The Church Digital Podcast

Jeff Reed
  • 5.0 (19)
  • Christianity
  • Biweekly

Church Online is relatively new, and while many churches are broadcasting services online, few are developing a digital strategy using Church Online. What if your church looked at Church Online as a digital mission field? What if church online was used to create biblical community? For church planting? For launching multisite campuses? Can discipleship happen online? What if we used Church Online to make disciples, empowering them with Gospel to reach their family and friends? All of a sudden, Church Online isn't an afterthought. It's vital. This, and more, through The Church Digital Podcast.

  1. 6d ago

    EP381: Gathered and Scattered: Drs. Stephen and Mary Lowe on the Biblical Case for Digital Ministry

    Is digital ministry biblical? Dr. Stephen D. Lowe, Professor of Practical Theology in Liberty University's School of Divinity, and his co-author Dr. Mary E. Lowe join Jeff Reed on Becoming theChurch.digital to talk about their new book, Biblical Foundations for an Ecology of Digital Ministry, which came out the day before the show. Steve argues that the question isn't whether digital ministry works but whether it fits the mission of God. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob built altars across Canaan, Jesus went to Tyre, Sidon, Samaria and Decapolis, and today, he says, we can plant digital altars in digital spaces. He also makes the case against the superiority of the physical gathering: the ascended Jesus ministers to us now from a distance, interceding for us. Mary says the line between real life and virtual life is a misnomer for her students, that telling your story persuades a skeptic better than arguments do, and that the question to ask is how we build relationships, online and in person. They also get into baptism and communion in the New Testament, what digital ministry gets wrong, what seminaries learned about distance learning that churches haven't, and the one chapter a skeptical pastor should read. In Steve's words: "It's not a pragmatic issue. It isn't a matter if it works. The more important question is, does it fit? Does it fit the mission of God?" CHAPTERS 0:00 Welcome, and Scattered through 1 Peter 3:25 Meet Drs. Stephen and Mary Lowe, and their new book 12:57 Hold the rope: where seminaries stand on digital 19:36 Tradition, Scripture and an innovative early church 22:24 How to talk with a skeptic: tell your story 29:18 The next decade: does it fit the mission of God? 35:44 When is digital the wrong play? 40:50 Baptism, communion and the church in homes 49:55 Is physical better? Ministry at a distance 54:57 What digital ministry gets wrong 58:27 What seminaries figured out that churches haven't 1:06:05 The future of denominations 1:12:58 One chapter for a skeptical pastor 1:18:18 Closing thoughts Follow the Lowes: Dr. Mary E. Lowe: https://www.instagram.com/marylowe2014/ · https://www.facebook.com/mary.adamslowe · https://x.com/maryloweLU Dr. Stephen D. Lowe: https://www.instagram.com/steve.lowe.49/ Going deeper: The book: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0HH1ZFT58/?tag=thechurchdigital-20 (As an Amazon Associate, theChurch.digital earns from qualifying purchases.) What is a digital missionary? https://thechurch.digital/guides/what-is-a-digital-missionary/ Church online: https://thechurch.digital/guides/church-online/ Hybrid church: https://thechurch.digital/guides/hybrid-church/ --- This season: Scattered, one Bible study through 1 Peter for the whole digital church, at your own pace, with a short devotional every morning. Optional live sessions Tuesdays at 5:00 PM ET on Twitch: https://thechurch.digital/scattered/ Becoming theChurch.digital is the show for church leaders figuring out digital ministry in public. https://thechurch.digital @bethechurchdigital Full notes, chat and shorts: https://thechurch.digital/381

