Digital Ministry And Leadership In Today S Church

Digital Ministry and Leadership in Today's Church is designed for pastors and parish leaders who wish to initiate or enhance their use of digital tools and methods to further their mission and ministries. No matter your level of confidence, comfort, and competency in digital ministry, you will find ideas, strategies, and next steps for you and for your church community. Digital Ministry and Leadership in Today's Church provides concrete ways to create and foster digitally integrated ministry and faith formation, extending the ministry of the local church into online spaces and communities where more and more people gather to nurture, explore, and share their faith today. Digital Ministry and Leadership in Today's Church was created by a team of experienced leaders who bring years of experience in utilizing digital tools, methods, and media in church life and especially faith formation. Margaret Babcock brings a special focus and experience in curation and website development for a Catholic diocese. Deanna G. Bartalini is a parish minister and writes about how to use technology to spread the Gospel. Claudia McIvor is the cofounder of Digital Discipleship Boot Camp. Bill Miller brings decades of experience in faith formation at the local and national levels and is an author and spiritual director. John Roberto is an author, teacher, and founder of Lifelong Faith Associates, and he has over a decade of experience in applying digital tools, methods, and media in lifelong faith formation. Tim Welch is an author and has served as the specialist in educational media/technology for a Catholic diocese.

Digital Ministry and Leadership in Today's Church is designed for pastors and parish leaders who wish to initiate or enhance their use of digital tools and methods to further their mission and ministries. No matter your level of confidence, comfort, and competency in digital ministry, you will find ideas, strategies, and next steps for you and for your church community. Digital Ministry and Leadership in Today's Church provides concrete ways to create and foster digitally integrated ministry and faith formation, extending the ministry of the local church into online spaces and communities where more and more people gather to nurture, explore, and share their faith today. Digital Ministry and Leadership in Today's Church was created by a team of experienced leaders who bring years of experience in utilizing digital tools, methods, and media in church life and especially faith formation. Margaret Babcock brings a special focus and experience in curation and website development for a Catholic diocese. Deanna G. Bartalini is a parish minister and writes about how to use technology to spread the Gospel. Claudia McIvor is the cofounder of Digital Discipleship Boot Camp. Bill Miller brings decades of experience in faith formation at the local and national levels and is an author and spiritual director. John Roberto is an author, teacher, and founder of Lifelong Faith Associates, and he has over a decade of experience in applying digital tools, methods, and media in lifelong faith formation. Tim Welch is an author and has served as the specialist in educational media/technology for a Catholic diocese.

Digital Mission: A Practical Guide for Ministry Online is designed as a theological and methodological exploration of online ministry with the specific goal of aiding the reader in creating an implementable online ministry strategy for a church or ministry. We are in the midst of a digital eruption. Digital technology has done more than interrupt or disrupt our everyday lives: it has erupted and completely transformed the landscape around us. S.I.M. technology (Social media, Internet technology and Mobile technology) along with its younger sibling G.R.A.I.N. (Genetics, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence and Nanotechnology) are reshaping our world so fast that we rarely take the time to stop and take note of what is happening and how we are adapting (or not adapting) to the new digital landscape. This book is designed to help you to stop, observe, and adapt thoughtfully and purposefully. The following pages will attempt to answer the questions: What are the impacts of digital technology? What are the possibilities that they open for the church? What are the potential problems and risk factors? How do congregational leaders plan effective online ministry initiatives that will be faithful theologically to the nature of the church and the mission of God? How do churches move beyond simply transferring ministries online?

This timely guide provides insight and tools to address the challenges and opportunities in leading ministry in a new hybrid world. While churches have long since used technology to reach broader audiences, the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a huge, sudden shift in the ways in which congregations were able to gather. This book explores the role of digital technology in faith-based communities in the future, serving as a guide for church leaders to expand their digital ministries beyond a broadcast model. The author compiles a variety of useful resources that provide insight on the challenges associated with using technology in faith-formation teaching contexts, as well as the advantages and opportunities that arise in a hybrid environment. Topics include hybrid leadership, the role of technology during disruptive circumstances, digital technology in faith formation and mission, the metaverse, and steps in integrating digital media in lifelong faith formation, among others. This guide also addresses digitally enabled strategies in faith formation events. Church leaders will find this book to be a valuable resource to learn about the latest topics and address the changing needs of their congregations and gain greater competency in digital ministry.

