“I intended to have a break and save up energy during the coronavirus outbreak, but I never imagined I would be busier than before,” said Pastor Song Guang, a millennial who has been engaged in online ministry for more than two months.
Ministries had to go online as churches in China were closed down in late January.
Song’s church mainly pastors its congregation in WeChat groups where sermon videos are posted after being recorded. However, a technical problem emerged that some sermon audio files recorded by iPhones could not be opened under the Android system. With years of experience in operating the WeChat account, Song solved the problem by uploading audio files to the church’s account on WeChat.
Afterwards, Song discovered his account attracted more attention. He began to ponder how to provide better Christian resources for Christians. Then, the amount of content increased and was became more frequent, to daily.
Sometime later, he started to study streaming services. Studying various methods of broadcasting church services, he paid for the streaming service on WeChat Live.
He said, “Broadcasting services is the closet form to being on-site!”
Feeling excited, he realized that there was much room yet to explore regarding streaming services.
In his live broadcast room, there are programs for Sunday sermons, pastors’ sharing on different themes, retreats, regular systematic theologyl courses, and sermons series. As well, they can be replayed.
One innovative programis called, “Light Sharing” in which Song and two young pastors discuss a different theme each time. Meanwhile, participants are free to ask questions.
There have been three episodes, entitled “How to Keep a Normal Worship Life during the Pandemic”, “How Can Christians Live out their Witness in their Familes?”, and “How Should We Read the Bible?”.
Song added that since this was in the early stages, he expected it to grow to the extent that specific topics would be discussed by different guests.
Apart from these programs, he plans to add two new ones: family worship and choral singing.
The family worship program is meant to ignite the faith in more Christian families, while the choral singing is intended to gather believers to worship God through videos. However, there is still a technical problem whereby multiple persons are unable to meet through videos.
Seeing the advantages of video streaming services, he offers his platform free of charge to pastors. What is more, he teaches church workers to how to handle the live broadcast.
Most people who counselled him were middle-aged and elderly workers who are finding it more difficult to master this new technology. Nonetheless, Song was moved by some of them. “Because of love, they tried hard to shepherd souls,” he said.
An elderly woman learned how to use the technique and started to nurture believers through streaming services. She added, “We are not able to gather in God’s house due to the pandemic, but because of the Lord’s love, I’m very thankful for the special preparation during this special period. We can share God’s word through online platforms!”
Yet some workers quit midway and some even gave up when their live rooms were established. Song summarized that low confidence was the main reason for quitting, as one worker told him that rural pastors preached poorly.
Through the past months’ experience, Song still found that online ministries were better than on-site gathering in some aspects:
1. Gathering is convenient, and no limited by time or place. Believers can hear God's word at any time.
2. Resources are more plentiful.
3. It is suitable for group discussions and more flexible than gathering on the spot.
4. High interaction makes believers more open to sharing their reflections. For example, when a believer feels ashamed to tell his problem to his pastor, he finds it easier online.
5. Online platforms are the church's window into society. As smartphones have become part of people’s lives, the church should keep pace with the times.
He believes that even if the church resumes gathering, online ministries are necessary. A good solution may be a combination of online and offline ministries.
- Translated by Karen Luo
一青年牧者积极探索网络牧养之路
“疫情期间本想好好休息，养养精神，没想到竟忙了起来，甚至比之前更忙。”回看2个多月的网络牧养路，80后牧者宋光教士（注：有的教会称“传道”）说道。
新冠疫情爆发后，教会停止了实地聚会，牧养工作被迫转移到了线上。宋光教士所在地区主要采取微信群牧养信徒，牧者录制好证道信息在群里分享给大家。
在操作的过程中，遇到了一个技术问题：有的牧者使用苹果手机录制，有的使用安卓系统的手机录制，结果有些证道音频信徒打不开。做过几年微信公众号的宋教士，通过将证道音频上传到微信公众号上解决了这个问题。
此后，宋光发现关注他公众号的人越来越多，他开始考虑如何为大家提供更好的属灵资源，开始增加发布的内容，并且做成了每日更新。
做了一段时间后，宋教士思考是否有更好的网上牧养方式，他开始研究网络直播。他查看了教会使用的各种直播形式，最终付费购买了微赞直播，他觉得微赞直播跟微信结合的很好，方便微信分享。
“直播是跟实地聚会最接近的方式！”找到直播后，宋教士很兴奋，他发现直播里有广大的空间有待开发。
在宋光的直播间里，有主日证道，可以几位牧者同时直播，分享不同的主题，信众可选择参加；可以举办培灵会；有牧者定期分享系统神学；有牧者的证道集等，这些内容均可回看。
直播间里还有一个形式新颖的栏目“亮光分享”，是一档信仰主题的交通栏目，节目中宋教士与两位青年牧者就一个话题互相探讨，观看直播的人还可以现场提问，互动性很强。
目前，该栏目已举办了三期：《疫情期间如何保持正常的敬拜生活？》《基督徒如何在家庭中活出见证？》《我们该怎么读圣经？》。宋光称，这只是个雏形，他希望之后可以就特定的话题邀请不同的嘉宾探讨。