  2. Oct 21

    EP380: The Power of Negativity: How It Clouds Our Thoughts and Keeps Us From God

    Correction: I got this one wrong. About 8 minutes in, I said the Christians who first read 1 Peter were hit by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. They weren't. Vesuvius is in Italy and erupted in 79 AD. Peter wrote to believers in what's now Turkey, in a letter usually dated to the 60s. The volcano near Cappadocia is Mount Erciyes, Argaeus in Peter's day, and there's no record of it erupting in their lifetime. I repeated an Ai answer on air without checking it first. That's on me. Jeff Negativity has power, and none of it is good. This week Jeff Reed goes solo on Becoming theChurch.digital and talks about the difference between the depression he has lived with and the negativity that festers, takes him to a dark place and spills onto the people around him. He walks through three things negativity does in Scripture. It limits: Jesus' hometown takes offense at him, and he moves on (Mark 6). It isolates: soon after fire falls from heaven, Elijah sits under a broom tree and asks to die, and later tells God he is the only one left (1 Kings 19). It destroys: grumbling opens the door to complaining and worse (Numbers 21, Philippians 2). Then what to do, since you can't just stop negative thoughts: put something in their place, with prayer and thanksgiving and thinking on whatever is true and lovely (Philippians 4). In Jeff's words: "If you're doing digital missions, if you're a digital missionary, if you're in digital church, don't do it alone." CHAPTERS 0:00 Welcome, and Scattered through 1 Peter 11:11 Depression is not the same as negativity 18:06 Negativity limits: Jesus in his hometown 25:55 Negativity isolates: Elijah under the broom tree 37:55 Two are better than one: don't do it alone 41:20 Negativity destroys: grumbling 53:06 You can't just stop negative thoughts 1:00:58 A gentle answer, and pray for me 1:08:59 Next week: Dr. Stephen Lowe Next week: Dr. Stephen Lowe, professor of practical theology at Liberty University, Wednesday at 2 PM ET. Going deeper: Care for online pastors: https://thechurch.digital/guides/online-pastor-care/ What is a digital missionary? https://thechurch.digital/guides/what-is-a-digital-missionary/ --- This season: Scattered, one Bible study through 1 Peter for the whole digital church, at your own pace, with a short devotional every morning. Join here: https://thechurch.digital/scattered/ Becoming theChurch.digital is the show for church leaders figuring out digital ministry in public. https://thechurch.digital @bethechurchdigital If you're struggling with thoughts of suicide, you're not alone. In the US and Canada, call or text 988. Anywhere else, find a free helpline at https://findahelpline.com/ Full notes, chat and shorts: https://thechurch.digital/380

  3. Oct 14

    EP379: The Third Invitation: XtianNinja on Caring for Digital Missionaries

    Who cares for the people doing digital ministry? XtianNinja, who pastors on Twitch, was a preacher for 16 years before he started streaming full time five years ago. On Becoming theChurch.digital he tells Jeff Reed how other Christian streamers kept stumbling into his stream with no support and sometimes no church, and how that led to the two roles he holds now: content creator and digital community maker with Power to Change Canada, and director of missionary care for Hope Digital Missions. They talk about what counts as a digital missionary, why the people doing it are hard to find and rarely funded or connected to a local church, the steps between an online ad and a mentor that most strategies skip, why churches keep saying no, and whether missionary care can scale. XtianNinja reads the great banquet in Luke 14 as the job: the third invitation goes to the highways and hedges, to people who did not know there was an invitation. And he offers some hope from how churches once treated sports on a Sunday. In XtianNinja's words: "We as digital missionaries are reaching people nobody else can reach." CHAPTERS 0:00 Welcome, and the Scattered devotionals start Monday 4:10 Why the ninja: Matthew 6 7:03 From preacher to Twitch, full time 13:37 Pastoring the Christian streamers 20:30 Where digital missionaries really are 32:10 What counts as a digital missionary 35:59 The steps between an ad and a mentor 38:37 When churches say no 40:45 Can missionary care scale? 49:08 The highways and hedges 54:41 Some hope from sports ministry 1:00:22 Where to find XtianNinja, and closing thoughts XtianNinja's site: https://xtian.ninja Going deeper: What is a digital missionary? https://thechurch.digital/guides/what-is-a-digital-missionary/ Church on Twitch: https://thechurch.digital/guides/church-on-twitch/ Digital missions in gaming: https://thechurch.digital/guides/digital-missions-in-gaming/ --- This season: Scattered, one Bible study through 1 Peter for the whole digital church, at your own pace, with a short devotional every morning. Optional live sessions Tuesdays at 5:00 PM ET on Twitch: https://thechurch.digital/scattered/ Becoming theChurch.digital is the show for church leaders figuring out digital ministry in public. https://thechurch.digital @bethechurchdigital Full notes, chat and shorts: https://thechurch.digital/379 If you're struggling with thoughts of suicide, you're not alone. In the US and Canada, call or text 988. Anywhere else, find a free helpline at https://findahelpline.com/

