We live in a world that is growing smaller with every passing second partially due to the rapid growth rate of technology. Communication platforms provided by the likes of Facebook, X, Instagram and TikTok give us access to information at the tips of our fingers that we would not have been privy to otherwise. Events that we would probably never have taken the time to write about in a letter are now taking up hours of our lives as we do what has been aptly deemed doom scrolling.
Even though we may find ourselves being caught in these practices on a frequent basis, Gen Xers and Millennials will often engage in digital fasts where they turn off their phones and disengage from the waterfall of content being delivered to us at every moment. It has always struck me as an interesting practice because, at the end of that fast, we usually fall right back into it. This can create a vicious cycle and leave most who try to compete with it feeling defeated and disconnected.
Digital dependencies are being created and we, the Church, seem to have no answer for it. Or do we?
Most of us have been around for long enough to remember the rush of endorphins we received when greeted by those three small words, You’ve Got Mail! Even then, the process to log on to the internet even 20 years ago was a process that required a free phone line and time. For those of us who can remember the time when the internet had a definitive sound not unlike a theme song for a wrestler making their way to the ring, our memories are relics from a time when patience was more than a virtue. It was a way of life. Limited availability, data caps, time restrictions and accessibility limitations made online sessions quite a bit different than how we utilize less time in similar spaces today.
So, it is not completely unreasonable for those of us born in, as my children unironically say, the late 1900’s, to become fearful and increasingly uneasy about things like screen-time and web usage. This fear is not irrational or unfounded, but it may also be a bit skewed.
Where we may see evil lurking in the shadows of the unknown, Gen Z and Alpha are seeing opportunity and familiarity.
In the 2012 conclusion to Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy, Tom Hardy utters a line as one of the film’s villains Bane that has stuck with me for over 10 years now and will most likely live rent free in my brain for years to come. I think that the following quote will give us a framework for those who are growing up in this technological ecosystem and are being referred to as digital natives.
For you merely adopted the dark … I was born in it!
Without reading too much into the possible metaphor one could draw between the dark and the online space, what I’d like to draw our attention to is the fact that most of us in leadership positions, those of us with accountable influence with these emerging generations, have adopted the internet. There was a time before. Meanwhile, my oldest was born in 2012, five years after the advent of the iPhone that placed the power of the internet in the palm of our hands. What I hope that we can understand is that, while there is real and present danger in online spaces, there are multiple generations that are seeing how we have blazed trails creating both ministerial and evangelical pathways to spread the Gospel to the ends of the earth. Those same young men and women have within them the potential to do the exact same thing in digital spaces by taking a tool that gained it’s popularity largely in part due to creating access to woeful things like pornography and the illegal sharing of various types of media.
The beauty that is the redemptive process is currently alive in the hearts of millennials willing to put themselves out there and be the love of Jesus in digital spaces that elder generations would rather everyone just stay away from for fear of being caught up in the vices of this world that can keep us from the Savior we so desperately need. It is in those dark places where we believe the Light shines the brightest and we see a people far from God come to know Him in legitimate and intimate ways.
Churches are being built in digital spaces with vibrant communities who confess their sins to each other, take communion together, participate in corporate worship, profess faith in Jesus Christ and even follow Him in believer’s baptism. All of the things that we might expect of a physical church body we have seen and experienced in digitally. And it’s beautiful.
Lux Digital Church, for example, holds weekly services on Twitch, a livestreaming platform owned and operated by Amazon geared primarily toward nerd culture enthusiasts. This allows them to reach far beyond the context of their own influence with people seeing their livestream in a friend’s social media feed or even being recommended to them as something they may find interesting right there on Twitch. Pastor Mark Lutz and his team create a church experience specifically designed for an online audience with engagement pathways leading them to an asynchronous communication platform called Discord. There they will continue conversations, join Bible studies, play all kinds of games and continue building relationships in a church where the doors never close. It’s a modern equivalent of how ancient churches throughout Europe were situated directly in the town center—only the town center of nerd communities is Twitch, Discord, and board game conventions.
These simple yet effective approaches to ministry help them to reach people that would rather flirt with the gates of Hell than darken the doors of your local church.
While some of us may scoff at this approach to ministry, we should be celebrating and encouraging this kind of Kingdom work because it is no different in concept to what we support missionaries to do all over the world: reach the lost.
I once heard Andy Stanley, Pastor at North Point Community Church, say that if you want to reach people that no one is reaching that you need to do things that no one is doing. That very sentiment is at the heart of every great spiritual movement to unreached people groups. The alternative methods of ministry still have traditional roots, they just manifest in nontraditional ways and that is a good thing.
In 2018 I helped found a mission sending organization called Love Thy Nerd. Our mission statement is specifically vague: We exist to be the love of Jesus to nerds and Nerd Culture. This allows us to do the things that God is calling us to do in the ever-changing spaces that He calls us into. With brand new worlds being created each and every day in video games, virtual reality, in the tabletop space through world-building games like Dungeons and Dragons, and even in online communities built around niche tv shows that you will probably never hear about, these are also the spaces that Jesus is talking about when He issues the Great Commission in Matthew 25 before ascending into Heaven to prepare a place for us.
The ends of the earth refers to both the known and the unknown. The created as well as the yet to be created.
Jesus died once for all. We too often forget that this also means people who we would say waste their lives playing games, watching tv, reading comic or dressing up like fantasy characters. While it may not be your calling to go and be the love of Jesus to those people, it is important to know that it is the calling of others and you can be an encouragement to them, building them up and edifying the work of God in their life.
In an effort to help encourage both those called to this kind of ministry, and those who are already ministry leaders, to know how to better engage and empower the more nerdy contingency in their spheres of influence, we have created the Nerd Culture Ministry Summit. From November 12-14, 2024 you can join us at Glen Eyrie Castle in Colorado Springs, CO to be encouraged by some of the foremost thought leaders in the space today. We will cover topics like how to plant a digital campus, why video games may be the missing link in your young adults ministry, how tabletop gaming can foster discipleship in small groups, the importance of neurodivergence and it’s place in the church, and so many more.
If this seems like the kind of thing your church or ministry may be missing or interested in, please think about joining us or sending someone to NCMS. I can guarantee you that there are people around you that will benefit from the time spent hearing from professionals in the areas of their interests.
More info can be found at NCMsummit.com
