LIBERTY UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF DIVINITY
Assignment Title: How We Investigate Digital Ecclesiology
Course: CHMN 699 - Internship
Student: Kristine Sage
Date: January 29, 2022
Professor: Dr. Joel Breidenbaugh
How We Investigate Digital Ecclesiology
Digital ecclesiology was chosen as the title of this special issue of Ecclesial Practices in order to
highlight the need for greater exploration of the ways digital media intersect with contemporary church
life. Our goal is to offer insights from sociological, ethnographic, and media studies perspectives on
church practices related to the digital media use. The aim is to reflect from a variety of disciplinary
lenses on the current forms of online technology integration into church environments and how these
may and are informing contemporary missional, ecclesial, and liturgical practice. Our use of the phrase
digital ecclesiology here points towards the need for more scholarly analysis of how churches, church
institutions, and Christian communities engage with and respond to digital media and digital cultures.
This documentation of digital media practices then opens the door to more refined consideration of
theological and ecclesiological implications of this technological innovation.
The aim of this special issue is to create a platform for conversation around digital ecclesiology. By
offering articles that highlight concrete examples of how church institutions engage digital media, we
hope to focus our discussion on specific social and religious implications of their choices. We hope this
focus reveals common intentions and assumptions about the relationship between technology and the
church. In order to present a diversity of interdisciplinary perspectives, and not only on how scholars
from different fields conduct the study of the technological engagement of contemporary churches, care
was taken in selecting and inviting papers for this special issue. The intent was also to highlight the
variety of social, cultural, and theological tools used to assess the ethos and culture created when digital
media technologies are used in missional and ministry contexts.
Articles in this special issue offer several comparative examples related to how Protestant, Catholic,
and non-denominational churches engage digital media in the usa, UK, and Germany. By offering such a
survey, we can compare and contrast the similarities in church media strategies, the ways digital media
shape church identity, and how churches see their relationship to ‘secular media’ culture. By offering
examples from both the American and European context, we seek to show readers that while variation
exist in churches’ media strategies, these are often informed by common perceptions of how the church
sees technology.
In summary, digital ecclesiology is used in this special issue to argue that churches’ social
structures, cultural relationships, and theological understanding are all being informed by the
technological landscape, even when churches attempt to avoid or limit their contact with digital media.
Together, these articles provide an overview of the different methods, theories, and questions that
scholars can use to study the formation of a digital ecclesiology. The collection also calls for needed
interdisciplinary inquiry in order for churches and religious organizations to fully understand and be able
to consider the implications of their engagement with digital media and culture. I suggest that along
with the article featured here, a multi-faceted exploration of the digital and the church and their current
intersections is needed before one can offer a definitive answer to what a digital ecclesiology is, could,
and/or should look like. Overall, the articles in this special issue highlight common trends in churches’
technological practices, areas of contestation raised by the digital mediation of church institutions, and
how scholars seek to analyze these new types of ecclesiastical practices.
Overview of Contributions
We begin with an exploration of how digital media tools and environments are used by churches to
shape and present their church’s religious identity. In ‘Technological Liturgy and Mediated Identity in
American Multisite Churches,’ attention is given to these practices in multisite churches located in the
Philadelphia, PA, area of the usa. This is because multisite churches are typically heavily dependent on
technology for running their services and facilitating aspects of church life, thus providing diverse
examples of technology integration and decision making about using media to frame their story. Zachary
Sheldon, Jhane Gibson, Giannina Gutzman, and I investigate the digital performances of religious
identity of multisite churches, which are churches that meet in multiple locations. We argue technology
plays a key role not only in facilitating their church services, but also in shaping members’ and visitors’
understanding of what church is within these contexts. This investigation leads us to study closely
churches use of digital media to uncover the factors such churches need to consider about their use of
digital media in order to ensure they are communicating cohesive and consistent identities in online and
offline aspects of their church.
Next, we look at another study of technology integration and decision making in an American
evangelical context. ‘Brazos Fellowship: A Case Study in Digitally Mediated Liturgical Design’ focuses
attention on how technology use can shape liturgical design. Adam Bajan argues most churches in this
context are more motivated by the functionality of digital media than ecclesiological concerns when
making choices about media integration. Through an ethnographic study at a medium-sized evangelical
church in East Central Texas, he observed the fact that decisions made about the liturgical design were
primarily shaped by motivations of pragmatic purpose related to the orchestration of the service;
demographic outreach goals, as technology use is seen as necessary to draw new members; and
strategic design, as technology offers new opportunities for controlling and facilitating emotive
experiential worship. In this way, the decision making of churches of this type can be seen as rooted in
an instrumental, pragmatic desire to connect with congregants in a manner that is linked to previous
experience with secular digital culture and commercially available digital technologies.
