BETA27: 6 Reasons We Need Digital-Only Churches

hey all right we got the beta show episode 27 hey i'm jeff with the church digital podcast uh once

again all this is powered by stadia church planting and really stadia is at the heart

of this conversation that i want to talk about today here with digital only church planting hey

let's do this up front uh if you've got questions text your digital ministry questions uh in 484

324-8724 that is literally my cell phone number i am giving you my cell phone number don't call me

right now don't be that guy but text 484-324-8724 send your ministry questions in topics for today's

show beta episode 27 six reasons we need digital only churches six reasons that the church today

western civ western society we need digital only churches i'm going to love this conversation we're

going to define what a digital only church is and hopefully i don't get lynched in the process i got

to tell you i had a pastor tell me this within the past couple weeks hey jeff you've successfully

normalized the weird we were talking about digital only churches and this pastor had told me merely

24 hours before the conversation none of this made any sense and none of this sounded like anything he

wanted to get involved with but as he started to understand really what a digital only expression of

church is and how that can be used to reach different types of people he got on board quickly and i got

to tell you i hope today in this conversation some of you out there uh i can help start to normalize the

weird here of a digital only church well hey before we get to the six reasons let's just do this real

quick what is a digital only church what are we what are we actually talking about we're talking about a

biblically a biblical functioning ecclesiologically solid church in digital community i don't want to

go crazy i'm not rewriting the bible i'm not going something new age or something ethereal i'm not

talking about visions of jesus and rewriting scripture uh what i'm looking at is taking the

biblical functions acts to 36 to 47 and defining that in digital context so that church can exist

in digital community and so really the the challenge is for us is that we're looking at a digital

community as a community that's worthy of a church a digital community is a community that's worthy of

a church now you see we've already we don't get we the church we don't get to define whether a digital

community is a community society culture has already done that they've said a digital community is a

community they've already defined it there's millions of people that play video games regularly and that's

where they engage with their friends they're the largest nation on the planet if we looked at social media

as a nation would be facebook billions of people are active on that network each and every week so

there are already people that are engaging in digital community the real question is is do we christians

do we see an opportunity for the church to exist holistically within that digital community let's get

into this uh a church existing in digital community digital disciples in digital community using

digital and cloud-based tools a digital only church can manifest itself in the microsites

in micro churches as well this is not what i'm saying is this is not a digital church digital only

expression of church does not drive people to a physical building this is not hey let's do uh ad

campaigns that are going to get people to the physical building that's not digital church broadcasting your

service alone does not make you a digital church because just because a church service exists digitally is

not the challenge the real question is is where are you doing disciples where are you doing discipleship

where are you making disciples if you're making that in digital space then then maybe you're a digital

church but if you're only doing that in physical space you're not there yet it really comes down to that

disciple making peace practically speaking what is a digital only church maybe you're familiar with some

of the more current micro church network strategies rob wagner casey underground brian sanders tampa

underground the way that rob wagner looks at kansas city and his passion to reach the city of kansas

city specifically we just did a podcast he started in that southwest quadrant and what happened was when

he went digital as a result of covid he expanded out of that southwest quadrant quickly digital was an

accelerator another conversation but as as rob is passionate about kansas city i've got digital planters

and i know people that are that passionate uh about virtual reality uh about twitch about discord about video

games about one we're going to get into much more uh creative opportunities soon but you see that this

is how a digital planter looks at this community that it's a digital community that it's a community

that needs the church and that digital planter is going into it now i hear some of you right now i

listen i i let's be honest right now uh i would hate going to this church that's what some of you are

thinking right now jeff i i need my side hug that the past 15 16 months with covid not being able to

be in that physical space has been a detriment to the church you are right i i am not going to push

on that you are right the church has struggled over the past 15 or 16 months because they did not have

physical but that doesn't mean digital only can't work and we're going to get into some of that here uh

with a little bit ultimately what you need to understand this is one of my favorite quotes from jim

tomberland i want to give him a shout out here with this uh it's not for everyone but it's got to be

for enough to make it worthwhile and when i look at a digital only expression of church in 2021

jim tomberland's quote comes to mind because digital only expressions of church you're right

2021 post-covid right now it's not for everyone not everyone on the planet wants to attend the digital

only expression of church i would suggest though that there are enough right now to make this worthwhile

and that is the challenge how do we support and do this to get enough out there to make it

worthwhile by the way quick commercial stadia is helping plant digital only expressions of church

stadia church planting dot org slash fidget or excuse me digital d-i-g-i-t-a-l stadia church

planting dot org slash digital if you're interested in planting a digital only expression of church

swing by there and uh let's let's have a conversation but let's do this let's get into it all that was

prelude for what's coming up now six reasons that we need digital only expressions of churches today

