Why do Christian Churches Build Congregations Online? examines the different ways that Christian churches and denominations perceive and use digital media in their external work. This is explored through three different case studies, with dissimilar approaches to digital media, to understand the prerequisites and conditions for media usage from a religious institutional perspective. Case studies included are:
- The charismatic movement (with Pentecostal origin)
- The Church of Sweden
- The Laestadian movement
Ranging from a positive and outgoing attitude toward digital media, to a hesitant and reluctant approach. The highly secularised and digitally permeated Swedish society gives the context to which the religious institutions must relate to, and understand themselves in relation to. From a mediatization approach, the national context limits and sets presumptions for the negotiating process. This volume provides an understanding of the relationship between external (societal) and internal factors (such as theology and historical origin). This book will also broaden the understanding of the field of digital religion and emphasise the need to discuss contemporary religion in terms of religion in a digital age.
This book examines the different ways that Christian churches perceive and use digital media in their external work. This is explored through three different case studies, with dissimilar approaches to digital media, to understand the prerequisites and conditions for media usage from a religious institutional perspective.
1. Introduction
2. Theoretical Point of Departure
3. The Swedish Case -
Secular and Mediatized
4. What Different Onlyine Presences Look Like
5. Why
or Why Not Use Internet for Digital Communication
6. Organizations and
Organizational Negotiating Processes
7. In Response to the Affordances of
Digital Communication
8. The Digital versus the Analogous Congregation
9. The
Future - Digital Media, AI, and more
10. So - What Drives the Development?
Stefan Gelfgren is Associate Professor of Sociology of Religion, at Umeå University, Sweden. His research interests include religion and digital media, the history of Evangelical revivalist movements, digital humanities, and surveillance studies.
