Blogging pastors

Pastor Ben Arment spends several hours each week carefully preparing his Sunday sermon for the 100 members of History Church in Oak Hill, Va.

By contrast, he takes just minutes to jot down a few thoughts on faith for his blog; within 24 hours, his message has reached about 300 people.

Like History Church services themselves, Arment’s blog, “History in the Making,” takes an unorthodox approach to religion that his mostly young readers find appealing. The blog entries range from his reflections about Christians’ responsibility in the world to dispatches about clergy conferences to quirky stories about his toddler son’s broken arm.

In the four years since Arment started the site, blogging has become as much an instrument of his faith as the pulpit.

“As a pastor, I shouldn’t be just leading a church but connecting with people using the same formats they use every day,” Arment says, adding that blogging is “successful because it corresponds with how younger generations think.”

Many pastors say blogging has become an increasingly integral part of their ministry as they attempt to reverse the decline in church attendance by people in their 20s and 30s.

Few ministers in the United States have used blogs as successfully as Mark Batterson, the lead pastor of National Community Church in Washington, D.C.

Batterson estimates he spends 20 percent of his workday updating his blog, “Evotional.” He recently hired a “digital pastor” whom he met through the blogosphere to maintain the church’s Web ventures.

“I used to think that the blog supplemented my weekend message,” says Batterson, who draws upward of 25,000 visitors a month to www.evotional.com.

“Now I wonder if it isn’t the other way around,” he says. “It’s hard for me to imagine why a church that has younger members wouldn’t have a blog component.”

About 75,000 new blogs are created every day by people from all walks of life, so it should come as no surprise that some bloggers are ministers. But many religious leaders say the idea of a pastor willing to share so much about his daily life reflects a shift in the relationship people expect to have with their religious leaders.

“Increasingly, people want to have a personal connection with their church and their pastor,” says Brian Bailey, who co-wrote an upcoming book, “The Blogging Church,” about how churches can use the medium to reach out to members.

Blogs provide a unique opportunity for people to feel more invested in their church even if the pastor doesn’t have time for a face-to-face meeting, Bailey says.

“It’s no longer enough for a lot of people to get the church’s mailing, read the Web site, and sit in the pew for an hour on Sunday,” he says. “They might know there was a mission trip last week, but with a blog they can read about the day-to-day details, see pictures and feel like they’re part of something.”

A popular new feature on Batterson’s blog describes a “stupid mistake” he’s made that day. The series started with a story about what happened when he tried to empty his coffee cup while whipping along Interstate 295.

“First of all, half the coffee came flying out instantaneously,” Batterson wrote. “And it all came right back in the car. It splattered on my face, on my shirt, and in my lap! … Hopefully that makes you feel better about you.”

Many of the pastors’ blog posts revolve around a religious lesson. Entries sometimes include Bible passages or minisermons as well as song lyrics, links to articles or other blogs and personal anecdotes that contain a message about how people should live their lives.

“Today, I ran into a family that (my wife) and I met ONE YEAR AGO in Reston Town Center … and struck up a new friendship that will bring good things,” Arment wrote in a recent post about the importance of spreading the Gospel to “unchurched” friends and strangers.

“This is such a great reminder to be patient and wait on God to work in people’s lives.”

Associate Pastor Neil Craigan of Centreville (Va.) Presbyterian Church says he views his blog, “Broken Bonds Loosed Chains: The Musings of a Devoted Follower of Jesus Christ,” as a chance to get people thinking about faith daily, sometimes in untraditional ways.

Entries often include song lyrics from U2 or Bruce Springsteen. He recently posted the lyrics of the U2 song “Grace” to prompt people to think about the role of God’s grace in the world.

“I’m in a position to raise important questions, and blogging is a tremendous way to do that,” Craigan says.

And unlike standing in the pulpit, virtual preaching allows pastor-bloggers to reach people from all over the world.

Says Batterson: “John Wesley (a prominent 18th-century evangelist) had to travel 250,000 miles on horseback to reach people, and I can do it with one click of the mouse.”