Acclaimed church leader, blogger, founder and chief strategic officer of The Unstuck Group, Tony Morgan unpacks the lifecycle of a typical church, identifies characteristics of each phase, and provides practical next steps a church can take to move towards sustained health. Think about your church for a moment. Is it growing? Is it diminishing? Is it somewhere in between? Acclaimed church leader, blogger, and founder and chief strategic officer of The Unstuck Group, Tony Morgan has identified the seven stages of a church's lifecycle that range from the hopeful and optimistic days of launch, to the stagnating last stages of life support. Regardless of the stage in which you find your church, it carries with it the world's greatest mission—to "go and make disciples of all the nations . . ." With eternity at stake the Church should be doing most everything within its power to see lives changed forever. The Church should strive for the pinnacle of the lifecycle, where they are continually making new disciples and experiencing what Morgan refers to as "sustained health." In The Unstuck Church, Morgan unpacks each phase of the church lifecycle, and offers specific and strategic next steps the church leader can take to find it's way to sustained health . . . and finally become unstuck. The Unstuck Church is a call for honest an assessment of where your church sits on the lifecycle, and a challenge to move beyond it.

This book outlines digital discipleship principles for building an online community and provides practical instruction for how to do it no matter how big or small a local church may be. There are more than 2.3 billion professing Christians in the world and more and more new churches launching globally, yet statistics show that in-person church attendance is declining or plateauing in every nation. Although social technology has been around for more than two decades, church leaders have long bristled at the idea of church online, ranking it as the last concern on their minds in Barna's 2020 state of the church report published February 3, 2020. And then, three weeks later, COVID-19 closed the doors of every church on earth and suddenly forced them entirely online. Nona Jones, a globally acclaimed thought leader on leveraging technology for ministry, had been leading a movement and sounding the alarm for several years to make digital discipleship a central part of every church’s ministry approach. In From Social Media to Social Ministry, she outlines her digital discipleship principles and provides practical instruction for how to do it no matter how big or small a local church may be. There are plenty of books to help churches build a social media strategy, but this is the first book of its kind that goes beyond digital marketing to digital ministry. Readers will leave this book with: Clarity on what discipleship truly is The data that underscores the urgency for digital discipleship Understanding of the resources required to do it well A step-by-step guide on how to implement digital discipleship into ministry plans Knowledge of the differences among and purposes of the most popular social platforms, as well as the tools best positioned for digital ministry

• Expands on author’s popular work in Click 2 Save • Provides both practical and theological perspectives on using media appropriately and pastorally Rapid cultural and technological changes through the last two decades have changed the context for ministry. The development of digital social media and advances in affordable, mobile technologies have dramatically changed the way most people interact with others, communicate, organize, and participate in communities. The Digital Cathedral is a warm embrace of the rich traditions of Christianity, especially the recovery of the premodern sense of cathedral, which encompassed the depth and breadth of daily life within the physical and imaginative landscape of the church. It is for anyone who seeks to effectively minister in a digitally integrated world, and who wishes to embody the networked, relational, and incarnational characteristics of that ministry.

Social media provide an opportunity for congregations to open the doors and windows to their congregational life before people ever step inside. It’s no longer all about “getting your message out” as if people are passively waiting for the latest news from the parish, diocese, or national church. Rather, it’s about creating spaces where meaningful relationships can develop. Click 2 Save: The Digital Ministry Bible is a practical resource guide for religious leaders who want to enrich and extend their ministries using digital media like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and church or personal blogs. An ideal companion to Tweet If You ? Jesus: Practicing Church in the Digital Reformation (Morehouse, 2011), Click 2 Save draws on extensive research and practical experience in church and other ministry settings to provide functional, how-to guidance on effectively using social networking sites in the day-to-day context of ministry.