2021 post-covid where we are number one it's time to rethink the church okay listen put the pitchforks

down uh the the torches don't don't don't come at me hate mail don't press in just hear me out for for a

little bit here today's typical church if we really were to look at it yes there are some things that

are based on the ecclesiological the theology of the church the biblical functions but there's a chunk

of it as well that's that's extra biblical that's outside of the bible now the challenge for you is to

really look at what's happening and say the things that you're passionate about the things that when

you go back to the church are are they theologically solid or is it extra biblical is it things that are

outside of the bible so when when we talk about doing a digital only church we want to look at the

scripture and reimagine what the scripture what acts to what other passages calls us to do in digital space

what that church could look like digitally and i'll tell you right now it's not always going to look

like what the physical church is but that doesn't mean that it's not biblical for ourselves we want to

reimagine we want to reset we want to restructure the big c church that that's that's our that's our

calling and that once again it's not for everyone but it is going to be enough for people to make it

worthwhile we are going to get enough people to make the effort worthwhile for that so number one

time to rethink the church number two different churches reach different types of people different

churches reach different types of people hinted towards this earlier de-churched unchurched people

are finding safety to ask spiritual questions within digital community digital only churches are succeeding

in reaching de-churched and unchurched people at high levels i had had a church tell me um of digital

church 70 to 80 percent of the people that engage regularly with this particular church are de-churched

essentially atheists agnostics uh 60 to 70 percent of another digital church are um are unchurched are

i'm sorry 70 to 80 percent i just totally screwed up that stat that's awesome 70 to 80 percent is uh is

unchurched complete atheist 60 to 70 percent is de-churched people for the first time they're going back

to the bride of christ and so we're seeing where digital has an opportunity to connect with different

types of people than really what the physical buildings have been able to get over time now

there's a whole other spectrum what we're looking at here you've heard me talk about video gamers i

know of a successful uh church that's happening right now that with the american sign language asl

essentially the heart of hearing where they're not able to connect together in physical space just

because the asl community is scattered so far across the country it's one of the largest unreached

people groups in america by the way digital churches are able to connect with them in great ways i've

got it we're working with the church right now in stadia he's a first generation nigerian uh he lives

here in in america he wants to launch a digital only church that is aiming to connect with nigerian refugees

around the planet try doing that in a physical space like he literally wants he's a nigerian first

generation and he wants to reach other um refugees scattered across the country not nigerian people

specifically nigerian refugees who have been displaced and he's able to capitalize on that and

reach and minister to these people in digital space this is beautiful and mark lutz uh who's the lead

pastor of lux digital church one of these uh digital only churches we've launched just recently is very

clear of saying by the way hey our church of video gamers um we're a church of video gamers yeah video

games video gamers attend but so do their spouse so do their friends like it's more than just uh video

gamers it's not for video gamers it's of video gamers and so that's an interesting uh clarification coming in

where churches we're seeing digital churches are reaching different types of people number three

there's a strong emphasis here on the word digital disciple making okay two words maybe three depending

upon where how you think of the hyphen digital disciple making disciple making is an intentional word

here the heart here is a disciple who has made a disciple is in the process of making another disciple so

you're seeing a repetition you're seeing a multiplication happening this is where digital shines this is the

strength of what digital is digital is all about equipping it's all about training it leans so heavily

into disciple making if it's given the opportunity the perception though among a lot of churches out

there among a lot of people is that digital that technology is cold and that it's distant when in

fact digital can be very warm and personal at the end of the day digital is a tool and it really depends upon how we

see the church the church the church planter want to yield wield that tool so it comes down to what do you

want it to be when i look at digital churches here's what i see uh i i see that digital churches work best not

when it's about a church or an organization alone doing ministry but it's more about the church empowering individuals

to do ministry and this is where we start to in this act this quote was actually i wrote this in 2018

it went viral this past week i'm not sure why it was listed in a tweet and it just kind of exploded off

that which is awesome because that really is more relevant today in 2021 than it was when i wrote it in

2018 man if the church if we could get to the place of empowering individuals to do ministry instead of us

thinking that our lone voice is going to be the one that's going to shine through and this right here

this really gets us here to number four you ready for this personal mission really a digital church is

about enabling the priesthood of all believers a digital church has to move beyond that one man

standing on stage exuding a spiritual gift in front of thousands and instead a digital church is going

to empower thousands of people to exude their spiritual gift in front of tens or hundreds or or maybe

thousands and this is where that equipping and that training comes in where if we the church can start

to equip others with a voice instead of trying to speak for them maybe sending them out instead of

trying to gather them in we'll get into that part here in a little bit man the church would look much

much different let's check this out here's the standard we have you said this a lot too

the digital only church standard is really online to offline the gospel that we hear

in our online world it has to affect it has to influence our offline relationships if what we

hear digitally is not affecting who we are physically then we the church all we're doing is creating consumers