除了现有的栏目，宋教士还在计划增开新栏目，他已构想了两个：家庭敬拜，合唱。他希望藉着家庭敬拜，展示基督徒家庭的信仰生活，点燃更多基督徒家庭的信仰；合唱栏目是信徒们一起通过视频敬拜神，目前这个还存在无法多人同时视频的技术问题，需要寻找解决办法。
宋光教士发现了视频直播的种种好处后，他希望更多的牧者来使用，他愿意无偿提供自己的直播平台，供更多的牧者使用；他还主动教愿意学习直播技术的同工们，已有40多人跟他了解过，有几位同工已经开始使用。
跟宋教士咨询如何直播的人大多是中老年同工，他们学习起来难度更大一些，其中有的人令他很感动。“他们是因为爱，为了牧养灵魂而努力尝试。”宋光说道。
微信名为“幸福一生”的一位外地阿姨向宋教士学习了直播，并且开始通过直播牧养信徒。谈及直播牧养，这位阿姨说道：“由于疫情的原因，我们无法回到神家聚会，但又因着主的爱，也非常感谢神在特殊时期这样特殊的预备，可以藉着网络平台一起分享神的话语！”
也有一些教会同工了解后半途放弃，有的甚至是直播间已经建好后放弃的。宋教士总结，不自信是放弃的主要原因，比如一位同工回复他说：“我们农村老传道人，讲的不行啊。”
通过这两个多月的网络牧养，宋光教士发现，网络牧养在一些方面比实地聚会有优势：
1. 聚会方便，不受时间、地域的限制，信徒可以随时通过平台来聆听神的话语；
2. 资源更加丰富；
3. 特别适用于小组讨论，比实地聚会更加灵活；
4. 互动性强，信徒在网络上更容易打开心分享，比如，信徒不好意思面对面跟牧者述说自己的问题，但通过网络就容易分享；
5. 网络平台是教会面向社会一个切实可行的窗口，如今手机已经是人们生活的一部分，教会要跟上时代，学习使用这个平台见证信仰。
宋教士认为，即便日后教会恢复实地聚会，网络牧养依然有存在的必要，到时可以线下线上结合着前行。
“I intended to have a break and save up energy during the coronavirus outbreak, but I never imagined I would be busier than before,” said Pastor Song Guang, a millennial who has been engaged in online ministry for more than two months.
Ministries had to go online as churches in China were closed down in late January.
Song’s church mainly pastors its congregation in WeChat groups where sermon videos are posted after being recorded. However, a technical problem emerged that some sermon audio files recorded by iPhones could not be opened under the Android system. With years of experience in operating the WeChat account, Song solved the problem by uploading audio files to the church’s account on WeChat.
Afterwards, Song discovered his account attracted more attention. He began to ponder how to provide better Christian resources for Christians. Then, the amount of content increased and was became more frequent, to daily.
Sometime later, he started to study streaming services. Studying various methods of broadcasting church services, he paid for the streaming service on WeChat Live.
He said, “Broadcasting services is the closet form to being on-site!”
Feeling excited, he realized that there was much room yet to explore regarding streaming services.
In his live broadcast room, there are programs for Sunday sermons, pastors’ sharing on different themes, retreats, regular systematic theologyl courses, and sermons series. As well, they can be replayed.
One innovative programis called, “Light Sharing” in which Song and two young pastors discuss a different theme each time. Meanwhile, participants are free to ask questions.
There have been three episodes, entitled “How to Keep a Normal Worship Life during the Pandemic”, “How Can Christians Live out their Witness in their Familes?”, and “How Should We Read the Bible?”.
Song added that since this was in the early stages, he expected it to grow to the extent that specific topics would be discussed by different guests.
Apart from these programs, he plans to add two new ones: family worship and choral singing.
The family worship program is meant to ignite the faith in more Christian families, while the choral singing is intended to gather believers to worship God through videos. However, there is still a technical problem whereby multiple persons are unable to meet through videos.
Seeing the advantages of video streaming services, he offers his platform free of charge to pastors. What is more, he teaches church workers to how to handle the live broadcast.
Most people who counselled him were middle-aged and elderly workers who are finding it more difficult to master this new technology. Nonetheless, Song was moved by some of them. “Because of love, they tried hard to shepherd souls,” he said.
An elderly woman learned how to use the technique and started to nurture believers through streaming services. She added, “We are not able to gather in God’s house due to the pandemic, but because of the Lord’s love, I’m very thankful for the special preparation during this special period. We can share God’s word through online platforms!”
Yet some workers quit midway and some even gave up when their live rooms were established. Song summarized that low confidence was the main reason for quitting, as one worker told him that rural pastors preached poorly.
Through the past months’ experience, Song still found that online ministries were better than on-site gathering in some aspects:
1. Gathering is convenient, and no limited by time or place. Believers can hear God's word at any time.
2. Resources are more plentiful.
3. It is suitable for group discussions and more flexible than gathering on the spot.
4. High interaction makes believers more open to sharing their reflections. For example, when a believer feels ashamed to tell his problem to his pastor, he finds it easier online.
5. Online platforms are the church's window into society. As smartphones have become part of people’s lives, the church should keep pace with the times.
He believes that even if the church resumes gathering, online ministries are necessary. A good solution may be a combination of online and offline ministries.
- Translated by Karen Luo
Young Pastor Explores Online Ways to Give Pastoral Care
