“a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” - Psalm 51:17, 

Today marks the 66th anniversary of the death of Dietrich Bonhoeffer.  After these many years, it feels as though we are all still catching up to his brilliant theology, his Christian witness, and his deep understanding of discipleship.

On this day, it seems appropriate to reflect upon what Bonhoeffer called the “cost of discipleship” and to ask what it means for us now.  In my experience as a parish pastor, I’ve come to see that each of us calculate the cost of discipleship differently.  We each give it a different name.

For me, its name is heartbreak.

Social media has made me a better preacher.  At least that’s what my mutual ministry committee tells me.

At our meeting last month, the committee reflected on how my work in social media - and blogging in particular - have really improved my preaching.   Such is the digital age that we live in! 

Here are six ways I think social media has made me - and can make anyone - a better preacher:

I started using social media five years ago when I published my first blog post - my 2006 Easter Sunday sermon - on Blogger.

Since then I’ve experimented with just about every type of social media in our ministry at Redeemer.

Here are the top 10 things I’ve learned about using social media in ministry over the last five years.

Its 2001 and I'm in my first class at the Lutheran Seminary in Philadelphia - Professor Tim Wengert’s amazing Lutheran Confessions course. 

At the time, Professor Wengert’s first wife was dying and he opened the class by explaining to us that, though he very much appreciated our concerns and prayers, he did not need or want all us pastor wannabes to try to comfort, console or minister to him.

He already had a pastor.

Those 10 minutes were as good an explanation of pastoral boundaries as I have ever heard.

“Why should I come to your church?  And please don’t tell me because your pastor is so great and you’re just like a family.”  - Mark Hanson, Presiding Bishop of the ELCA

That was one of the money quotes at this summer’s Follow Me conference in Chicago (my posts on that here).  After he delivered this line Bishop Hanson proceeded to simulate a gagging motion by sticking his finger in his mouth.  It was awesome and it raised a great question:

Why should anyone join your church?  Well?

About a year ago I started holding office hours in a local coffee shop.

Sometimes people came, sometimes they didn’t, but the experience opened our congregation up to a new way of thinking about our presence in the towns that surround our congregation.

As a result, we have now held events in four towns beyond Woburn.·I believe these too will become stepping stones to something more.

Here are nine reason that going beyond our building has worked for us and may work for you too: