My digital conversion
How I came to love the early internet for the creative evangelism possibilities - and how I want to share today's possibilities with you
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.
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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:
Create an online course called ‘Ditch your Church Website’
How do we use today’s technology for ministry?
I mainly use two platforms now:Substack for my website and email
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)(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…)
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.
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…