This question seems to be coming up for me a lot in the past few weeks. I had lunch with a friend of mine I hadn’t seen in a few years, Lisa 1 (since she’s older than me — she came first). We talked a lot over lunch about many things, but one interesting thing was doing ministry online. It’s Lisa 1′s belief that we can’t really do ministry online though I think we were talking about counseling. I definitely agree that deep, spiritual counseling needs to be one-on-one, face-to-face. Then last week I read Face to Face vs Modem to Modem over on Mary DeMuth’s blog where she was asking the same question.
I guess it depends on how you define ministry. Is ministry limited to delivering food to a family who’s dealing with sickness or death? Is ministry limited to prayer requests only from people you know in person? Can you only minister through writing books? from speaking in front of people? Is it possible to only do one ministry?
You can’t limit God.
When I look back over the past few years, I can see plenty of ways I’ve done ministry online or received blessings from other people doing ministry online. Witnessing to Heather, praying for her and just chatting about my beliefs and hers. When it got to a certain point though, I thoroughly encouraged her to speak to a real, live pastor face-to-face. I encouraged her to go to church, to interact with other Christians. We desperately need that face-to-face support too. But you can’t lessen what I did just because I did it online, and you also have to take into account it wasn’t really me doing anything. God did it all. I was just open to Him using me in that way.
I believe in everything we do, we should strive for balance. It’s hard — very hard to do. We should have a balance of face-to-face interactions and online interactions. God can use all of it. I see many women online who become addicted — you might say I’m one of them. They would rather tweet with their buddies than spend time with their families. There are many homes that are struggling with that. Tear yourself away from your computer and spend a few minutes with God — first thing in the morning — before checking tweets, Facebook statuses or blogs. It will help you work towards balance.
How cool is God that He’s helping me learn about all this balance stuff just this week? Because of my online doings, I had contact with Patsy Clairmont to get tickets so I can take an offline friend to Women of Faith. He’s stretching me and getting me out of my comfort zone. Because honestly, I’d rather hide behind my computer. I’d rather just sit here and write to some unknown person rather than put myself out there in person. I might be rejected. I might be made fun of. He’s working through it all. He’s working in me. He’s working in my offline friend, and He’s working in Patsy.
So enough of my rambling, tell me what you think. Do you do ministry online? offline? How do you even define ministry? Do you struggle with the balance?
Of course you can do ministry online! I was in full-time vocational ministry as a children’s pastor for 5+ years before my kids were born. And now that I’m online and “out” of ministry? I know waaaaay more non-Christians now. Actually, let me rephrase that—I have MORE non-Christian friends than ever before. These are people who like me and respect me. I’ve never had that kind of a relationship before.
And the questions I’ve answered or the emails I’ve replied to b/c I’m a Christian? It’s real ministry. Just in a different way. And because the INTERNET is a way of American life now—we BETTER be able to do ministry online! Or we will be missing out!
Great post, Lisa!
I agree wholeheartedly with oh Amanda… My writings on my blog are my way of ministering to those who read it. The umpteen emails that I receive and answer are my ministry. The IMs and Skype conversations that I have with my readers are my ministry.
Just because it isn’t face to face doesn’t mean that it isn’t “heart to heart”…
When you limit what true ministry is… you limit God. And I, for one, do not ever want to limit Him
-H
Yeah, God can use the technology to minister to others. I experienced it just the other day. (blogged about it…”No Match for God”) You cannot limit what God can do!
Very interesting discussion. Face to face is best, but… I like the web for reaching out to those who are not Christian, previously Christian, maybe people who were damaged by chruch or even anti-Christian, as some of my readers are. I want to be in relationship with them, offer them no-strings encouragement, a laugh, whatever I can and the web facilitates that for me because frankly, I live in a bubble and rarely connect with people who aren’t just like me. I think when we think ministry, we think the sisters, but I’d like to see us do a better job reaching beyond the bubble.
Aww, I think Lisa might have misunderstood my remarks at lunch the other week! My situation is much different than hers, mostly because I work as a minister
I’m an assistant pastor for a 1200-member church; I’m one of three pastors. None of us clergy has much time to spend online – frankly, most of our time is spent in the field doing visitation at hospitals, nursing homes, and the homes of congregants. We often serve communion during visitation, and of course that’s something that can’t be done online.
We also do a lot of work in our community that requires face time. I do a Bible study at one of our nursing homes, and also a monthly communion service at a nursing home. And I can’t hug my little ladies online
We offer counseling at church, and in doing so I’ve encountered people who have been hurt by misinterpretation of emails and/or blog postings. I just had a recent phone call about this very thing, where one of our congregants was hurt by something posted online.
I also told Lisa my opinion is that counseling (as opposed to giving advice) shouldn’t be attempted online, especially to strangers. This can often cause more damage than good. There are people out there who misrepresent themselves, or come from a spiritually misinformed place that can cause great distress in someone else’s life – not to mention that there are people trying to counsel online without the requisite training and credentials. To me, that’s just scary.
But that’s not to say that the internet doesn’t have its place in most areas of modern life, and that can include ministry. Online devotions can be a great resource, and I personally love some of the Bible commentaries I read. They’re a great help to me sometimes.
There are also a lot of people who are afraid to come to church, or have had a sour experience at a former church, and for them, the computer’s a good way to explore God – which we all hope will lead to them coming to Christ. So the computer can be a good thing too, in its proper context, and in balance.
And it’d be awesome if we could do some of our mandatory clergy meetings online….. ooops, did I say that??
I have to say, though, that being a pastor, I see every day the importance of face-to-face relationship. Last Thursday I smoothed the brow of a woman who lay dying in the palliative care unit of one of our hospitals. Yesterday I officiated at her funeral.
I think it goes without saying that I could never had the privilege of ministering to this sweet woman and her family in any context other than face-to-face.
P.S. I forgot to mention I’m an introvert. And that’s not just my opinion; it was part of my psychological evaluation when I entered the ministry
God has a wonderful way of forcing us beyond our comfort zones.
OK, as a guy I guess I’m pre-wired for acceptance of technology so I’m going to agree with almost everything. But my perspective is somewhat different. The argument is always framed as a comparative, an “either-or” proposition…”which is better online or face-to-face?” (obviously the latter). That’s because people are afraid that if online ministry is accepted as valid, face-to-face might stop or be replaced by “cyber-relationships.” My perspective is that it adds to the Word of God in your life. My hunger is to hear God however and whenever I can, especially with my small groups and other connected followers. I’m not content with only hearing God speak to me, or sometimes through me, to others he’s put in my life just once or twice a week. I want that Early Church daily hook-up of fellowship…face-to-face if I can but I’ll take virtual in between. Would online fellowship cause me to stop face-to-face? No way! It makes me want to have it more. I agree, let’s not limit God but use everything possible to stay connected to Him and his Body!