The Holy and the Hybrid: Navigating the Church's Digital Reformation
Coming in September 2022 from Fortress Press
The digital reformation accelerated Friday, March 13, 2020. Confronting a locked-down economy and a rapidly changing world, church leaders quickly cobbled together virtual worship services, assuming faith communities would be apart for only a few weeks. As weeks stretched into months, however, leaders began to acknowledge that there was no going back to a previous normal, to a time of mostly in-person faith communities.
In The Holy and the Hybrid: Navigating the Church's Digital Reformation, Ryan M. Panzer helps church leaders develop hybrid ministries through aligning the shared mission of the church with the collective values of our tech-shaped culture. The goal of the book is to help build communities that serve as the hands and feet of Christ simultaneously online and offline.
Church will be at its best, Panzer argues, when we begin our conversations on technology not with apps or IT infrastructure but with values. The more we embrace the value of collaboration in particular, the more missional our faith communities will become and the more effectively we will equip communities for faithful service.
"We take up this work," says Panzer, "not for the sake of relevance or trendiness but for the sake of the gospel, not to promote institutional vitality but to form disciples." With his guidance, church leaders will feel confident coaching their communities through this time of great change.
"The Holy and the Hybrid" is now available for pre-order wherever books are sold!
Grace and Gigabytes:
Being Church in a Tech-Shaped Culture
Now available from Fortress Press
Revolutions in technology disrupt culture. They specifically disrupt processes of cultural “meaning-making” related to faith and spirituality.
We are living through a powerful revolution of digital technology, culture, and spiritual thought, one that has
profound implications for ministry and church leadership.
In this cultural moment, we learn and we know through questions, connection, collaboration, and creativity - the core values of the digital age. Meanwhile, church leadership remains stuck in
an era defined by broadcast communication, connection in physical spaces, and concentrated authority.
More than any digital tactic, like a new website or blog, church leaders need to make decisive cultural changes if they are to reverse the narrative of digital age decline and stagnation.
Published in 2020 by Fortress Press, "Grace and Gigabytes: Being Church in a Tech-Shaped Culture," explores the effects of digital culture on faith and spirituality. Based on interviews with ministry innovators, the book provides a blueprint for true digital transformation.
"Grace and Gigabytes" is now available wherever books are sold!
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