Hybrid Church: Rethinking the Church for a Post-Christian Digital Age
Ebook
Overview
We live our lives in both physical and digital community.
We need to do ministry the same way.
Because of COVID-19, nearly every church in the US was forced to adapt to a quarantine and adopt new ministry strategies, including digital technologies they may have avoided before. When services began to be offered in-person once more, many church leaders said they hoped they’d never have to “live stream” again for the rest of their lives. But then came the shock: people didn’t return in droves, and declining attendance steepened. The pandemic had only accelerated the profound cultural changes that were already marginalizing the church and reducing its relevance.
In Hybrid Church, James Emery White argues that the post-pandemic church must commit to a hybrid strategy as the only means to reach a post-Christian culture in a digital age.
This book will help you rethink the church’s approach and stretch you to move beyond the mentality of “that’s the way we’ve always done it.” First outlining the dynamics and depths of the new realities we face, White then walks you through major ways of rethinking digital community, strategic thinking, discipleship, and outreach—tackling practical topics like:
- How to create an online presence that removes unnecessary barriers to engagement and community.
- How to rethink your church’s delivery, both online and in-person.
- How to meet the spiritual and communal needs of a younger, digitally-native generation.
- How to shift from a focus on gathering and attendance to a more biblical vision of togetherness and discipleship.
Hybrid Church is written to enable pastors and church leaders to see the positive opportunities in the radical changes of the day and to help model a dynamic new approach to ministry.
- Title: Hybrid Church: Rethinking the Church for a Post-Christian Digital Age
- Author: James Emery White
- Publisher: Zondervan
- Print Publication Date: 2023
- Logos Release Date: 2022
- Pages: 240
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Ebook
- ISBNs: 9780310142973, 9780310142966, 0310142962, 9780310142980, 0310142989, 0310142970
- Resource ID: LLS:9780310142973
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2025-04-22T23:18:36Z
James Emery White, Ph.D. is the founding and senior pastor of Mecklenburg Community Church (Meck). Under his leadership, Meck has grown to tens of thousands active attenders. He is the president of Serious Times, a ministry that explores the intersection of faith and culture and hosts churchandculture.org. He holds a Master of Divinity degree and a Ph.D. from Southern Seminary. He has also studied at Vanderbilt University and Oxford University in England. Dr. White is a former professor of theology and culture at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, where he also served as their fourth president. He is the author of more than twenty books including The Rise of the Nones, Serious Times, and A Mind for God, Christianity for People Who Aren’t Christians and After "I Believe" and his latest book Hybrid Church: Rethinking the Church for the Post-Christian Digital Age. Jim and his wife, Susan, have four children and 16 grandchildren.