The Original Vision: A Rummage Sale and a Question
“About every five hundred years, the church feels compelled to hold a giant rummage sale.” This quote from Phyllis Tickle in her book, The Great Emergence: How Christianity is Changing and Why, captures our moment.
We are in the middle of one of those giant rummage sales right now, where what we have held as sacred and dear is being questioned, and methods are being swapped for something new yet ancient; innovative yet classic.
When I first began thinking seriously about digital discipleship, it wasn’t because I was fascinated by technology. It was because I was burdened by mission drift. I saw churches becoming disconnected from the people we longed to reach because their methods hadn’t adjusted to meet people where they were. Digital engagement had become a way of life for many people, yet the church felt threatened by it rather than seeing it as a way to meet people where they lived online.
The Great Commission has not changed: “Go and make disciples.” Yet the way we have often organized our structures and people around that command has accumulated layers of sentimentality, tradition, and institutional preservation. Like clearing out my mother’s home after 38 years, I began to realize that the church, too, needed a rummage sale.
I began to ask: Where can we go to meet people who need to hear the Gospel? How do we make disciples today using all the resources available to us?
For decades, many churches equated discipleship with attendance, programming, and knowledge transfer. We systematized growth and created pathways. We filled calendars and held events. But increasingly, I saw a troubling gap: People were consuming Christian content without becoming transformed. We were inhaling deeply in God’s presence but rarely exhaling it into the world in a transformative way.
In Scripture, discipleship was never merely about acquiring information. A disciple followed a rabbi to become like the rabbi. It was a 24/7 formation, not an hour-long weekly event. It involved both receiving and giving. As I often define it, discipleship is becoming more like Jesus and helping others become more like Jesus.
The problem I was trying to solve was not technological; it was theological. The digital platform wasn’t the point. It was the tool to help us accomplish the point, which has always been about discipleship. How do we help ordinary believers live out the Great Commission in a world that increasingly gathers digitally? And what if digital spaces were not the enemy of discipleship but one of the clearest mission fields of our time?
What Has Happened Since: Fruit Across Miles
Digital Discipleship began in 2021, not as a strategy but as a simple act of obedience, showing up online with the gospel and inviting conversation. I was serving on a church staff as Multi-Campus Director. It was my job to plant new campuses of our church and ensure they aligned with our vision: people becoming more like Jesus. While I was ready to embrace new technology and ways to reach new people, the leadership at my church was not. They reluctantly allowed me to start an online campus after much pleading, but six months into the project, they wanted to pull the plug, saying it was not an effective ministry. They didn’t share my vision for what digital discipleship was doing and could do for people in the future.
I was sure of my calling and the direction God was leading me. So I left staff and found a new job that would allow me to continue this blossoming digital ministry. I have never looked back or wished I had made a different decision. Every day since then, I have been amazed at how God continues to show up in this work, and I am thankful for how we have grown and spread. We have connected with people from over 50 countries (we stopped counting) and reach thousands daily through our three ministries: The Online Chapel (daily discipleship), Becoming More (seasonal small groups for men and women), and Victory Children’s Outreach (a sponsorship program where we put our discipleship into action).
In my book, Digital Discipleship: Reimagining the Great Commission in a Digital World, I share stories of the people who have been part of our journey and helped shape the ministry we have become. One of the earliest and most formative relationships that emerged was with a young man named Frank in Mityana, Uganda. What began as a Facebook message I sent to Frank, “How can I pray for you?” became a global discipleship relationship. Frank was a 20-year-old orphan raising five younger relatives, also orphans. Through prayer, connection, and collaboration across continents, tuition sponsors were found. Stability emerged. Education resumed. But the true fruit was not financial provision; it was discipleship multiplication.
During a two-week school break, Frank prayed about how to serve God. He began visiting neighbors, sharing the Gospel, and praying with families. Within days, new members joined our WhatsApp group because of his witness. A woman in Georgia, whom I didn’t know but was living in my home state, met Frank through our groups and organized a fundraiser to purchase 100 Bibles for his community. The digital became embodied. The online became incarnational. Frank was not merely being discipled; he was discipling.