  4. Oct 7

    EP378: TCD Fall Town Hall 2026

    What did the network tell theChurch.digital, and what did we build because of it? Town Hall 2026.4, theChurch.digital's fall Town Hall, live on YouTube and Twitch. Jeff Reed walks through the fall survey: who answered and where they minister, how they are really doing, who they talk to when digital ministry is discouraging, what would most move their ministry forward, and whether TCD's teaching is shaped too much by American assumptions. Then the launches, each answering something you said: Here I Am, One-to-One conversations with TCD's leaders (with a video from Jason Morris), Scattered, a study through 1 Peter for the whole digital church (with Flatcap), Cairn, TCD's Ai, and three ways to serve. Chaplain Stacy Knapp and Flatcap close in prayer. In Jeff's words: "You may be exiled, you may be scattered, but don't forget what you are is chosen." CHAPTERS 0:00 Pre-show 17:09 Welcome to Town Hall 2026.4 22:52 The survey: where you are 25:10 Who answered 27:27 The platforms you minister on 30:36 How you are really doing 33:37 Discipling people who don't know Jesus yet 35:50 What would move your ministry forward 38:19 When leadership limits digital ministry 39:29 Is TCD too American? 42:30 Who you talk to when it's discouraging 45:00 The riskiest thing in your context 46:43 What you wish TCD would do 52:11 Here I Am 56:05 One-to-One 59:25 Jason Morris on why One-to-One 1:02:24 Scattered: a study through 1 Peter 1:04:16 Why 1 Peter 1:06:58 Flatcap on Scattered 1:13:50 Cairn 1:20:18 Serve with us 1:25:07 Prayer with Stacy Knapp 1:31:15 Wrapping up The survey results: https://thechurch.digital/townhall/results/ Here I Am: https://thechurch.digital/hereiam/ Book a One-to-One: https://listen.thechurch.digital/ Scattered: https://thechurch.digital/scattered/ Ask Cairn: https://thechurch.digital/cairn/ Serve with us: https://listen.thechurch.digital/serve This season: Scattered, one Bible study through 1 Peter for the whole digital church, at your own pace, with a short devotional every morning. Optional live sessions Tuesdays at 5:00 PM ET on Twitch: https://thechurch.digital/scattered/ --- Becoming theChurch.digital is the show for church leaders figuring out digital ministry in public. https://thechurch.digital @bethechurchdigital Full notes, chat and shorts: https://thechurch.digital/378 If you're struggling with thoughts of suicide, you're not alone. In the US and Canada, call or text 988. Anywhere else, find a free helpline at https://findahelpline.com/

  5. Oct 1

    EP377: A Global View of Platforms as Places with Jason Morris

    What does it mean to treat a platform as a place? Jason Morris, theChurch.digital's equipping and mobilization director, had just taken his "Platforms as Places" talk to mission leaders at the Missio Nexus conference in Orlando. On Becoming theChurch.digital he tells Jeff Reed how the room responded, and walks through the four digital disruptions he landed on preparing it: consistency, proximity, permanency and immediacy. They talk about why consistency, not geography, is what builds culture now; what the gathering is actually for; why mission organizations should budget for platforms the way they do mission fields; Jesus as the church's chief technology officer; ministry without proximity, from Paul to 2 John 12; whether theChurch.digital feels too American; new AI tools for missionaries; and Jason's closing case for digital obedience: if you disciple someone digitally, make their obedience steps digital too. In Jason's words: "Jesus is our chief technology officer as he is building his church." CHAPTERS 0:00 Live by accident, and back from Missio Nexus 4:51 Four digital disruptions: consistency builds culture 11:38 Gather for what? 16:13 Platforms as places, on the Missio Nexus stage 24:21 Jesus as CTO 30:05 Joy without proximity, and 2 John 12 39:53 Too American? A survey and a WhatsApp ask 41:33 153 Collective and AI tools for missionaries 51:45 Digital obedience: prayer-walking a feed 56:34 After the show: why we're listening one-on-one His DMC session, Platforms as Places: Rethinking the Digital Map: https://youtu.be/_wqNF3cmWlU Going deeper: What is a digital missionary? https://thechurch.digital/guides/what-is-a-digital-missionary/ Online discipleship: https://thechurch.digital/guides/online-discipleship/ Theology of digital church: https://thechurch.digital/guides/theology-of-digital-church/ --- Becoming theChurch.digital is the show for church leaders figuring out digital ministry in public. https://thechurch.digital @bethechurchdigital Full notes, chat and shorts: https://thechurch.digital/377 If you're struggling with thoughts of suicide, you're not alone. In the US and Canada, call or text 988. Anywhere else, find a free helpline at https://findahelpline.com/