and we have to get past creating consumers in a 2021 post-covid society and this is where a digital only

church shines because with a digital only church you have fresh opportunity fresh dna to create those

environments and to utilize the strength of of equipping and empowering within a digital disciple making

process to release people in new ways phenomenal opportunity we have not to mention the reach of

what's happening i mean i'll even fall back on rob wagner casey underground he was focused on the

southwest section he said this in an upcoming podcast with the church digital he was focused on the southwest

corner of kansas city when he went digital as a result of covid he found oh man i i no longer can focus on

southwest because i'm discipling somebody up in the northeast in the northwest and in this and in all

the regions and so he had to broaden his map because the reach was so good in digital that we we're not

even talking about we're not even realizing that uh number five here god is moving in digital only churches

globally god is moving in digital only churches globally i had a friend i was speaking to a friend of mine

he's actually a stadia planner planning a church in uh san francisco uh california and uh he's a first

general uh ali ruhi did a podcast with him he's first generation muslim uh from iran and so i was

telling him all this stuff with digital only churches how how it's going maybe i was bragging a little bit

i'm known to do that on occasion and uh and and ali says to me he leans in and says hey jeff you know

who's really good at like this digital only church this digital disciple stuff discipleship you know you need to

talk to and i leaned in i'm excited i'm like ali tell me i want to talk to him can you introduce me i'm

excited about this i want to know is that what ali says every pastor in iran every pastor in iran is

really good at this digital discipleship stuff why because that's all they have and so while we here

in the u.s are arguing about whether discipleship can really happen in digital space or whether a digital

only church is successful the nation of iran is seeing growth happen spiritually and are developing

people utilizing satellite broadcasts and utilizing apps like whatsapp uh to disciple people to to

literally bring life change within their family one person often gets saved within the household and then

that one person is discipled digitally to the point where others can accept christ and they are able to

share their faith with others literally within the household not to mention that you know the whole

christian thing in iran equals death so like the power of digital discipleship

is very good because the win of digital discipleship is getting people to the point of getting baptized which is

literally where they will be killed in iran that's legitimately a thing so tell me that digital

discipleship and digital only churches don't work i'll point you to iran where evidently it's working

quite well number six here by the way you know i would even just throw this quote maybe this is

haphazard look and see where god is moving and pray about joining him in his work henry blackaby

experiencing god 1975 you know i gotta believe that if i'm just looking at what's happening there in that

space man there's incredible opportunities for god to move there are lessons that we can learn in

western civ based off of a country that literally these digital only churches are taking people to

the point of dying i mean that's a that's a legit thing um maybe we should be joining him in his work

i don't i don't know let's let's uh let's pray about that hey number six here this one is a work in

progress i would love insight from you i'm going to open this up text me 484-324-8724 i want to hear

your insights in this you see we the church we're really good at least in the western society we're

really good at this whole ecclesia thing we love gathering it's all about the gathering we've been

going nuts for the past 16 months because we cannot gather what if and maybe this is crazy what if it's the

diaspora the the scattering that is actually where god moves and i've been challenged by some people

check out the sam george podcast uh within the church digital podcast he talked a lot about this

where it's really the diaspora it's the breaking up of the people and then the ecclesia it's the re

connection the creating new communities is where we see god move it's it's not the the stagnant of hey i'm

going to be in my one community as much as it is is the dispersing and then the reconnecting and then

the dispersing and the reconnecting in different areas what i do know is this digital is not a virtual

building for people to gather uh digital a digital only church is a distribution network for people to

scatter and i would throw at this acts eight for those who have been scattered preach the word wherever

they went yes the scattering in this context was steven yes whereas he was murdered yes there was all sorts

of persecution and things happening okay maybe that's not happening in western society at least where we

are in in in 2021 but i do know this is if we are going to connect with new people if we're going to do

new things um we have to move outside of our comfort zone our comfort zones cannot get us connected to new

people we see that statistically time and time again new things connect to new people digital is going to

get you to a different audience and so doing these things differently or what's going to help us is

what's going to propel us to get connected with new people and create new opportunities new ekklesia to

even create new diasporatic movements to reconnect into ekklesia you can kind of see how the the cycling and

the intertwining comes together it's it's a beautiful thing would love your feedback on any of this including

number six number six is the kind of putting it together in my head would love some dialogue here's

the deal ultimately we're going to wrap if you want more information on digital only church planting go

swing over to the church.digital slash planting questions hit me up because we're going to land the plane

i'm two minutes over where i wanted to be on this idea of digital only church planting here are six

reasons why you need those digital only church planting options out there and if you are interested

in doing this through stadia once again hit us up at stadia church planting dot org slash digital hey this

is jeff with the church digital and with stadia church planting thanks for being here i'm signing

out and we'll see you next time here at the beta show. Have a good one.