Similarly, Josh N., a young man in Jinja, Uganda, faithfully participated in our daily Bible reading and prayer rhythms. When he suddenly disappeared from our online community, we learned he had sold his phone to pay his siblings’ school fees. A friend located him in person. He was not forgotten. He was family and our community missed his presence. Later, Josh began attending a local church and brought others with him.
Digital Discipleship by the numbers:
- Facebook: 4.5K in the Online Chapel for daily discipleship and weekly worship
- Facebook: 1.6K in men’s and women’s Becoming More groups for seasonal small groups
- Facebook: 500 members of Victory Children’s Outreach, 110 kids sponsored for school
- WhatsApp: 500 individuals in 25 groups organized by geographic location
- TikTok: 2K followers for daily discipleship
The measurable fruit of digital discipleship has included:
- Daily Scripture engagement across multiple countries
- Live weekly prayer gatherings
- WhatsApp community for ongoing discipleship
- Sponsorship pathways that move from digital connection to tangible support
- Individuals moving from conforming faith to probing faith to growing faith
- Local church re-engagement sparked by online formation
But the deeper impact is harder to quantify:
- Isolation replaced with belonging
- Questions asked safely at a distance
- Ordinary believers activated as disciplers
- The Kingdom prioritized over individual congregational competition
Digital spaces have become places where inhaling God’s presence and exhaling love out into the world happen together.
Lessons Learned and Pivots Along the Way
1. Content Alone Is Not Discipleship
When we first started, we focused on planning content. We laid out plans and strategies for communicating the Gospel clearly to those who may be disconnected from a church. But we soon were reminded that content isn’t the point; discipleship is. And discipleship is built on relationship. We had to build ways to foster relationships through our content.
We began implementing a strategy for responding to questions and inquiries via private messages. We encouraged interaction by asking questions of people, not just communicating to them. We hosted live sessions where we could have real-time conversations with people. Content was not the point; it was a means to accomplish the point.
2. The Scarcity Mindset Is a Bigger Obstacle Than Technology
One of the most common objections I’ve heard is that digital ministry “steals” people from physical churches. I’ve even been accused of “double-discipling” people, meaning we should not offer discipleship to those already attending a church. The thinking is that everyone should be loyal to just one teacher or one congregation and not seek instruction or Christian community elsewhere. Each local church is a one-stop shop for discipleship and spiritual formation. This objection often reveals a deeper problem: We have confused making disciples of Jesus with building disciples of our individual churches.
The question remains: Are we making disciples of Christ, or of our brand? Digital Discipleship forced me to confront this personally. If someone is being discipled by multiple voices yet growing in Christ, is that a threat or a gift? Are the people in our online ministry “my people “ or “your people”? When I look back at how many different voices and people have influenced my personal spiritual growth, I can’t overstate how important it was to have a wide variety of voices and perspectives investing in my discipleship. The pivot was internal before it was methodological. We focus on working together as the body of Christ to build the Kingdom, rather than worrying about our own little kingdoms. We see all people as “God’s people” and do what we can to be faithful to the calling He has given us.
3. Start With Why
Many churches approach digital ministry with this motivation: “We need to survive,” which they think means going online. As if having some sort of online content or posting a Bible verse will save a dying church. That is simply not a compelling enough vision. People outside the church don’t care whether your church survives. They aren’t motivated to join your church just so you can keep the lights on. They want to know how your church will meet their needs, not how they can meet your needs.
Using Simon Sinek’s Golden Circle framework, I reframed our digital efforts:
- Why? The gospel
- How? The power of the Holy Spirit
- What? Make disciples
Digital tools are not going to save your church. They are simply vehicles. If survival is your why, burnout will follow. If the Gospel is your why, endurance becomes possible.
