This document discusses a model for merging online and offline ministry. It presents three dimensions for online ministry: purpose, level of communication, and base of relationships. The purpose can be to bring people to offline church, plant an online ministry, or create/uphold contacts. Communication can be at the level of information, communication, or relation. Relationships can be based online, offline, or upheld online. These dimensions form a three-dimensional "room" to describe different aspects of online ministry. The model shows how online and offline ministry can be combined in churches through various online and offline activities and connections between them.

1. MERGING
&
Online
Offline MINISTRY
A model for Online Ministry and how the Online and Offline Ministry meet
Speech given on the 15TH EUROPEAN CHRISTIAN INTERNET CONFERENCE in Sigtuna
By Anders Tingström, Project Manager :: @webchurchgbg :: anders.tingstrom@svenskakyrkan.se
MERGING ONLINE AND OFFLINE MINISTRY :: ANDERS TINSTRÖM 1

2. Photos on front and page 4 from www.sxc.hu
Other illustrations by Anders Tingström
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3. Context
I WORK AS a Project Manager
in the Church of Sweden in
Gothenburg. The project is
called The Church’s presence
on other websites, meaning
other than the Church of Sweden
website. I will begin by giving a
brief introduction to the organi-
zation and the context I work in.
In Gothenburg there are 30
parishes and they are a part
of the diocese of Gothenburg,
which covers the entire west
coast of Sweden. The organiza- Church of Sweden in Gothenburg
tion is basically a traditional
episcopal one. Each parish has a The Church of Sweden in Gothenburg is a central administration
vicar, who is the pastoral leader for the 30 parishes.,
as well as CEO for the employ-
ees in the parish. Laity elect a When you depended on your currency Linden Dollar, have
parish board, a board of direc- dial-up link the online world was an exchange rate to the US Dol-
tors headed by a chairman. The for the most part completely sep- lar, your in-world money can be
parishes sort under the diocese arated from the offline world. exchanged to offline currency.
of Gothenburg, with the bishop You stayed online only for as Nintendo Wii is another example
as its leader and just like the long as you needed, since the on merging virtual and physical.
parish board there’s an elected phone bill was ticking and the Your physical movements con-
diocese board. phone line was busy. Today we trol your virtual in-game avatar,
The Church of Sweden in use voice and video calls while your Mii. Doing the exercises in
Gothenburg is an organization we’re online, and the phone line Wii Fit can be quite exhausting,
outside this pastoral structure. is not affected at all. And if the which the sports games in the
The 30 parishes in Gothenburg phone rings we don’t disconnect 1990s weren’t.
has a joint administration pro- our web access, but stay online.
viding service and handling Before the digital revolution Online church
certain matters that are of a city Mass media was a one way SEEING THIS DEVELOPMENT I can’t
wide interest. Online ministry is broadcast, but today the offline help asking myself – How do we
one such matter where a central media is just as much an online as a church relate to this? I think
resource was created in form of media. Today the morning news we can all agree on one thing,
the project. studios on telly have laptops, in- it’s not a question whether we
tegrating responses from social shall engage in online ministry
A long time ago... media in the broadcast. Parallel or not. The question is how we
… BACK IN THE 1990 S going on- to this there can be debates on shall engage in online ministry.
line meant sitting by your com- the Facebook page. The viewer And the next question is – How
puter, running the TCP-client, can have live communication does online ministry relate to
dialling up with your modem in with the news studio and also offline ministry? And based on
order to connect and start your with other viewers. the increasing merge of online
browser. Today the Internet is Computer games have also and offline, how do online and
available everywhere, you can merged with the offline world. offline ministry merge? I’ll
be online while you’re on the bus One example is the virtual world show a model I’ve developed to
using your mobile phone. Second Life where the in-world help us with this.
MERGING ONLINE AND OFFLINE MINISTRY :: ANDERS TINSTRÖM 3

