See part 1 here
COVID-19 is providing Christian ministry an excellent opportunity to learn how to minister in a ‘novel’ context. In our previous post, we reflected on how the fundamentals of ministry haven’t changed, even though online ministry is different because of its ‘mediated’, non-physical nature. In this post, we’re going to reflect on the principles involved in ‘transposing’ our normal church ministries into an online environment.
By now most if not all of us have worked hard at getting our central gathering—the ‘church service’ which tends to be our main public face—online. Whatever platform you used, and whether you did it pre-recorded or live, we urge you to maintain the authority of God’s word and the significance of worship.
Online services are unfamiliar. They can be messy and even embarrassingly farcical if things go wrong. In amongst all the chaos, pray that God’s name be hallowed, and do everything you can to maintain the reverential awe of what we are doing: approaching God, the almighty creator and redeemer.
In an approach prayer, we could thank God for the technology that enables us to meet online, pray that everything works properly so we’re not distracted, and ask the omnipotent, omnipresent Holy Spirit to minister as truly online as he does when we gather physically.
This is the advantage of having some kind of introductory call to worship, where we remind people that we are engaging in an act of corporate worship; that we are worshiping none other than God our holy and almighty Father; and that we can only worship him in Christ and the Spirit. This is also the benefit of having some kind of ‘approach prayer’ where we praise God for his character, confess our sins, and rejoice in his salvation. In that approach prayer, we could thank God for the technology that enables us to meet online, pray that everything works properly so we’re not distracted, and ask the omnipotent, omnipresent Holy Spirit to minister as truly online as he does when we gather physically. And don’t be surprised when he honours that prayer.
Preaching into a camera feels weird. It needs a new set of skills that preachers don’t normally have. Thankfully there is plenty of advice on how to do it well. But we need more than polished online performance: we need “preaching that has the electric charge of supernaturalism in it”.[1] The Reformed tradition has always held that preaching is divine communication. The sermon is a form of God’s ‘word’—subservient, of course, to Christ as God’s word incarnate and the Bible as God’s word inscripturated—but coming with divine authority to command, convict, and convert. Preacher: when you look into that camera, in amongst all the unfamiliarity and awkwardness and sense of detachment, pray the Holy Spirit give you unction to preach—to proclaim, with divine authority, the divine message. And again—don’t be surprised when the Spirit hears and fulfils that prayer.
In our regular, physical ministries, we have techniques for connecting with visitors: we have greeters at the door; we give people a welcome pack and ask for their contact details; we might have a special newcomer’s morning tea or supper.
Online Welcomers
We need similar techniques to connect with our online visitors—both the passive ones who just happen to drop in on us online (the equivalent of wandering off the street), and the active ones who choose to connect with us. Ideally, you need enough people with enough technological skills to…
- Monitor who’s connecting with you online, and
- Capture sufficient details to connect with them after the service.
E.g. if you stream your service through Facebook, you could
- Encourage your regular church members to host a Facebook watch party [https://www.facebook.com/help/1681245065258554];
- Show them how to keep track of who’s joining the service;
- Ask the regulars to send a private message to those who joined, inviting the visitor to stay connected. You could provide a template message, which could be as simple as “Hi—thanks for joining the watch party of my church’s service. If you want to get connected with my church, drop us a line at <website>. And you can always contact me.”
In our physical ministries, we also seek to equip and motivate our people for outreach. We want our people to proactively connect with non-believers, so that we can share the gospel with them and/or invite them to church or evangelistic events.
This COVID-19 crisis has given us heaps of opportunities to show and tell people how our faith in Christ helps us be confident and compassionate instead of fearful and selfish. And to show people how the ‘gods’ we have ‘entrusted’ ourselves to—the secular ‘gods’ of health and wealth and insurance and the stock market—have completely failed us. And to do all this in a way that’s ‘authentic’—that fits with our particular personality and life situation, therefore is calm and natural instead of stilted and scripted.
This COVID-19 crisis has given us heaps of opportunities to show how our faith in Christ helps us be confident and compassionate instead of fearful and selfish … to show how the secular ‘gods’ of health and wealth and insurance and the stock market—have completely failed us.
But we need to encourage our people to do it—to create and take the opportunities when they present themselves in ordinary interactions online. Which means they need to proactively seek to interact with people online. Wouldn’t it be awesome if Christians became known for taking the initiative, during these frightening, lonely, stressful times, to:
- Connect or reconnect with friends, family, and even outsiders—especially people who lack family and social connections—online;
- Inquire about those people’s welfare, reducing the sense of isolation, and providing practical assistance as we’re able;
- And in the process, talking about Christ, and how our faith in him helps us in these difficult times—and doing so in a calm, winsome, natural way.
The Body Online
And so, perhaps the key principle in ‘transposing’ ministry online is the way it democratises ministry. Online ministry is an opportunity for us to embrace the organic nature of how the body works together “as each part does its work” (Eph 4:16), and our role as church leaders in “preparing God’s people for the work of ministry” (Eph 4:12). We evangelical Protestants like to think of ourselves as flexible, anti-institutional, non-clerical, and volunteer-driven. This is our chance to prove it.
This democratisation extends to our pastoral and family ministries. Lots of excellent children and youth ministry resources have become available online. But let’s take this opportunity to subvert the constant danger of the creeping ‘professionalisation’ of ministry, and the culture of passive consumerism it inculcates. Let’s encourage fringe people to not be satisfied with the online Sunday service alone, but to connect with a small group, which they can do from the comfort of their home. Let’s encourage our families to not only rely on online children’s and youth ministry. Let’s equip the parents to pass on their faith to their children. Maybe we can show them how to be proactive in engaging and interacting with these excellent online resources, instead of passively delegating their children to yet another screen.
This novel coronavirus has created a novel environment for ministry. Every challenge is also an opportunity. As we seek to ‘transpose’ our ministry online, let’s pray, reinforce the basics, and trust God to use our humble faithfulness to achieve great things for his name.
[1] Owen Strachan, “You Are the Man for the Hour: Our Desperate Need for Sound Preaching”, Reformanda online, 24 March 2020, https://www.reformandamin.org/articles1/2020/3/24/you-are-the-man-for-the-hour-our-desperate-need-for-sound-preaching .