Then the article ‘Reshaping Offline Community in the Image of Online Experience: The Impact of
Digital Media on Church Conflict in the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh’ investigates the use of social
media networks for church discourse in the state of Pennsylvania. Christopher Craig Brittain and Andrew
McKinnon consider the extent to which online communication helps address or contribute to inter-
church conflicts. Through a detailed ethnographic study of digital media use within the Episcopal
Diocese of Pittsburgh, they map how social media use heightened ideological and theological tensions
between Anglican and Episcopalian church groups in Pittsburgh. This shows how digital media may
enhance disunity amongst church members when they are left to their own devices online, and how
attempts at intervention by church leaders may not be given the same weight in the online setting.
We then move to explorations of digital media use by churches in the German context. This begins
by asking how religious organizations like the Roman Catholic Church engage and respond to media in
cultural contexts where society and religion are shaped by the process of mediatization. In other words,
they are shaped and informed by logics of how media function and communicate. This means religious
organizations are forced to adapt to secular communication processes, which frame not only the
presentation of their messages, but how they are presented to their external public. To investigate these
conditions, Kerstin Radde-Antweiler and Hannah Grünenthal use what is called a communicative
figuration approach to study both sides of church media-related practices. Attention is placed not only
on studying situations in which media are used, but also when media are not used and the implication of
these choices. ‘The Roman Catholic Church as a Religious Organization in Times of Deep Mediatization in
Germany’ explores Church decision-making media practices and the opinions of three different groups
within the German Catholic Church about church engagement with media, as well as attitudes towards
secular media and religious media the church produces. By mapping differing responses and media
practices, the authors show how media engagement offers different actors new levels of religious
participation, while raising concerns about how media representations may build disconnection from
religious centers of church life.
Next, we turn to an exploration of the reaction of the Evangelical Church in Germany (ekd) to
digitization practices within the church. Ilona Nord, Thomas Zeilinger, and Katharina Alt investigate the
social and cultural challenges triggered by digital media integration that sought to transform churches’
practices and environments. ‘Digitization in the Evangelical Church(es) in Germany: Exemplary Insights’
spotlights examples of how the ekd governing church body and three of its member churches have
experimented with digital media in worship and mission setting—experiments that have raised a myriad
of technical, cultural, theological questions. The experiments demonstrate the need for churches to
consider in detail how technology solutions can have unplanned effects on the church setting,
stimulating deep ethical and theological discussions. The authors consider how these integrations raise
broader concerns about how digitization alters established structures and ethical outlooks.
We then move to the British context, where Steve Knowles explores the unique media-engagement
history of the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church (pbcc), formerly known as the Exclusive Brethren.
This small, introverted Christian evangelical sect exists in tightly bounded connexional communities in
which they seek to separate themselves from mainstream culture. The rise of new media platforms in
the past decade has played a central role in disseminating (mis)information about the group from
disgruntled ex-members. Due to these narratives and external pressures, the pbcc has recently
undertaken a re-branding exercise to improve their public image, one forcing them to engage with
media forms they have long sought to separate themselves from. ‘Media Engagement for Public Benefit:
The Case of the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church’ spotlights how churches may be obliged to interact
with media to both protect their reputation and enhance their ability to interact with wider society.
Finally, we move from the exploration of how specific church contexts have responded to and
engaged with media to consider what churches might need to consider when preparing the next
generation of leaders for service in the church. Kyle Matthew Oliver, Stacy Williams-Duncan and
Elisabeth Kimball tackle the challenges and opportunities new media spaces pose to religious leaders
and educators in ‘Digital Literacies for Ministry: A Qualitative Study of Theological Educators Preparing
Students for New Media Engagement.’ This article presents evidence from an interview-based study of
theological educators actively engaged in teaching ministry students technological skills and preparing
them for a new era of ministry with experiences of online engagement. Based on this work, they outline
seven key digital literacies needed by contemporary ministers preparing for church leadership in the 21st
century era of digital media. This work provides a useful guide for discussing not only essential
technological skills needed by a new generation of ministers in a digital society, but also how church
structures and practices might need to adapt or be in conversation with attributes of digital culture and
how they might challenge or inform ecclesiological processes and practices.
