Excited for this. I have many ministry contexts (I’m a UMC pastor too) at the moment but the one that makes most sense here is the app I released called ZOAY. It’s focused on providing spiritual practices in nature, art, social action, meditation, and study for millennials and Gen Z who used to go to church and no longer do. At the end of 2022 it has spun out into its own thing and we are working on securing funding for 2.0.
I’d love to know what platform you are looking at using for the community building element.
Being a nerdy person and Christ follower I get a lot of people that I work with or engage with in my town (not particularly from my church, the church in general), and I get a lot criticisms, lectures, backsliding conversations for the shows, games, etc that I like. That’s why I started my YouTube channel. I wanted to start a nerdy community where they’re not judged no matter what background they come from, and all positive and encouraging comments. I’m about 3k subs in so far and they don’t know about my relationship with Jesus yet, but what I wanted to do is show them what the love of Jesus looks like without being an advertisement if that makes sense lol.. But for me personally i love my relationship with Jesus but there is a part of me that’s starting to get sick of the organization that is “The Church”. Dressing and acting a certain way and God forbid if you do something not to there liking. I can see why people who don’t know Jesus don’t feel accepted or feel like it’s there their thing all the time. Then my uncle who saw you at a conference told me about you and what you are trying to accomplish and immediately was intrigued and was all for it! I’m praying for you bro and will be supporting and listening to your product. Thank you for supporting the in my opinion (to the church) forgotten nerdy community!
I'm currently serving a rural UMC charge in Mississippi but am in the early stages of planting a digital church. My two current churches have been exploring disaffiliation - with one likely to leave - so this has caused some changes. One thing I have been able to accomplish is to further encourage them in digital ministry as an extension of their own churches. I'm looking forward to this ride!
Excited for this. I have many ministry contexts (I’m a UMC pastor too) at the moment but the one that makes most sense here is the app I released called ZOAY. It’s focused on providing spiritual practices in nature, art, social action, meditation, and study for millennials and Gen Z who used to go to church and no longer do. At the end of 2022 it has spun out into its own thing and we are working on securing funding for 2.0.
I’d love to know what platform you are looking at using for the community building element.
Awesome stuff, Jeremy! Glad to have you in the conversation. I will need to look inot ZOAY, sounds interesting.
I am a huge proponent of Discord for community building and will likely expand on that a good bit through this blog.
Being a nerdy person and Christ follower I get a lot of people that I work with or engage with in my town (not particularly from my church, the church in general), and I get a lot criticisms, lectures, backsliding conversations for the shows, games, etc that I like. That’s why I started my YouTube channel. I wanted to start a nerdy community where they’re not judged no matter what background they come from, and all positive and encouraging comments. I’m about 3k subs in so far and they don’t know about my relationship with Jesus yet, but what I wanted to do is show them what the love of Jesus looks like without being an advertisement if that makes sense lol.. But for me personally i love my relationship with Jesus but there is a part of me that’s starting to get sick of the organization that is “The Church”. Dressing and acting a certain way and God forbid if you do something not to there liking. I can see why people who don’t know Jesus don’t feel accepted or feel like it’s there their thing all the time. Then my uncle who saw you at a conference told me about you and what you are trying to accomplish and immediately was intrigued and was all for it! I’m praying for you bro and will be supporting and listening to your product. Thank you for supporting the in my opinion (to the church) forgotten nerdy community!
Love this! Happy to have you here in this space to encourage you and learn from your experience in the community building space.
I'm currently serving a rural UMC charge in Mississippi but am in the early stages of planting a digital church. My two current churches have been exploring disaffiliation - with one likely to leave - so this has caused some changes. One thing I have been able to accomplish is to further encourage them in digital ministry as an extension of their own churches. I'm looking forward to this ride!
We certainly take what we can get in uncertain times. Looking forward to having your voice in this space!