Not too long ago, someone posited me with a question: “What is an online/digital church all about?” What a great question! Out of the conversation that followed, I developed what I now call The Digital-Church Manifesto, my personal collection of convictions about what the Church should look like online.

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Before you go any further, you need to understand something about my personal theology about the Internet. The Internet is not a “parallel universe” in which some people live a life that does not intersect with the “physical universe.” In other words, your life online is not separate from your life offline. For more on this, you should read this and this conversation from earlier.

The Niche of the Digital Church

What I see as being the killer app for the Digital Church is the fact it can be used by God in many ways that physical churches and ministries cannot. Of course, the opposite

Here is an interesting bend in the conversation of online ministry: techno-hypocrisy. While that may in fact be an unheard of adjective at this point, let me introduce it. So what is techno-hypocrisy? Let’s break it down.

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Techno: Having to do with, or pertaining to technology. In modern colloquial vernacular, we can assume it specifically pertains to modern technological developments.

Hypocrisy: The act of outwardly proclaiming or speaking out against a perspective, stance or action; while inwardly or covertly holding that same perspective or action. In the words of the great theologian, Phil Collins, “do as I say, don’t do as I do.”

Let’s put it all together now,

The other day, I wrote about 5 Core Elements to Be a True Online Expression of Jesus. I’d like to think it was a good article, and you should read it and leave a comment. Now. Go ahead, I’ll wait.

Jane Jetson's all over telepresence!

All caught up now? Good. One of the terms I threw around was telepresence. While I would love to say I coined that word gilded in its shiny pants goodness, I did not. The first time I saw it was in SimChurch by Douglas Estes. In the book, he describes this theological concept of togetherness as described in Acts 4:32, but in the context of doing it online. His summary of the concept of telepresence is thus,

Today is a vision dreaming sort of day for me. The worship gathering with our local church body was fantastic and intimate. I even had the pleasure of doing lunch with a good friend afterward. All in all, it’s been a pretty good day if you ask me!

At lunch, we chatted about the upcoming Online Campus we’ll be launching. Since the gears are turning, I’ve been mulling over a few elements which I believe define an Online Campus. While this is not a conclusive list, it is the very bare minimum five requirements to become a functional, biblically ecclesiological expression of Jesus.

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1. Be in sync with the church’s vision. Habakkuk 2:2f

This is the first and foremost requirement. If an Online Campus is not

In reading the articles posted on this site, it’s pretty hard to miss the fact that God has called me into online ministry. What that looks like exactly is, well, figuring that out is half the fun! If you want to join me on this adventure, why not subscribe to my RSS feed, or contribute through the comments below.

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As part of my serving at our local church (and I am strongly convicted that any believer should be part of a local, physical expression of the Church), is working with the Media Arts Team. Specifically within that Team, I am helping to birth a fully functional digital campus for the church. While thinking about what that may look like, and thinking about ministry in general within the local church, this thought came to mind:

When you spend a lot of time finding people to attend your ministry, you are really putting on an event. But when you put on an event to fulfill the needs of your people, you are then doing real ministry. (Tweet this idea!)

Let’s unpack that a little bit.

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So I was lying in bed last night, and checking Twitter before falling asleep. This is pretty normal for me, checking Facebook and Twitter one last time to make sure I didn’t miss any earthquakes or funny goings-on. I did do something different last night though.

This is part of a series “Honoring Our Messiah with Mimicry Not Mockery,” where we examine characteristic traits of Jesus Christ, and how they are applied to a biblical Christian life. The underlying question in each article  is “Are you imitating your Savior in a way that looks like mimicry or mockery?”

Need to catch up? Read Part 1.

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How do you identify yourself? Answer that question to yourself now, seriously. Do you identify yourself by the esteem of others, the amount of money and stuff you can amass, how many are under you in your power structure at work, or by something else? What you draw your identity from speaks volumes about who you are.

Understanding our identity

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For the past few weeks, I have been teaching a series about the character traits of Jesus. I’ve been asked to post the messages, and open this up for discussion. I hope you enjoy learning about our Savior as much as I did writing these!

It’s often said that plagiarism is one of the most sincere forms of flattery in writing circles. But, what does this mean exactly? Parents and people who work with children know this lesson well! How many times have we known a child mimic an action or repeat something they heard us say without understanding what it really meant? For many of us, that memory is an embarrassing one for sure! If you are a trainer or manager at your workplace, it means those under your leadership will

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Communication is an amazing thing regardless of the perspective you look at it from. From the beginning of time, God has been communicating, be it with angels, demons, the Creation, and mankind. The Bible clearly shows that God is communication (John 1:1), and “the ability to express oneself remains God’s gift to humanity.”

I see two questions which beg to be answered.

1. Are we, as humans, meant to be communicators?
2. If we are, is it important how we go about it?