by: Rev. Jim Keat
What happens when six digital ministers spend a week together in the same physical space?
Last month the Convergence Digital Ministry Senior Fellows gathered in Atlanta for a week of sharing stories, solving problems, trying out new digital tools, and learning from one another and other local and national experts. You will be able to eavesdrop on some of the conversations in the upcoming Digital Ministry Online Summit (email me to be the first to know when free registration is open) but here are three takeaways that we can all learn from right now.
People Before Technology
Technology is important, but it is not the most important thing. Yes, the cameras and lights and microphones and computers and livestreams and videos and podcasts and websites matter, but the people will always matter more. Rather than starting with the technology, start with the people. First, who are the people you are trying to reach? What is the community you are hoping to cultivate? Start here, with the people who will experience the ministry, and keep them in mind throughout. Second, who are the people who will make it all happen? If you create a system so complex that only three people know how it works, it is too complicated. Keep things simple and start with the people who will be pushing the buttons, twisting the nobs, and typing into the keyboards. People first. Technology second.
Community Grows Through Collaboration
There’s something special about TikTok. Yes, you probably have an opinion about this so-much-more-than-silly-dances app, but politics and headlines aside, TikTok is a space where community is grows through collaboration. People of all ages with interest in an incredible diversity of topics and passions find themselves not only watching content, but creating it themselves. It is one of the few spaces where we find communities of creators, showing up as more than a view, like, or comment, but so often as a face and a voice in your own video. This allows for a deeper sense of connection, knowing someone by their tone, what they say, and how they say it. And regardless of TikTok’s future, this is a principle that can translate to any online space. How are we cultivating a community, not of people who simply watch or listen or like or comment, but a community of people who collaborate and create something together?
There Is No Cookie Cutter
There is no single template for digital ministry. It is contextual, coming out of a particular place and from a particular person. And that is what makes it so amazing. As six digital ministers, we found ourselves with six very distinct digital ministries. Yes, we can share and borrow ideas, learning from one another along the way, but what engages your community will be different than what engages mine. Ministry is always contextual, covered in our unique fingerprints. Rather than trying to become an exact replica of someone else, reflect on what your community needs and what you are called to offer. Whether it’s a podcast, a video, a livestream, a Substack, an online community, or something else entirely, there is no cookie cutter for digital ministry.
More than three big ideas, our week together as digital ministers sharing the same physical space reminded me that it all matters: the work we do online and the ways we connect on site. One does not replace the other but together they deepen the connections we share and the ways we can know one another. Virtual is not the opposite of real. It’s the opposite of physical. They are both real! And by intentionally engaging both spaces we deepen our connection and the work we are called to do.
If you’d like to learn more about digital ministry, be sure to sign up for my digital ministry substack. And if you’re eager for an individual consultation to help you and your digital ministry take its next step, just let us know!