Digital Nazarene

A Nazarene Wrestling with Digitally Expressing the Great Commission

Tag: culture

  • Mystery Lost

    Mystery Lost

    We are not stewards of certainty. We are pilgrims of mystery.

    Preston Ulmer

    Being within the “evangelical” realm of Christianity, I have long been in a church culture that promulgates certainty. It would be nice if that certainty was just about Jesus.

    It also amazes me that much of “evangelical” culture rails against the Enlightenment, but uses Enlightenment practices and thought processes to prove itself and the faith.

    Over time (and not much of it, either), other things were introduced into the “evangelical pantheon”. Sex, evolution, science (in general), and politics. Certain practices within the wider tradition of Christianity were considered questionable, dangerous, or heretical. This despite many of the reformers who themselves had practices that now are under fire by those who claim to step in their chosen reformer’s footsteps..

    Certainty Kills

    I was reading Friendship Beyond Belief: How I Learned to Love and Listen to Doubters by Preston Ulmer in the January/February 2026 issue (it’s Loving and Listening to Doubters online), and he caught my attention with…

    …most of us have not been prepared to embrace a faith that stays committed in the face of uncertainty. Instead, we’ve been told that the stronger our certainty, the stronger our faith. Ironically, that kind of faith can become ossified and brittle and often looks to the rest of the world like close-mindedness or stubbornness.

    Preston Ulmer

    This put something I’ve been wrestling with as a pastor, particularly in my current calling. Certainty eliminates mystery. Certainty kills mystery. What’s wrong with a bit of mystery?

    Mysterious Call

    I have long had a sympathy for the mysterious aspect of Christianity. I find comfort in the truth that I do not know it all. I hold many things with firmly, and yet hold them flexibly.

    In the Church of the Nazarene, the Eucharist (e.g., Communion, Holy Supper, etc.) is only done once per month. Even as I say that, some churches do it more often, some hold to the Manual minimum of once a quarter.

    My early church experience was Anglican then Lutheran, and I still struggle with once per month, and I’ve been part of the Church of the Nazarene longer than either of the other two traditions (or both put together). John Wesley’s calling the Eucharist a “means of grace” struck me as affirming that the Eucharist is a mystery.

    Discussions within the denomination include too often weakens the power (and I think aligns with a memorialist perspective). Then there are those of us who are on the more spiritual (real) presence or further still to consubstantiation.

    It gets particularly interesting as the denomination, as a whole, is reaching back in to is Wesleyan identity. With the Wesleys (John and Charles) being Anglican (Church of England) clergy, the symbolic is losing sway, and the mystery is regaining ground.

    Mystery As Welcoming

    There are three strands of Christianity that are growing in the West: Assemblies of God (Charismatics), Roman Catholic, and Eastern Orthodox. All 3 have participative experience as part of their worship expressions. Yes, Charismatic is distinctly different from Roman Catholic and Easter Orthodox. And I am basing this on anecdotal evidence rather than statistics.

    All 3 also have a high mystery content. Yes, again, the charismatics are different than the other two.

    I think that the mystery is attractive to many younger people (not just me), because in the era of science and computers we seek something that transcends data points. Some people find that in nature (with or without God). Some people find that in music (again, with or without God).

    I am not certain of a lot of things. I don’t know if this makes me a bad pastor. I’m sure for some it does. I don’t know if this makes me an even worse Christian. I’m sure it does for some.

    I find the mysterious helpful. In a book from my childhood

    At last she stood up, gazing across the lake; she could not see its farther shore. “It is so large,” she said.
    Luthe rose to stand beside her. “No, not so large,” he said, “but it is a private sort of lake, and hard to see. Even for me.” He was quiet a moment, looking across the water. “I think perhaps the reason I stay in this particular uninhabited valley of all the uninhabited valleys in the Hills is that it comforts me by reminding me of things I cannot do. I cannot see the farther shore of the Lake of Dreams.”

    Robin McKinley, The Blue Sword

    I think I’d be okay, like Luthe, in a place like that. In some ways I am. Other areas, I grant, I’m no different than anyone else.

    Americans (the US ones) want their surety. And, yet, in their desire for surety, they still desire the unknowable.

    Perhaps…just perhaps…we might be willing to once again live in the mystery that is walking with God.

  • Our Walls, God’s Movement

    Our Walls, God’s Movement

    Look and see what God is doing, and join him in His work. If Christians around the world were to suddenly renounce their personal agendas, their life goals and their aspirations, and begin responding in radical obedience to everything God showed them. The world would be turned upside down.

    Henry Blackaby

    I love this quote that I recently heard.

    There is, however, something very scary in it, and it is how it challenges all our traditions and interpretations.

    It isn’t just the “bricks and mortar” that is being challenged. Even digital is challenged by this.

    In digital, we are very aware of platforms. The platforms shape the means and method of the message. They do not change the message.

    Walls of Bits and Bytes

    We, self-included, cannot sit within our digital four walls. We must spread out from Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, X (f.k.a., Twitter), Twitch, and whatever other digital platforms we’re on.

    Even it digital, people have already formed walls. Yes, they are only made of bits and bytes, yet, they are becoming rigid, too.

    In some ways, walls are good. In the digital realm, it can be easy to bust through digital walls, but should we? What makes a platform valuable to you? What makes a platform valuable to the people you are trying to reach?

    Walls and Culture

    This is where the four walls mindset/framework actually breaks down. The four walls of a physical local church are symbolic of the culture of the church. The four walls can be porous, rather than solid. The four walls could be so solid that nothing new gets in and everything (and everyone) become petrified.

    Digital may well have the same issues. Digital, it seems, tends to be more porous, but the platforms themselves lead to a development of a culture that is often is impossible for the unenculturated to break into.

    Oddly, that seems to be almost celebrated in digital spheres. Granted, comparing the sheer numbers in digital spheres to the normal local physical church (even the mega ones), it can seem that the digital is more open culturally. Appearances can be deceiving.

    Digital Culture Warning

    We in the digital space often point to the physical realm as the epitome of locked culture, while not recognizing our own.

    I am guilty.

    Digital isn’t for everyone, nor does all digital meet everyone where they are at.

    Those advanced in their digital realms do recognize that. I just wonder, however, if we are looking far enough ahead to see a potential issue.

    TikTok Culture Goes Where

    If it remains banned/blocked in the US, what will happen to its people? There is a culture on TikTok (neither supporting nor opposing, just stating).

    The culture developed on TikTok. Much of the culture was shaped by the nature of the platform (short form video), the algorithm of the platform, and the social interaction. The TikTok culture is unique.

    Its US users, now de-homed, will go where, exactly? They might try Instagram or Facebook, but probably not. YouTube and its shorts? Maybe. Perhaps old Vines or other short form platforms will return. Perhaps someone will be successful in creating a Mastodon or BlueSky iteration/server that will be successful (this is my hope).

    De-Homed Culture

    I don’t know much, if anything, about how a refugee really adapts to a new culture. Yes, I’ve heard stories (including from refugees). Yet, there is always something much deeper in that.

    Like physical refugees, TikTok-ers didn’t want to move. TikTok-ers are looking for the next place to be.

    Many people are looking for the next place to be. It isn’t just TikTok-ers. It’s refugees from other nations. People who feel disconnected from a culture they perceive as not theirs.

    God’s moving there.