I was featured on the Vanderbloemen Leadership Podcast on EXPERT INSIGHTS, a series bringing together Christian leaders – from across the theological spectrum and from a variety of professions – to share their expertise on leadership topics, all through the lens of faith. It was a fun conversation where I answer different questions on the topic of digital church even being church with my friends Nils Smith and DJ Soto.

I mentioned these two examples because friction can enable and disable the expansion of an idea. The internet has amplified many great things, but this new frontier has introduced further questions. For churches, the lack of friction encouraged ministries to start streaming their services regularly with very little critical thinking about the broader strategy of online. The shift happened in 2016 because Facebook Live became a free feature to anyone with a Facebook page and most churches jumped on the opportunity.

Your church’s leadership wants to know people watching online will be cared for correctly. Those seat warmers on big boards monitoring all the vitals of the bride do care about everyone attending locally and possibly tuning in online. The barrier of embracing an online ministry usually comes down to trusting you, the online pastor or potential online pastor.

Your online church will either amplify an existing well-executed strategy or highlight widespread issues. It won’t magically fix your church’s problems. If your church knows how to attract younger people than your online ministry will attract younger people. If your church is good at small groups than your online small group strategy will work. If your church is great at getting people to fill out response cards than your weekly digital respond card submissions will be high. If your online ministry doesn’t grow most likely your church is lacking in evangelistic outreach.

All I can think about is the fallacy of equivocation when someone says an online church isn’t church. A great example of this argument is in a recent NY Times opinion piece where the headline was "Internet Church Isn’t Really Church.”

Mental health for me often feels like a rabbit hole of a topic. How mental health is medically classified confuses me, how people get diagnosed is not clear, and treatment can be messy. I believe online ministries can offer hope not only through Jesus, but through relational restoration by inviting them to join the community of a church’s online experience.