4. Without considering the purpose the web is a very vast maze of resources and opportunities.
Three dimensions people end up in an online or tionships. Statistics from The
IN MY MEETINGS with the parishes offline ministry. Creating and McKinsey Study showed that
in Gothenburg three dimensions upholding contacts can be a 1 out of 8 couples in USA who
for online ministry emerged. purpose and if it brings people got married in 2007 have met
Each one represent one aspect of closer to God it’s a good thing. online. Match.com reported in
online ministry. April 2010 that it’s 1 out of 6.
2. Level of communication
1. Purpose • INFORMATION 3. Base of relation
The first dimension is the pur- This level refers to one way • ONLINE
pose of the online ministry. Your communication. Online contacts are the people
online activities will be very dif- • COMMUNICATION
we’ve never met offline.
ferent depending on your pur- This level refers to two way • OFFLINE
pose. Without considering the communication. In this model offline contacts
purpose the web is a very vast refer to the people we know
maze of resources and oppor- • RELATION
This level refers to when we offline and spend time with
tunities. offline, but also have an online
start forming relations with
• BRING PEOPLE TO OFFLINE CHURCH
our online contacts. And peo- contact with.
You can engage in online ple form all kinds of relation- • UPHELD ONLINE
activities aiming at bringing ships online, both professional, Most of the people I know who
people to offline church. friendship and romantic rela- have a Facebook account have
• PLANT AN ONLINE MINISTRY reconnected with old friends.
The purpose can also be to It can be former colleagues,
have online activities that are old school mates, friends who
meant to stay online. A person moved to another city. This is
may still join a local church, the kind of contacts that are
but it’s not the purpose for the upheld online. Without the on-
online ministry. line contact we wouldn’t keep
in touch at all.
• CREATE /UPHOLD CONTACT
There’s also the purpose when
you don’t really care whether
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5. Purpose Offline Uphold contact Online
Information Communication Relation
Level of Communication
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The 3D room
THE THREE DIMENSIONS form a
room. There are three “floors”
and each floor has nine rooms.
There are in total 27 “rooms”,
each one describing one aspect
of online ministry.
I will now give examples on
what these aspects can be. The
list can of course be longer than
the ones I give.
MERGING ONLINE AND OFFLINE MINISTRY :: ANDERS TINSTRÖM 5

6. Purpose Offline Uphold contact Online
Information Communication Relation
Level of Communication
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Purpose: Offline Purpose: Uphold/Create Purpose: Online
Online contacts Online contacts Online contacts
• Online advertising • Online mission outside the • Online parish
• Calendar, information about church website • Online prayer group
activities on the parish • Socialize on communities • Online bible study
website • Engage in forums
• Comment on blogs
• Write wiki articles
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7. Purpose Offline Uphold contact Online
Information Communication Relation
Level of Communication
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Purpose: Offline Purpose: Uphold/Create Purpose: Online
Online upheld contacts Online upheld contacts Online upheld contacts
• Online invitation to a • Birthday greetings on • Keeping in touch with
reunion for a confirmation Facebook to a member of an members of the parish who
class. old confirmation class, who have moved through a
• Personal invitations to never joined the youth parish fan page on
events and activities. group. Facebook or a forum on the
• Online contact with mission parish website.
partners and linked parishes
MERGING ONLINE AND OFFLINE MINISTRY :: ANDERS TINSTRÖM 7

8. Purpose Offline Uphold contact Online
Information Communication Relation
Level of Communication
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Purpose: Offline Purpose: Uphold/Create Purpose: Online
Offline contacts Offline contacts Offline contacts
• E-mail newsletter to • Online contact during • A parish community or
members of the parish holidays forum, where the parish’s
• RSS fees, twitter with • Set up pages on the major activities, sermons, ideas
information social media and invite the for coming events can be
members to join. shared. Contact between the
meetings in the church.
8

9. Merging online and offline ministry
Online
• Display the parish website, Facebook • Participating in social networks, blog,
page, Twitter feed, RSS feed somwhere write wiki articles
in the church. • have a community for the parish, where
• wi-fi. the sermon can be discussed and people
• Include tweets, posts in a forum in the can keep in touch between meeting in
sevice. the church.
• Integrate youtube clips in the service • Online advertising
• Talk to mission partners via Skype • E-mail lists, e-mail/SMS/IM reminders
of events
• Prayer requests sent online.
• Online mission and ministry
In the church building Other locations than the RL church
• Traditional activities - service, worship, • Church on the hospital, prison
choir, youth group • prayer groups meeting in homes
• Going out to the shopping centre, soup
kitchen, street priest/pub priest
• Advertising
Offline
ON THIS CHART I show how one to embrace online church, sup-
Further contact
parish can combine online and port those engaged in it, include
You are most welcome to
offline ministry. The online and them in their prayers, offer as-
contact me if you wish to fol-
offline world are not separated sistance when needed, learn how
low the progress of the work I
from each other. online ministry can improve off-
do in Gothenburg.
If they are considered as to line ministry.
separate matters we will most We are living in a world Anders Tingström
certainly see an increase of de- where the online and offline project manager
churched people, without any worlds are more and more merg- +46 737 73 87 57
contact with offline church. If ing. How does we as a church anders.tingstrom@svenskakyrkan.se
we believe that Christians are all handle this? webchurchgbg on twitter
a part of the Body of Christ need
MERGING ONLINE AND OFFLINE MINISTRY :: ANDERS TINSTRÖM 9