Day 254: Cyber Ministry

In George Barna’s book, “Revolution” he makes some interesting comments about cyberchurch. Now I remember reading this book for the first time at my timeshare I used to own in Florida back in 2005. I was sitting in my chair on the beach reading chapter seven entitled, “A New Way of Doing Church.” Now granted 2005 was not all that long ago but, George was talking about cyber-church and technology moves very quickly...so...2005 in computer years is a long time ago. I remember coming home from that vacation and talking to the leadership team at the church I was asked to pastor earlier that year after some church politic garbage ripped this new congregation apart. We were sitting in a meeting and I brought up the fact that I think this is the direction we may be heading. There was quite a bit of hesitancy because to have “cyber-church” means people were not actually attending but rather just watching online. This was the polite way of saying "how do we get them to give?" I understood all of these things but like it or not the church can either embrace it or reject it and render itself culturally impotent.

Fast forward to 2010-2011, I am so happy to see what God is doing through Radiant Fellowship and my own ministry “That’s Not My God” online. Each week we stream our services live online and people all the way from South Africa to Kyrgyzstan to Waupaca are watching each week. My online ministry currently generates 102,000+ hits every three months with people from all walks of life engaging in meaningful conversation about all things Christianity. On and on I see how this trend is more and more true. My blogs generate 12,000 hits a month and the Radiant Fellowship podcasts get a lot of listens as well. Sure we can sit back and ask, “how do you track weekly attendance?” or my personal favorite, “how do you get people to fill out first time commitment cards?” My answer is WE DON’T! Church is more than a commitment form so we can ultimately get someone to give money to the church so we can grow some more. I will be ranting about building programs in my next blog btw.

Cyber ministry is so great and I would suggest any ministry to get started with it. Keep in mind though that as a pastor/leadership person you can monitor and even control who comes into your church. You can even control what is said in your church…in the cyber world you better have some thick skin because it is open for discussion on an international basis….AND I LOVE IT!