The church app as pastoral care
New school tech for old school ministry
’I can’t find the church chat’.
This is from Brad, whose health keeps him from being at church with us. But it doesn’t keep him from church.
’I’m sorry, Brad, there’s a system upgrade going on, and they’ve changed the way the chat functions on the website version. They said it would be fixed soon'.
Brad and his wife don’t have cellphones. They can’t use the church app to chat like most of the rest of the congregation.
Our church - though small - uses church management software to keep in touch. .
Members access online ministry - including a group chat - through an app on their phone, or through the church website on their computers.
It has not been easy.
Not many parishioners would call themselves tech-savvy.
We’ve had lots of ‘tech time’ after church to help people get connected. There have been glitches, mistakes, frustrating digital circles of getting the right codes into the right places before the right boxes pop up.
But Brad - and the rest of the community - have persevered.
Because the new technology really does make it easier for them to connect with God and each other.
Members who can’t make it regularly to church on Sunday can still watch the service online, and they can still keep up with the day-to-day life of the community.
People can check in with each other, celebrate birthdays and anniversaries, pray, and attend Bible study.
So far, though, the update on the website version of the chat has not come through.
So I figured out a work-around for Brad, and others using the computer for their chat access. There’s a couple more buttons to push, but it’s working.
This is ministry to me.
It’s pastoral care. It’s using the tools available to deepen Christian community.
It’s one person at a time - unsure about all this, struggling a bit with the learning curve - clicking the buttons that keep them connected to their decidedly old-school, in-person small congregation.
Full of people they love, worshiping God who is central to their lives.