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Developing a Unique, Authentic Voice for Digital Ministry

There are two essential elements to successful personal digital ministry: presence and voice. Our presence as digital ministers should be compassionate, engaged, inspiring, accessible, and informative, but above all it must be real. It must be an authentic representation of ourselves as real human beings and as ministers. The cultivation of a distinct voice helps to distinguish us among the cacophony of voices in social media communities. In this chapter, we will describe what this “real presence” looks like and share examples of ministry leaders and congregations that are bringing a well-defined presence and distinctive voice to bear in their ministry.

KEITH RECEIVED SOME SAGE ADVICE before beginning parish ministry. That wisdom applies to digital ministry:

I had just been ordained as a pastor and called to my first congregation. The responsibility of that office was weighing heavily on me, and I wondered whether I was up for the job. One evening, I shared my worry with my good friend, Knute, who gave me some of the best advice I’ve ever received about being a pastor, before or since: “Keith, people just want a pastor who’s down to earth, that they know cares about them.”

Of course, I knew that. I had heard and experienced that truth in countless ways throughout my preparation for ministry. However, in my anxiety about being responsible for a parish full of souls, I was overwhelmed with all that I had to do and be to fulfill the pastoral office. Not surprisingly, I had completely overcomplicated the matter. Knute’s advice called me back to a simple truth about ministry: hokey as it may sound, we are most effective when we are down-to-earth, real people—when we are ourselves. In the midst of my anxiety, I could hold on to that. I could do that.

Many people feel anxious about embarking on the journey into digital ministry. Doing ministry in the digital media landscape described in the previous chapter feels to many like a new kind of call in a strange new land— one with different patterns of behavior, relationships, etiquette, and modes of communication that require us to develop new skill sets. It can be both exhilarating and disorienting.

With all the tools now available to us, and with the responsibility of being a minister in a new unfamiliar digital space—one in which many parishioners or community members are more advanced than we are—we worry about whether we can manage it all. In our anxiety—before we even jump in—we may debate the proper boundaries about friending people from our church, how many pro files we should have, how much time to spend (all of which we will discuss later in this chapter). Most of the time, we focus on the terms of engagement rather than actually engaging with members, friends, and our community.

Knute’s advice is salient here: “People just want a pastor who’s down to earth, that they know cares about them.” In whichever way you choose to participate in digital media, and with however much time you commit, this has to be at the center of your digital ministry.

“FRIENDING”

“Friending” is the practice of inviting people into your network on Facebook. The noun became a verb as people accepted requests and asked others to be Facebook friends.

“Friending” has joined the common lectionary beyond Facebook, especially among teens and young adults, who now often “friend” one another face-to-face as folk from “the days of yore” would speak of “making friends.”

See Chapter 3 for more on using Facebook in digital ministry.

“Keeping it real” in this way is both good pastoral practice and the most effective way to engage people in digital social media locales.