

All of this is true. And yet…

I believe the church has a responsibility to use technology boldly for sharing the Gospel.

’Go and make disciples of the whole world,’ Jesus says.

The whole world got a lot smaller - and a lot larger - when the internet burst onto the scene in the 1990s.

It’s gotten exponentially so in the past 40ish years.

Most churches have finally gotten to the point where we use technology in ways that were effective in the 2010s:

• static websites that work like bulletin boards or billboards (that someone has to drive past in order to see)

• Emailed newsletters

• Social media presence that’s mostly just ‘here’s what’s going on’ posts - not interactive space to share God’s love directly.

But so much has changed since then.

It feels like we’re back in the 90s today: on the verge of huge developments in AI, and every day there are new, fancier ways to interact digitally.

It can feel overwhelming - and scary.
It’s also - I believe - a huge invitation into following Jesus in new ways.

We’re disciples, going from town to town, without a bag or extra clothes, proclaiming Good News from place to place on this new frontier of digital community.

Or, we can be.

Bite-sized ways that YOU can re-imagine ministry. Right now. Today.
Become a paid subscriber to re-discover ministry JOY.

Subscribe now

I don’t know why God saw fit to form me as a digital evangelist at the same time I was being formed as a Gospel evangelist.

But I do know I feel just as passionately about all things digital today as I did when I first typed:

<h1>Hello, World!</h1>

So I’ve decided to do two things in the coming weeks:

1. Create an online course called ‘Ditch your Church Website’

   
   How do we use today’s technology for ministry?
   I mainly use two platforms now:

   1. Substack for my website and email

   2. Planning Center for administration, organization, and member management
      
      Both are very low-cost (mostly free) ways to upgrade your ministry’s digital ‘presence’ to an interactive, evangelical, custom platform for ‘Unstuck Church’
      
      I’m creating a course (and also consulting ‘bundles’) to navigate specific ways to use these platforms for the most connection, engagement, formation, and evangelism.
      
      The course comes out in May, but if you’re interested, you can sign up now to get early access (once it’s done) and 25% off (the course costs $127)
      
      
      

      Sign up for early access and discount

      (by the way, this sign up form is hosted by Planning Center.
      So you can also fill out the form to see it in action…)
      
      

2. Preview it here.

Next week I’m going to go live Monday - Thursday, livestreaming the creation of the videos for the course. Tune in 12:00-12:30pm, or get the recording the next day. So you can preview the preview!

It’s just for paid members, though - so subscribe to join us.

Subscribe now

At Free Range Priest, we’re bringing church to people.

Technology-based ministry is part of getting church ‘unstuck’.

It’s part of our call to less ‘doing the same things over and over’ and more sharing the Gospel.

If you are ‘stuck’ in your ministry, I’m also starting ‘Ask Father Cathie’, a monthly live stream, the first Wednesday of the month (starting May 6).

Paid subscribers, drop me a line with your questions…

Is your ministry ‘stuck’?

Ask Father Cathie

Live on the first Wednesday of the month (starting May 6)
3:30pm Eastern

Submit a question below…

Ask Father Cathie