Date

4-17-2024

Department

Rawlings School of Divinity

Degree

Doctor of Education in Christian Leadership (EdD)

Chair

Thomas N. Davis

Keywords

Digital Ministry, churchgoers, servant-leader, senior pastor, and technology

Disciplines

Religion

Abstract

This qualitative phenomenological study explores how churchgoers and senior pastors who are servant-leaders perceive the effectiveness, drawbacks, and opportunities of employing digital ministry in their churches as they attempt to develop healthy virtual relationships that maintain personal connections. The COVID-19 pandemic caused a change in churchgoers attending services in person. The government instituted social distancing and closures of businesses, schools, and churches. As a result, senior pastors engaged in creative ways using digital ministry to continue spreading the Word of God. While digital ministry existed pre-COVID-19, an increase occurred in response to the need to suspend in-person attendance. The theory guiding this study is the servant-leadership theory introduced by theorist Robert K. Greenleaf. In this study, the researcher defines digital ministry as using technological means for church ministry, including streaming services, social media, blogs, text, emails, telecommunications (video calling), and church websites.

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