Halfway through writing the original newsletter, I decided it would make a way better nerdy sermon, so catch the actual topic for today, October 16th. But a day late doesn't have to mean a dollar short - after all, this is free!
Actually, let's talk about that. There is a real challenge behind digital ministry and traditional funding models. Now, even in conventional contexts, a newsletter is free. That's not really what I'm getting at here. But I am working through the concept of social (and digital) capital. That is to say - if you wanted to support Checkpoint or any other digital church, what would that look like?
Aside from the obvious donor pages and sponsorships through hosting apps, the best thing we have on the Internet is ourselves.
You may not even realize it, but you hold much power in your hands. And I'm not talking watts. We have over 500 subscribers on YouTube. If all 500+ 'liked' and commented and shared our latest Cyberpunk video, we would skyrocket in search engine optimization. We have over 1100 on Twitch. We'd be up with literal industry leaders if we had 1100 concurrent viewers on Twitch. The same goes with Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram; pick your poison. We hold so much power in our number - but we rarely use that power for good in the church. After all, a cat meme is way more fun to share.
If and when you see a post somewhere from Checkpoint, consider the capital you have in the palm of your hands. Consider helping us reach more eyeballs by giving it that platform's version of the thumbs up. Even better, comment and engage with it. Even better, could you share it on your pages? Even better, please send it to someone in a private message because you think they specifically need to see it. The truth behind digital ministry is that it is outright connected to real, breathing human beings. We may feel like pawns in the social media conglomerates' hands (and we sort of are), but we can also own some algorithmic goodness.