  6. Sep 30

    EP376: The Stream Ends. Then What? Arno Pretorius on Church That Keeps Going

    The stream ends. Then what? Arno Pretorius, founder of Kingdom Spaces (Next Is Faith) in South Africa, has spent two years and about 2,800 hours building an answer, largely on his own. On Becoming theChurch.digital he tells Jeff Reed what he found when he looked at how churches actually work week to week: not a lack of technology, but tools so fragmented that the Sunday gathering and the rest of the week feel like different churches. They talk about the person who has watched a church's YouTube thirty or fifty times and still isn't connected to anyone, why notes are the feature churches underestimate most, turning anonymous viewers into people who are known, the 250,000 hours of church content that go up every Sunday, why the church should own its own platforms, and what accountability looks like in a digital church. Arno's advice for a church whose stream ends with nothing after it: decide what the stream is for. Jeff's: if he led a church under a hundred people, he'd double down on digital. In Arno's words: "I would say success is if we can convert those anonymous people into people that are known." CHAPTERS 0:00 Welcome, and next week's Town Hall 7:18 Meet Arno, and a call into digital ministry 14:09 What Kingdom Spaces is: one church, not two 18:02 Two years building alone, and a digital ark 20:21 What churches actually lack 24:24 The stream ends. Then what? 27:54 Notes: what churches underestimate most 33:21 Bad days, and how many AI agents 44:45 Success: from anonymous to known 50:46 250,000 hours of church every Sunday 54:19 Why the church should own its platforms 58:40 Coaching churches, and what accountability means 1:08:00 First advice: know why you stream 1:10:54 Small churches should double down on digital 1:17:10 Chat in the room and online 1:23:46 Closing: the gap between Sundays Kingdom Spaces: https://kingdom.online Follow: @kingdomspaces · @nextisfaith Going deeper: What is a digital missionary? https://thechurch.digital/guides/what-is-a-digital-missionary/ Hybrid church: https://thechurch.digital/guides/hybrid-church/ Church online: https://thechurch.digital/guides/church-online/ --- Becoming theChurch.digital is the show for church leaders figuring out digital ministry in public. This season: The Listening Tour — less broadcasting at digital ministry, more listening to where it actually is. https://thechurch.digital/guides/what-is-a-digital-missionary/ https://thechurch.digital @bethechurchdigital Full notes, chat and shorts: https://thechurch.digital/376

  7. Sep 23

    EP375: Platforms as Nations: Dr. Sam Hayes on Digital Missiology

    Digital platforms now hold more sustained human gathering than the streets of most nations. So what happens when the church stops treating them as tools, and starts treating them as mission fields? This week on Becoming theChurch.digital, Jeff Reed sits down with Dr. Samuel L. Hayes Jr., author of Global Digital Missiology: A Framework for Christian Leadership in the Digital Age (ElevateInk Academic, 2026). THE BOOK Sam's book, with a foreword by Jeff Reed, gives digital ministry what it has mostly been missing: a missiology. Grounded in research with apostolic leaders across six continents, it lays out the Nine Processes of Global Digital Engagement - how to build the plan, develop the team, and execute the strategy - so digital mission is strategic rather than accidental. https://amzn.to/3T5Dxq1 WHAT WE'LL TALK ABOUT - Why platforms function like nations, and what "make disciples of all nations" means when a nation is a platform - The Nine Processes, and where most churches skip straight to posting - Stewarding physical-first churches through digital change, and unleashing digital-first ones - Who pastors and equips the digital missionary ABOUT SAM Dr. Samuel L. Hayes Jr. is a retired U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel who spent 25 years in Special Operations, enlisting as a private and retiring as an O-5. He is Co-International Director of the International Coalition of Apostolic Leaders, leads His Glory International Ministries, and teaches management and leadership — as adjunct assistant professor of management at Fayetteville State University and as doctoral chair for the school of business at Liberty University. He holds a Doctor of Global Leadership from Fuller Theological Seminary, where his doctoral research first crossed paths with theChurch.digital, and lives in Fayetteville, North Carolina. https://www.samuelhayes.org https://kingdomstrategistpro.com --- Becoming theChurch.digital is the show for church leaders figuring out digital ministry in public. This season: The Listening Tour — less broadcasting at digital ministry, more listening to where it actually is. https://thechurch.digital/guides/what-is-a-digital-missionary/ https://thechurch.digital @bethechurchdigital CHAPTERS 0:00 Welcome, and remembering Steve Reed 6:16 A new fall season, and a partnership to pray for 8:39 Town Hall, October 7 9:28 Time zones, and the events calendar that fixes them 10:26 Meet Dr. Sam Hayes 12:50 Why write a five-year academic book on digital missiology 17:05 Writing for the seminaries that aren't listening yet 18:37 Platforms as places, platforms as nations 21:44 The mother, the gamer, and the bishop on Discord 24:50 The surprise in the data: every leader had a digital native 26:34 A person of peace inside the platform 27:32 APEST: digital pastors, digital apostles 29:40 Talking to a pastor who isn't sold 32:45 The shadow side: data extraction and vulnerable people 36:30 Vanity metrics, and a year spent earning a church's trust 37:15 A success story from Africa 42:50 Steve's story: the people group he already had 50:12 Three horizons for a physical church 55:17 Avatar churches, and who actually gets persecuted 59:36 Trained for one war, facing another 1:03:54 A Bible study coming: Peter, and a scattered church 1:05:35 What should a church not do digitally 1:09:50 All you need is a cell phone 1:10:59 Next week: Arno and Kingdom Online Full notes, chat and shorts: https://thechurch.digital/375

