What is Digital Discipleship?
The Gospel. The Bible. Evangelism. Preaching. What do all these words have in common?A kid might say they are all “church words.” Obviously, right? Well, less obvious, however, is that all of these words are central to the key notion of communication.
The gospel is simply communicating the message of God in Christ is “gospel”. Communication the redeeming and transforming love of God in Christ is evangelism. God’s relationship with humanity across the Old & New Testament was first an oral (spoken) story until it was written down and communicated in what we now call The Bible.
God relies on communication to reach the world. If the disciples did not talk to others about their experience of Christ’s resurrection and ascension, there would be no Christianity. If the Bible was never written on papyrus, there would be no religion and there would be no people of faith. God needs us to communicate, which means that the work of creating newsletters, bulletins, emails, text messages, handwritten notes and cards is not optional for the sharing of God’s message. It is VITAL. God needs us to communicate through song, art, and self-less acts of serving others. These are not optional add-ons for developing better programs to grow a church, these are expressions of the movement of God’s spirit on earth. Wow.
When Martin Luther translated the Bible (which was in Latin) into his spoken language (German) so that everyone could understand the message, God’s word was spread further then ever before. Before this, only clergy could read scripture and try to interpret the meaning for the common person. After this, “all who had ears to hear” could listen and begin to understand the life-changing message of Christ. Beyond translating it for the ear, Luther employed the cutting-edge technology of his day: the printing press so that the Bible could be in the hands of more and more people.
Effective communication is central to the church’s mission and ministry, we can’t conduct God’s work without it. The “highest act of God’s grace,” according to Luther was the printing press! My guess is that if Luther was alive today he would leverage social media, texting, and would call his church members to do the same as we make disciples. I call it Digital Discipleship - connecting the Body of Christ using every mode of communication available for God’s glory.
Learn more about Digital Discipleship by attending one or both of the August discussions listed below. Also, if you use email or text messaging and would like to be a part of the additional modes of communication, please be sure to sign up! (You can also join through my website and clicking the area of Digital Discipleship.)
Weds August 6th 6pm - 8pm pizza with pastor, discuss digital discipleship.
Sunday August 24 11:00 am Fellowship Hour in hall discuss digital discipleship
