A live digital worshipping presence

The Very Rev Albert Bogle highlights the importance of embracing a long-term digital mission tool.

THERE is an urgent need for the Church of Scotland to embrace a cohesive digital mission strategy – one that will connect across the presbyteries of the church.

Currently, in the midst of all the mission planning, to the best of my knowledge, presbyteries have not been encouraged to produce local digital strategies for mission.

Some initial thinking around a digital mission strategy for the whole church started under the direction of the Faith Nurture Forum, but that thinking requires to be accelerated now that their work has been taken over by the Faith Action Programme.

The Sanctuary First team has been working on a model that could be a solution to bringing the presbyteries into an integrated digital platform, and we have started some informal conversations with presbyteries that might be in a position to begin to think beyond their restructuring and embrace the opportunities digital ministry offers. We hope this will be fruitful as we move forward in our planning. The digital revolution is not going to go away and church futurists are talking about up to 30 percent of Christians by the year 2035 engaging with their faith using digital devices.

Technology is galloping ahead of the church at an unprecedented rate, while we consider organisational structures that may, by our own admission, be redundant in less than five years. Are we neglecting digital tools that are going to be with us into the future? We must consider the function of our organisational needs now at this time and spend time and energy figuring out where the bridge is for us to transition into the future.

If the futurists are right, the one thing we can be certain of is the mission strategy of the Church of Scotland will always need to be expressed and manifested digitally, alongside the non-digital. At present this is not proportionally reflected in our staffing structures, financial budgets, strategic priorities or messaging. The recognition of the ministry of Sanctuary First as a digital platform for the church is an important step forward, however we, as a national church, need to understand its full missional potential and begin to put resources behind it in order to prepare the Church of Scotland to become a leading digital pioneer in ministry and mission.

Sanctuary First is a digital expression of the Church Without Walls Report which was enthusiastically received and endorsed by the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 2001. It is the organic expression of the local church reaching out to become a global digital ministry inspired by the report’s ethos and theology.

As well as a vibrant and connected worshipping community Sanctuary First has established global reach, sharing with the world a suite of discipleship, mission and worship resources from the reformed tradition. It has recently been emphasised to the forming Digital Ministry Advisory Group that Sanctuary First is a world leader in digital ministry and even more innovation is on the horizon with the possibility of SFTV as part of the functionality of its App.

Aspects of Sanctuary First are global but the Sanctuary First model has at its heart local connection, personal discipleship and relational mission. Growing this model would allow the Church of Scotland to continue to have a live digital worshipping presence across every community in Scotland. For example, Sanctuary First, in partnership with presbytery personnel, could help to equip and enable local digital ministry tailored to the local context.

Although Sanctuary First is only one digital expression of the national strategy of the Church of Scotland, it is the one that to my mind is most likely to develop in the direction of our vision to engage with the digital audience of 2037.