  8. Sep 16

    EP374: The Listening Tour Begins: Platforms Are Places

    Episode 374 launches the Listening Tour. For the rest of 2026 Jeff Reed wants to stop broadcasting at digital ministry and start hearing from the people doing it, from Africa, Pakistan, India and Southern Asia to churches here in the U.S. theChurch.digital is rebuilding, money is tight, and he takes a line from a Kansas City microchurch leader as the rule for the season: don't create anything until you really need it. The big idea is platforms as places. Using digital to get people into a building is no longer radical in 2026. What still is: treating Twitch like Argentina and Discord like Paraguay, and equipping and sending missionaries into platforms the way an agency sends them into countries, because platforms have culture. Jeff also lays out a healthy church digital strategy, evangelism, discipleship, generosity and empowerment, and the long road of solving a church's problems before it trusts you with the ones you care about. Then it gets personal. The digital missionaries struggling most are the ones living inside a platform, facing persecution from Christians who say the church doesn't belong in virtual reality, and doing it alone. Jeff is candid that he was one of them: a year of depression and isolation, a season of pushing God away, and the moment he told a missionary who was praying for him that he didn't need more prayer. What brought him back was a question from his leadership, is this yours or is it God's, and the conviction that if God gets the successes, God gets the failures too. He closes with a word for anyone in the field who feels alone, and a preview of the Listening Tour guests: authors on digital missiology and theology, success stories, and people who are struggling and willing to say so. Full episode page — transcript, chapters, and the live chat alongside it: https://thechurch.digital/shows/becoming-thechurch-digital/ep374-platforms-are-places/ Going deeper: What is a digital missionary? https://thechurch.digital/guides/what-is-a-digital-missionary/ Caring for online pastors: https://thechurch.digital/guides/online-pastor-care/ Hybrid church: https://thechurch.digital/guides/hybrid-church/ The EDGE framework: https://thechurch.digital/guides/edge-framework/ CHAPTERS 00:00 Old lo-fi and a tired week 06:05 Launching the Listening Tour 08:15 Don't create it until it's needed 10:37 Wings with a global mission leader 13:37 Click-and-mortar churches 16:28 Platforms as places 20:29 You're not wrong, you're early 23:35 A healthy church digital strategy 28:02 Persecution from inside the church 32:53 Depression and doing what God asked 38:05 Apostles, shepherds and teachers 41:29 Nobody should do this alone 43:24 A year of isolation 46:25 Carrying the missionaries 49:52 God gets the failures too 51:15 Is this yours or God's? 53:51 What my family has carried 57:54 Still early: be encouraged 1:00:49 Next on the Listening Tour ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ JOIN THE FAM 💬 Discord — https://discord.thechurch.digital/ 📱 WhatsApp — https://whatsapp.thechurch.digital/ MORE FROM THECHURCH.DIGITAL 🌐 Website — https://thechurch.digital 📺 Subscribe — https://www.youtube.com/@bethechurchdigital FOLLOW Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/bethechurchdigital/ Facebook — https://www.facebook.com/bethechurchdigital ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ theChurch.digital exists to empower the rest of us to make disciples. Beyond the building. The great commission, but digital. #DigitalMinistry #DigitalMissionary #ChurchOnline #BecomingTheChurchDigital #DisciplesMaking #ChurchTech Full notes, chat and shorts: https://thechurch.digital/374 If you're struggling with thoughts of suicide, you're not alone. In the US and Canada, call or text 988. Anywhere else, find a free helpline at https://findahelpline.com/

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Church Online is relatively new, and while many churches are broadcasting services online, few are developing a digital strategy using Church Online. What if your church looked at Church Online as a digital mission field? What if church online was used to create biblical community? For church planting? For launching multisite campuses? Can discipleship happen online? What if we used Church Online to make disciples, empowering them with Gospel to reach their family and friends? All of a sudden, Church Online isn't an afterthought. It's vital. This, and more, through The Church Digital Podcast.

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