Private Social Networks: The New Church Building Of The Digital Age?

In the Digital Age, physical and digital experiences have begun to intersect in ways that were once unimaginable. The church has been one of the primary institutions to feel the impact of this change. What was once a purely physical experience has now become a hybrid experience of an interplay between physical and digital experiences. Many people have objected to the digital church, arguing that we cannot build community and relationships digitally. However, I believe that this objection is limited. I believe that there is a way to harness the strengths of digital technology and the connectivity of physical gatherings to create a community more than a mere centralized event on Sunday. In this blog post, I will argue that private social networks are the 21st Century equivalent to the church building of the last 1700 years!

The local church, until the digital age, has always been centered around physical spaces. It is a place where people gather to worship God and build community. The problem is that the physical church is not always accessible to everyone. The Centrality of the Building excludes many in the 21st Century from finding and developing the strong anchor of community that our culture is desperate for. For example, there are many people who cannot physically attend church on Sunday due to work, family, or other commitments. Additionally, there are many people who live in rural areas where there is not a physical church nearby.

The digital church has the potential to reach these people in ways that the physical church cannot. Furthermore, in a highly mobile culture, it is becoming less tenable for us to have only one centrally located event to connect all of our community. We may not be able to get our minds around digital ministry, but this fact is intuitive for most churches as many have moved to a multi-site model to rectify this limitation in our methodology. However, digital platforms take this decentralization to a new level and many are uncomfortable with the thought, and wrongly assume digital church leaders shun the physical gathering of the saints. This couldn't be further from the truth!

While the church will ALWAYS have a face-to-face component, we must begin to shrug off the limited belief that a faith community is ONLY physical AND geographically bound. Paul seemed to not see it that way as he readily communicated with certain faith communities what the Kingdom Communities in other cities were doing to care for believers in other parts of the world as if they were all an interconnected network of one body-- not separate communities divided by geography, worldview, ethnicity, or (name your differentiation here). They had less access to relationships with Jesus Followers in other places than we do today yet, he didn't have trouble seeing them as a connected network. He never thought that because the Church in Corinth will NEVER see the Church in Philippi they aren't really part of the same community. That thought process began with scholars who wanted to quantify the anatomy of a local expression of the Church through the eyes of scripture and, in the process, placed man-made limitations on expressions in the name of Ecclesiology-- not based on Scripture.

The primary objection to the digital church is the idea that we can't build community and relationships digitally. However, this objection is limited and is contrary to many studies that are revealing that online interaction enhances the feelings of the intimacy of those who meet face-to-face, and vice-versa. The truth is that online relationships are legit and real, and while they have some drawbacks to being physically present, the same can be said for physical presence. Rather than seeing these two realities as competing, we need to begin to see them as complementing forces for building community. We need to begin to harness the ability of digital platforms to create a community that has the ability to connect and disciple beyond one day per week. We need to begin thinking about connection, and relationship building the way culture thinks about it so that we may enter culture to reach culture with the message of Jesus. That is why we must rethink our approach to gathering in the digital age. While buildings will always have a function, they should not be the primary function of the church.

Jesus said his followers would worship in Spirit and in Truth-- not based on a centralized system of buildings and rituals, and he NEVER commanded us to create events in the name of gathering. Jesus called us to make disciples, not non-profit organizations. These aren't evil, but we should only spend time working in and on these organizations only if they fulfill the primary role of making disciples. Let's not fool ourselves if we care about the physical building, the event, and the programs, at the expense of making disciples. As times change we need to stay focused on our primary mission and bend our resources to bow to the mission rather than get sucked into the pressures of preference. When we get distracted with preference, disruption occurs as new methods give rise to more effective means of accomplishing our intended outcomes.

So, how will we stay connected in the digital age as we move further away from the centralized paradigm of the Church? Private social networks are one way to do this. Private social networks are online communities that are only accessible to members. They are similar to the physical church in that they provide a space for people to gather and build community. However, private social networks have the added benefit of being accessible to anyone with an internet connection. This makes them much more inclusive than the physical church, which is limited by geography. They also have the added benefit of being a safe haven from the loud "town square" feel of Social Platforms that trade attention for dollars and arbitrarily throttle the reach of community leaders for financial gain.

Private social networks also have the benefit of being able to provide a space for people to gather and build a community around common interests, while also giving leaders access to their whole community at the click of a button. Private Social Networks like the Mighty Networks (the one we use at DCN) give the ability to monetize for courses and affiliates opening up a funding structure for the church that they have been unfamiliar with in the past. Creativity and innovation are at the forefront of the application of these private social networks, but it is a risk, and risk is something that the physical church has always struggled with. The physical church is limited in its ability to meet people where they are because it is focused on a Sunday morning worship service. Private social networks are not limited by time or location, which makes them much more flexible and adaptable to meet the needs of their members. Imagine a church that has more events than they ever could because they empower an army of small group leaders to lead, and still have the ability to connect and monitor the spiritual progress of every member of the church.

They are more inclusive, more flexible, and more adaptable to meet the needs of their members. If you are looking for a way to build community and relationships in the digital age, private social networks are a great option.

It's time for churches to start thinking outside of the box when it comes to community building. The physical church is no longer the only option, or even the best option, for many people.

What do you think? Do you believe that private social networks have the potential to transform the church in the Digital Age? Let me know in the comments!