At the Intersection #5: Digital Ministry, Captive Church, and the Election
So, you're going to vote for an unfit candidate?
Hello everyone!
How is your summer going so far? Here are some links of note on all things spiritual and sometimes not-so-spiritual.
A Theology of Digital Ministry: I remember circa 2008 how so many GenX church folk (including yours truly) were out there talking about the benefits of social media and how they would benefit ministry. In 2024, the wonders social media have vanished and there are a number of people, who are strangely saying this on social media, talking about the benefits of leaving social media and even the internet. When it comes to the church, are those who wonder if digital ministry is even worth it.
But pastor Jim Keat still sees the benefits of online ministry even with all the negatives of social media. He is starting a series of videos digital ministry that will focus on the why churches should be online. His first video came out recently and it focuses on the theology of digital ministry.
What About The Churches?: The 226th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) recently concluded in Salt Lake City, Utah. Presbyterian Pastor Paul Moore writes on his blog that the General Assembly got a lot done, but Moore was surprised that there was no mention of church development. He writes:
The key point for congregations is we need to be resourced by the wider governing bodies of our denomination. We need ideas for growth; we need trainings on growing; we need resources that will help. The work of the General Assembly is important, but until the wider governing bodies of the PC(USA) get the message that congregations need support, I would guess that Presbyterian congregations will keep declining.
If decline is okay for Presbyterians, then there’s not much that can be done. It is certainly not okay with me.
As someone frustrated with how mainline denominations are ignoring local congregations, Moore is on point with his blog post.
Related to Moore’s article, Frederick Schmidt has a good article about how individual churches shouldn’t wait for denominations to work on congregational development.
The Captivity of Southern Baptists: Southern Baptist pastor George Bullard wrote an opinion piece on his Substack on what happened to liberal and conservative Southern Baptists after the conservative insurgency in 1979 and subsequent schism. Because the other side wasn’t available to offer balance, the two sides became echo chambers. Looking at the Southern Baptists and the moderate to liberal Cooperative Baptist he notes one is becoming bounded while the other is fuzzy:
CBF claims the middle by declaring themselves a centered-set denomination. This is not accurate, but only wishful thinking within their echo chambers.
CBF is fuzzy. Its center will not hold as it drifts farther away from the SBC and leaves a big hole in the middle. This may be fine with a majority of CBF-affiliated churches. Just as the movement in the SBC may be fine with a majority of its affiliated churches.
The SBC is changing fast as a bounded denomination. Finding more ways to exclude churches rather than to compassionately include churches.
Both the SBC and CBF are smaller than they once were. By some calculations significantly so. This happens when movements journey toward the extremes and increase the size of the middle.
The Captivity of Everyone Else: This is an old article, but I hope to have the author (as well as George Bullard) on the podcast soon. From an article in 2020, Nathan Hatch the former president of Wake Forest University argues that many churches have become cheerleaders for an ideology or political party. In this quote he talks about how the biggest divides aren’t theological, but ideological:
So, what does all this have to do with today? Some thirty years ago, sociologist Robert Wuthnow said that the basic intellectual and cultural divide among Christians in America is not the fault line of their theology but the cultural divide between a conservative and progressive worldview, a chasm deeper and more formative than any theological debate. I agreed with him in the 1980s. And I think today his point could be made with much greater emphasis. A divide has become a chasm. Dominant political and cultural values, left and right, have washed over churches and come to dominate their respective worldviews.
About that Debate: Anthony Robinson writes on his blog that Dean Phillips, the Democratic Representative from Minnesota who ran a quixotic campaign against President Biden in primaries because he thought the current president was too old, was right all along:
Post debate I feel sad. . . sad and heartbroken for our country. Neither man should be President. Neither man should be running for President. How has it come to this?
But I’m not only sad.
I’m angry. Angry that the Democratic Party hasn’t done better.
If defeating Donald Trump is Job #1 — and it is — they should have said, “How can we win this?” Egos aside, precedent aside, focus: what do we need to do to defeat Donald Trump in 2024? Who can we give the American people who can win, who they can believe in? The Democratic Party has failed us.
If you’re going to vote for an unfit candidate: Remember when we thought we were just voting for one unfit candidate? Alan Noble writes on his Substack about what you should do if you decide to vote for a candidate you know is not fit for the office of President:
I don’t think either candidate deserves our vote. And I would love to see enough people withhold their vote so that the major parties realize we demand better. But I know that is not realistic. Realistically, most people reading this will vote for one of the two candidates. While I will not be voting for them, I understand that this is a difficult moral decision that each person needs to make, and many people will choose differently from me. I don’t begrudge them that or see myself as morally superior. I do, however, believe that we all have the responsibility to guard our souls and shepard our influence. Our natural tendency is going to be to justify our vote, and that may mean justifying evil. We have a moral obligation to call evil, evil and good, good; to call lies, lies, and truth, truth, no matter how we vote.
That’s all for now. Check out recent episodes of the podcast by going to churchandmain.org.
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Interesting point Moore makes about congregational development. Other colleagues of mine have noticed the same trend in other contexts. The denomination is seen as a PAC/ social justice org rather than a grouping of local churches.