Postmodernism is dead or at best dying and has been replaced by a new cultural paradigm claims many philosophers, writers, and art critics. Though there are many philosophies and theories on the nature of this new cultural paradigm, it appears that whatever is coming after postmodernism is largely being defined by global advances in technology and the increased interaction of people via digital media. Central to the philosophy and worldview of any cultural paradigm is a search for truth and how that truth needs to be appropriately communicated. The ways in which truth and meaning are understood and communicated evolve from one cultural paradigm to another; and the roles of the author, text, and recipient likewise change to fit the new form of communication. Much has been written about contextualizing the gospel story for a modern and postmodern culture, but very little has been written about contextualizing the message and meaning of the gospel story for a post-postmodern, digital c...

This paper seeks to answer the question, “What is the church’s role in communicating the gospel message in the context of postmodern culture?” It will incorporate the three significant areas presented throughout the course: gospel, church, and culture. In doing so, this paper aims to provide a holistic response to the thesis and provide how the gospel’s message can be communicated to the postmodern culture.

The medium of evangelization has been evolving in the last four centuries. From oral, print, to digital media, the transmission of the Gospel progresses along with technologies. Outlining the shift in these last few centuries, this paper highlights the increasing significance of digital media as tools of evangelization and examines the translatability of the Gospel in a different medium. This paper employs the methodology of digital theology, that is, in what ways does digital media alter or transform theology, to examine the linkage between social media and Christianity. More specifically, this paper will evaluate in what ways evangelism is enabled or hindered by digital media in three aspects: (I) materiality; (II) authority; and (III) communications. Mindful of the debates about materiality online, especially those related to the Eucharist, the paper investigates the different responses of Christian congregations on this matter. Drawing studies from digital theologians, this paper also discusses in what ways the authority of the Church shifts due to equal participation from all parties—whether from pastoral leaders and lay persons. Building on this aspect, the paper also takes into consideration different forms of communications among Christians, both within and outside churches, that may shape the dynamics of evangelism. Finally, this paper employs the theology of Stanley Hauerwas, an American Methodist whose theology has been hugely shaped by Catholic ecclesiology, to argue for the importance of Christian witness online and reflect on the concepts of Church and world in the digital sphere.

What does it mean to contextualize the gospel in a post-Christendom society? What is the influence of media and pop culture on the perception that many people have of God? These are some of the topics explored and discussed in this short paper.

The Mediahood of All Receivers: New Media, New ‘Church’ and New Challenges This paper will examine new media efforts that focus on issues of faith through Stuart Hall’s cultural studies perspective and through the theological framework of the priesthood of all believers. Through textual analysis of various new media efforts by Emergent church members, this will use the priesthood of all believers to explore the ways new media changes the relationship between pastor and parishioner and church and world. The final portion of the paper will discuss the implications of new media for the church in the future. The Emergent church movement is of special interest because it is a cross-denominational, cross-national movement of Christian believers that has grown up in the postmodern age and has specifically come into prominence through new media like the Internet. It is still in its beginning stages, with many discussing its outlines but few actually putting the philosophy into practice. The theological perspective of the priesthood of all believers is particularly apt because of its implication that all Christians have direct access to the throne of God. Through a variety of new forms of media production, notably weblogs, podcasting, and digital arts software, individual believers have opportunity to express their views on faith and practice without the screen of the minister. Likewise, ministers can propagate their views on issues of contemporary import to the entire world, much as Martin Luther expressed himself through the 95 Theses nailed to the door of the Wittenburg church. A suitable perspective from which to examine Emergent church new media efforts is that of Stuart Hall (also known as British cultural studies). Hall and his compatriots at the Birmingham Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies (CCCS) took a stand for defining “culture” as the everyday life of people within a society, contra traditional views of “high” culture as the only worthwhile culture, and argued that this “culture” deserved study within the academy. Moving beyond that basic assertion, Hall argued forcefully against what could be considered the predominant paradigm of communication research as it existed in the United States at the time (Hall, 1993). As Hall’s interests were in culture, how it is formed and how it is maintained, he took a natural interest in the media. Hall viewed the media as having an ideological role in the ‘reproduction of dominant ideologies’ (Hall, Critcher, Jefferson, Clarke, & Roberts, 1978, p. 60). The media performs this role through “structural imperatives” that determine what version of reality gets reported. Even as various news outlets produce somewhat different outlooks on the news, all of these outlooks exist within “certain distinct ideological limits” (Hall, Critcher, Jefferson, Clarke, & Roberts, 1978). Within the church, therefore, the culture of the parish, the theology and hermeneutic of the denomination, and the privileged “structural imperatives” of the pastor and leaders work to frame “distinct ideological limits.” If the paradigm of the mediahood of all receivers is useful, then at least some of the cultural importance of media will blunt the emergence of new “receiver” voices that propose and champion oppositional readings of the dominant media’s ideological role. Recent skirmishes between blogs and mainstream media outlets demonstrate that there are powerful countervailing decoding patterns - left and right - that battle with the encoding provided by the media system. Likewise, the Emergent church movement itself is an example of often countervailing voices rising through new media outlets to challenge dominant paradigms of praxis and theory in the western church. This phenomenon works to short-circuit the organizational tendency to restrict debate on issues, even when those organizations claim to foster debate and constructive discussion. Understanding the media usage of new generations is important for any religious organization. Understanding how those media efforts can challenge the dominant schema of any religious organization is crucial.

In the twenty-first century churchgoing is no longer the ‘cultural norm’ for many in the UK. People don’t actively ignore the church: they don’t even think about it. For churches, websites and social networks such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Pinterest have now effectively become the ‘front door’ to billions of digital users. As Sara Batts research has shown us, many churches are finally starting to get that the online landscape is important, but still need convincing that something more radical is needed than a new website, as opportunities have arisen to embrace a more social ministry, where to ‘love your neighbour’ may include those from anywhere in the world. The ‘digital age’ brings the opportunity for a wider range of voices to contribute to conversations: many online will engage with ‘church’ through their friends rather than formal Christian organisations. In 2010 ‘The BIGBible Project’ emerged to encourage those at all levels of the Christian sector to engage with digital culture, and to consider what this means for Christian communication practices, in a culture in which messages are both ephemerally ‘in the now’, and perpetually available. Technologies have changed what is possible, and for many churches over the last few hundred years a model of passive, presentation-piece services has been adopted, heightened even more by a broadcast mode of media that we all got used to with the TV and the radio. Social media, however, offers much more space for questioning, and for congregations to actively engage with sermons through tweeting along, checking something on their online Bibles or Google, sharing photos of church activities, or being encouraged to continue discussions hyper-locally throughout the week through a Facebook group. The BIGBible Project emphasises that disciples live at all times for God, whenever and wherever, and therefore all Christians need to take seriously their presence both online and offline. This paper will draw from over 2,000 contributions made to the The BIGBible blog, where over 120 Christians from across the ecumenical spectrum have contributed thoughts as to how discipleship is affected (and can affect, particularly, behaviours) in the digital age and the digital spaces.

Faced with this “sign of the times” in the COVID-19 pandemic, it is important to reflect on two issues that affect theological and ecclesiological aspects of the relationship between the churches and the digital environment: the notions of communication and community.