A digital footprint

The Very Rev Albert Bogle highlights the importance of accessibility in developing a missional digital strategy.

I’M consulting with others over what a national digital strategy for the Church of Scotland might look like. One thing I’m certain of, is that it will require local participation in the production of digital media that is relevant to our localities.

It also needs to be easily available and have a very low entrance ability if it is to succeed.

As we begin to reshape our geographical footprint on the ground, we will require to build our digital footprint in order to reach every corner of Scotland and fulfil the third Article Declaratory of the Constitution of the Church of Scotland, part of which reads as follows: “As a national Church representative of the Christian Faith of the Scottish people it acknowledges its distinctive call and duty to bring the ordinances of religion to the people in every parish of Scotland through a territorial ministry.“

This obligation that the church has set upon itself can perhaps only be fulfilled by embracing a greater commitment to developing a digital strategy that will enhance and promote the witness of our local congregations.

While social media has many moral and ethical issues to overcome, it is by far the most obvious platform that the local church can use to promote spiritual disciplines. One of the great sticking points of the parish church must be that it is rooted in a locality and has strong connection with the people in the locality even if these connections have been in the past. If a building is being closed, we need to ensure that there is a local digital presence available for connections to continue to be made.

A few years ago, one afternoon I took to knocking doors in the parish. I simply asked people if they had any topics for which they’d like prayer. To my amazement not one of the people refused to offer a topic for prayer and one person even asked me to pray along with them on the doorstep. Many never went to church in person but their family had a historical connection with the church.

Prayer is a sticky topic. It is because it is sticky it works on social media. For the past two years Sanctuary First has held an early morning prayer gathering on Facebook every morning at 7am . Agroup of 40 names appear regularly, as part of the live prayer feed. By the end of the day sometimes up to 200 people have logged in to pray from around the world.

If a local parish church made it known that morning prayers lasting no more than 10 minutes, and were being delivered to the people of a locality on Facebook live every day, I’m convinced that many people who have had an historical connection with the local church would find their way to the Facebook prayer time.

Prayer is part of our sacred heritage – our ministry is for the ‘up building’ of God’s people whereever they are. Digital ministry is a wonderful opportunity for the Church of Scotland to become a leading player in creating online material to nurture the people of God. Please pray for those of us tasked with finding a digital strategy that will enable us to fulfil the great ambition of the third article declaratory. ¤