Chapter 1 of 15 · 30,000 Feet Thinking
Why Should a Church Think Digitally?
Chapter 1, “Think Digitally,” from Online Church Is Not the Answer by Jay Kranda
Short answer: Because digital is where the people you're called to reach already live, and because even the internet needs the physical world. This chapter makes the case that your church can't treat digital as an add on anymore, and that thinking digitally doesn't mean abandoning the room.
What is this chapter about?
I open the book with my own story. I came to faith at thirteen in the middle of a lot of family chaos, and 2 Timothy 4:7 became my verse. I bring that up because thinking digitally as a church leader matters for two reasons. First, in 2000 a thirteen year old Jay would have been at the skatepark or at his friend Sean's house. Today that same kid is scrolling whatever platform is relevant this month. We have to figure out digital because that's where God's unreached people are. Second, we're called into the mess. Jesus "had to go through Samaria" in John 4:4, the unclean place his religious culture avoided. So what digital place or tool is your modern day Samaria, the one you default to "no" on because it feels unclean?
Then I try to burst a bubble. The internet isn't all online. It runs on servers sitting in buildings, on server farms scattered around the globe, on cables somebody laid on the seafloor. Meta and Netflix care very much about the physical world because if a server goes down the experience is terrible. Your church is the same. Your physical church and your digital expression of church need each other, and the more you embrace that the better both get.
I also make a case for the word digital over online, internet, or cyber, and I use my marriage as the picture. Jody and I text all day (70 percent of it is GIFs and Reels), but we still come home to the same house. Digital strengthens the in person relationship. It doesn't replace it. The chapter closes with Cindy, who found us online from Japan and ended up getting baptized in a bathtub in the Bay Area by a volunteer named James I trained over Zoom. Online to offline is possible if you connect the pieces.
What are the big ideas?
The chicken comes first, and that's your local in person church. The egg is the digital strategy. Don't build something online that isn't connected to an in person goal. Digital is both a place and a tool, which is why the word confuses people. And there is no solo Christianity, even for the person who only engages with you online. Our job is to shepherd them toward the fullest expression of church over time, not to gatekeep them out of it.
Who is this chapter for?
The leader who still defaults to "no" on a platform because it feels dark, and the leader who is all in on digital but needs language to bring the rest of the team along. If you've ever been told "the internet isn't real life," this chapter is your answer.
What is the Big Idea of chapter 1?
Big Idea: We need to figure out digital because it's where our people are at and we are called to go, and even the internet needs the physical world.
What else do people ask?
What does Jay mean by "the internet isn't all online"?
The internet depends on physical servers, buildings, and undersea cables. Online companies invest billions in the real world. In the same way, your church's digital strategy has to stay connected to a physical, local church paradigm.
Why does the book use the word digital instead of online church?
Online is vague and usually shrinks the conversation to streaming a worship service. Digital covers your website, social, ads, courses, online groups, YouTube, and everything else, which forces you to think about the whole strategy instead of one segment.
Does thinking digitally mean replacing in person church?
No. The book argues that in person community is the biblical bar and that digital is a tool to drive real world spiritual fruit. The marriage illustration is the model: digital strengthens the relationship, and you still come home.
What is a modern day Samaria?
Any platform or tool a church avoids because it feels unclean. Jesus went through Samaria on purpose. The question the chapter asks is which digital space Jesus might want your church to redeem.