26/6/20: I've just pre-recorded this (via Zoom) for the Australians stream of this online conference, so that they can watch whilst I'm asleep.

1. Dr Bex Lewis @drbexl
Senior Lecturer in Digital Marketing
June 2020
The International Association of Chaplains in Higher
Education
Building a Presence Online
https://stockfresh.com/image/3940801/faith-hope-and-love-on-digital-tablet

2. "If you want to build a presence in the
social media platform, then you need to
be present."
- @unmarketing

3. http://www.churchgrowthrd.org.uk/blog/churchgrowth/growing_churches_in_the_digital_age
Image: Flickr
For many churchgoing is no longer the ‘cultural
norm’. People don’t actively ignore the church:
they don’t even think about it. Matthew 5:13-
16 calls us to be salt and light in the world …
With literally billions in the digital spaces, the
online social spaces presented by churches
need to be appealing, welcoming, and not look
like they are just an afterthought: they are now
effectively the ‘front door’ to your church for
digital users, and you ignore those spaces at
your peril.

4. How can the church be a leading light within our society, if we are
seen as irrelevant, refusing to engage with the latest technology?
Can we lead by example, and show that we are not afraid to
experiment, not afraid to fail? If we’re not in the digital spaces, the
latest ‘public square’, then we can’t offer an ‘example’ to influence
the wider world. We need to be part of people’s everyday
conversations, and not just arriving when we have a message to
‘sell’. Sharing our everyday lives, in which stories of humour and
vulnerability are particularly powerful, allows us to connect –
including with journalists, who find spaces such as Twitter a useful
hunting ground for stories, and to build up trusted relationships
with potential contributors to stories.
Lewis, B. (2017), ‘Social Media Fast for Lent? Not for Me!’, The Medianet,
https://drbexl.co.uk/2017/03/07/blogpost-social-media-fast-lent-not-themedianet/

5. Bex Lewis: Church Times (26/6/20)
‘Theological questions have been raised. Are ‘holy
spaces’ places that have been consecrated for
worship, or is it simply wherever people gather
(including online)? Are ‘holy people’ required to
be physically present for specific liturgies, or can
more be translated online? Submissions to the
Premier Digital Awards show that many churches
have improved their online presence, but the
pandemic has presented new issues.’

6. https://medium.com/@craigphilbrick/co
ronavirus-digital-tools-for-discipleship-
80ea4dd7970e

7. https://oaktrust.library.tamu.edu/handle/1969.1/187891

8. Online Church?
‘It may be possible to set up an online mega-church
of millions of people but it is more likely that a
long-term online Christian community will be small
and quiet rather than large and exciting, and may
not be understood by the wider Church…the
commonest question I am asked about online
church is ‘What do you do?’ and it is hard to explain
that we don’t ‘do’ church – we are church to each
other, despite the lack of sacraments or a building,
because we are committed to each other’s
journeys in the faith and in Christ’s love.’
Smith, P. Online Mission and Ministry, 2015, Introduction

9. An ‘every member ministry’
[If we are…] means by which God
communicates and reveals himself through his
Spirit, then our blog posts, status updates,
tweets, artistic images, and online comments
should be products of a life transformed by
Christ and indwelled by his Spirit. As restored
image bearers, our online presence and activity
should image the Triune God.
Byers, A. Theomedia: The Media of God and the Digital Age,
2013, 196

10. But the fruit of the Spirit is
love, joy, peace, patience,
kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness and
self-control.
Galatians 5 22-23 (ESV)

11. My dear brothers and sisters, take note of
this: Everyone should be quick to listen,
slow to speak and slow to become
angry, because human anger does not
produce the righteousness that God desires.
James 1:19-20 (NIV)
https://stockfresh.com/image/6628352/email-send-button

12. http://bit.ly/SurvSocFaithSocMedia
Phelps-Roper (2017) is an interesting example of managing conflict online. Formerly a
member of the controversial Westboro Baptist Church, she used Twitter to share the
message, typically finding users “the digital version of the screaming hordes I’d been
seeing at protests since I was a kid”. However, when some “friends on Twitter stopped
accusing and started asking questions, I almost automatically mirrored them. Their
questions gave me room to speak, but they also gave me permission to ask them
questions and to truly hear their responses”. Their behaviour fundamentally changing the
dynamic of their conversation, challenged her thinking, and she left the church (marrying
one of her Twitter respondents). Phelps-Roper has left her early conversations visible on
Twitter, because she didn’t want to whitewash her history, with her TED talk drawing
attention back to tweets that might otherwise have become invisible.’
Lewis, Bex. 2018. Social Media, Peer Surveillance, Spiritual Formation, and Mission: Practising Christian Faith in a
Surveilled Public Space. Surveillance & Society 16(4): 517-532.

13. Disinhibition
“.. People find it easy and more
comfortable to ask questions about
faith in a private space online… people
on social media are directly contactable
in a way that has not previously been
so easy; paradoxically there is a
distance offered by the online
environment akin to the screen in the
confessional box” (p18)
Taylor, B. Sharing
Faith Using Social
Media, 2016, Grove
Books

14. Before you post….
Photo by Paolo Nicolello on Unsplash
• God
• Parents
• Younger Kids
• Employers
• Newspapers
• Your worst
enemy

15. Vision & Values
• What is important to
you?
• What do you stand for?
• What do you stand
against?
Photo by Nathan Lemon on Unsplash

16. https://tweakyourbiz.com/marketing/social-
media/2020-techniques

17. Theological and Practical Actions & Questions
• How do we role model engaging online with grace?
• Rather than ‘returning to normal’, what can we learn from this
time (asynchronous? access with disabilities? who is left out?)?
• Social media focuses on ‘listen’, so listen …
• What is the cost of not engaging online?
• Where do you need to put your energy? Is there too much on ‘the
Sunday morning sermon’?

18. Connect further:
http://drbexl.co.uk/
@drbexl