The Digital Front Porch and Real Church

Early in the pandemic, I attended a meeting when we could barely accept the realities that we would not be having in-person church for the entirety of Lent and likely Easter. After a discussion about moving services toward online options, one of the leaders in that meeting said, “that isn’t real church.” Perhaps she was right on some level but missed the ministry opportunity lying right before us.

We are a denomination that loves our traditions. We have held on to candles as a lighting mechanism far beyond their useful life. Gathering in person with fellow Christians to have fellowship, break bread and continue in the Apostle’s teaching is central to our understanding of our faith. However, what do we do when that in-person gathering becomes potentially a vector of deadly disease? This old traditional denomination pivoted to a new reality or caught up to it.

The Digital Front Porch has been a reality for a long time. The internet made its way into the academy and research communities first with email and listservs. It was then morphing into new and exciting neighborhoods, from AOL to MySpace to Facebook and everything in between. Our communities around us thrust themselves into this new reality sometimes reluctantly. The church did, too, in many ways, but sometimes we still argue over who doesn’t have email and how they will get the newsletter.

The pandemic shifted everything. Almost every church I know has a digital presence with some streaming capabilities. Now the work of figuring out the community and living in different spaces simultaneously begins. We now have a Digital Front Porch and a Real Church online. What next?

The first is learning who is meeting on the front porch. During the most difficult moments of the pandemic, it was pretty much our only gathering space. Now, as in-person services restarted, what is happening, and who is gathering in that space?

The congregation I serve has done a couple of surveys and listened to our members about these new options. We were surprised by some of the feedback, and others seemed intuitive:

• Potential new members used the digital community as the first threshold to cross when considering joining our community.
• Our more feeble and shut-in members found joy in still being able to feel a part of worship and community.
• Young parents found they could still get spiritual nourishment on their schedule.
• Travelers feel more connected when they can’t make it to service by participating in the online community.
• People could return to aspects of worship during the week to relisten or consider the sermon and readings again.

The most surprising thing was more than 60% of our respondents reported their participation in the church had increased substantially. Some said that they were participating in in-person or online church weekly for the first time in their life. AND that they felt more intimately connected to their faith community.

This old, traditional church has a lot of work to do as we continue building our new digital spaces. The pandemic has shown us new ways to gather in fellowship, break bread, and continue the Apostles’ teaching. It seems the Digital Front Porch is certainly Real Church, and while many of the old ways of gathering will continue- the blending of the two is creating new and vibrant community. 

Learning Forte’s Digital Ministry Initiative, in partnership with LEAD, with funding provided in part by a leadership grant from Trinity Church Wall Street.

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