4. Digital Space Is Especially Powerful for Probing Faith
Many individuals today are in what I call “probing faith,” a season of questioning, deconstructing, and wrestling through their faith. Traditional church settings often feel unsafe for their doubts and, in some places, have contributed to the hurt that sparked their probing in the first place. While some see probing faith as a threat to a believer’s development, I see it as a normal part of owning one’s faith. The Gospel is not fragile; it can withstand the toughest doubts and deepest deconstruction.
Digital platforms allow questions to be asked from a safe distance. They provide space for exploration without immediate social pressure. We have seen countless individuals move from deconstruction to reconstruction because someone answered a message, prayed in a comment thread, or communicated openly during a live prayer. Digital discipleship has become a bridge for those who might never walk through a physical sanctuary door, creating a safe space for doubts and questions.
How the Vision Has Evolved
Originally, I thought digital discipleship was primarily about extending the local church’s reach. Now I see it as multiplying agency, training disciples who train disciples. At first, I saw myself as a teacher creating content for others. Over time, I began to see my role as activating disciplers, moving them from consumers to contributors and then to creators.
Digital discipleship is not about creating centralized platforms where one voice speaks to many. It is about equipping many to disciple many.
The vision has shifted from:
- Broadcasting to cultivating
- Content creation to community formation
- Institutional reinforcement to Kingdom collaboration
- Saving churches to sending disciples
- One voice to many voices
It has also deepened my theology of presence. We often equate presence with physical proximity, but it’s about intentional engagement. It’s about two souls being together across the miles, synced by a common mission and an intentional desire to share life. The digital does not replace the embodied church. It can prepare, strengthen, and extend it.
Encouragement for Leaders Launching New Initiatives
If you are considering launching a digital discipleship initiative, here is what I would say:
1. Operate with Open Hands
Never in my wildest dreams could I have planned out how the Spirit would move through our digital ministries and platforms. Had I set a strict five-year goal and growth plan, I would have led people far from where we are today. Keep your hands open. Take opportunities as they come. Trust the Spirit to lead and be the first follower.
2. Clarify Your Why Before You Clarify Your Platform
If your motivation is fear, pause. If your motivation is relevance, rethink. If your motivation is the Gospel, proceed. Start with the Great Commission, not analytics.
3. Focus on Relationships Over Reach
Metrics matter, but multiplication matters more. One Frank who disciples his neighborhood is more powerful than 10,000 passive viewers. Ask yourself, “Are people moving from consumers to being contributors in the mission?”
4. Build Rhythms, Not Events
Daily Scripture reading. Weekly prayer. Consistent check-ins. Digital discipleship thrives on rhythm. It mirrors spiritual formation itself, steady, relational, iterative. People trust people who are consistent.
5. Expect Resistance But Don’t Internalize It
Some will believe digital ministry weakens the church. Others will see it as competition. Gently but firmly return to the mission: we are called to make disciples of Jesus, not to protect our preferences. Scarcity thinking shrinks vision. Kingdom thinking expands it.
6. Remember: Discipleship Is Both Personal and Communal
Discipleship is not outsourced to clergy. It is not limited to private spirituality. It is a shared responsibility. Digital spaces can foster authentic community when intentionality is high and ego is low. Remind yourself that discipleship is a relationship, not the consumption of content. Help bring people into the community through regular interactions and conversations.
7. Don’t Wait Until You Feel Ready
The original disciples were not institutional experts. They were ordinary people changed by Jesus. If you have been transformed, you are qualified to begin. Don’t wait for a large group to join you or a budget to begin. If you have a phone and a calling in your heart, get started.
The Rummage Sale Continues
We are living through a season of church rummage sales. Some things need to be let go, not because they were wrong, but because they no longer serve the mission in the same way. Digital discipleship is not a trend. It is not a pandemic pivot. It is not a marketing strategy. It is a recentering on the command that has always defined us:
Go.
Make disciples.
Trust that He is with us to the end of the age.
The tools have changed. The mandate has not.
And perhaps, if we are willing to clear the clutter and reimagine obedience, we will see not just revival of attendance, but renewal of discipleship.
