Free Range Priest

I read the whole Papal Encyclical on AI, and what stood out to me was not the warnings.

It was the invitation - and the challenge - to use technology to share the Gospel.

The Pope said 'use AI for Love' At least that's what I heard when I read the Encyclical

When we’re building a church website, we often think,

‘let’s share everything about our church’.

But in today’s world, people don’t want to know about you.

They want to know you.

And they want to feel known.

Why you should make Substack your church website So you can do real ministry - and create real relationships - online. Not just list your programs and services.

I got up in the middle of the night because I was feeling anxious.

Did I wake my husband to talk about it?

No. I logged onto AI.

I’m glad I did.

AI is a gift to the church Drawing near in faith is our work: it's never been more important

* We need to be able to convey to others how important it is to be in relationship with God, and with faith community.

* We have to be able to connect others directly with what it is we’re sharing before they will ever feel comfortable joining us in-person.

*We have to build spaces and relationships that are deep and meaningful even when they don’t happen in person.

We need to bring church to people.

Why using today's tech is not optional for ministry Creating connection - and sharing God's love - should be direct, immediate, and personal

It used to be fine to just put up a website that was more or less a billboard/bulletin board for your church.

With today’s internet - and church! - we need to be in actively relationship with people who are not members (and who are).

We need to be bringing church to people.

No one is looking at your static church website In today's internet - and church - we need to be actively reaching people

I had two callings at the turn of the 21st century…

- Gospel evangelist

- Digital evangelist

Now I’ve got new ways to help you be both…

My digital conversion How I came to love the early internet for the creative evangelism possibilities - and how I want to share today's possibilities with you

We want change.

We just don’t want to change anything.

We can try changing our vision instead…

The real reason you can't change the bulletin. It's because church is 'stuck'. Here's how to get 'unstuck'...

I’ve always wanted to start an advice column.

So I did!

Well, an advice ‘live stream’ for those ‘stuck’ in ministry that feels less than joyful.

Subscribe to Free Range Priest and bring me your problems!

"How do I get them to change" is not the question to ask. ... and other church re-imagination advice you can 'Ask Father Cathie'

The painful truth: the institution is collapsing anyway.

We can’t save it through the force of our will.

The Good News: We can let it go. We really can.

And use our energy, time and resources to focus on the Gospel.

How my ministry became 'Cage Free' I walked into a little church one Easter Sunday...

If the numbers keep showing that we’ll have to shut our doors soon - maybe we need to shut our doors.

Not in defeat. In the firm belief in resurrection

(isn’t God always opening windows when we shut doors???)

It's faithful to believe in the death of the church are we not in the resurrection business?