The virtual world is her parish

By Jennifer Armitage
Jan. 13, 2012

When you look at Nicole McGlashen’s trendy photos on her Facebook page, you might not guess that she is a pastor. She is, indeed, a pastor, and her parish is in a virtual world of social media. As pastor of social media for Skyline Church (Wesleyan) located in San Diego, Calif., she is impacting scores of lives that she may never meet in person.

Social media is one of the rising ministries in The Wesleyan Church. Skyline is on the cutting edge of that ministry with a full time staff pastor specializing in missional outreach and discipleship online.

As a fellow colleague in social media outreach, I was interested in hearing more about Nicole’s thoughts on the church’s role in using social media for ministry.

What does your job as social media pastor consist of?
It is a very unique position, to say the least. And maybe it’s even a little weird. But we find ourselves in a weird time. Social settings are changing; relationship dynamics take place in spaces that are no longer limited to physical locations or in person interactions, so I basically try to meet people there. I meet and engage Skyliners and “friends” in the spaces of the internet, mainly through Facebook. I am responsible for maintaining Facebook, Twitter accounts for Skyline, in addition to facilitating an online small group.

You mentioned doing small groups online. What does that look like? Who is it for? Why does it work to connect with people?

Basically, the online small group is another “location” for one of the many Skyline small groups to gather on a weekly basis to discuss and process the chosen curriculum. I read the same assigned chapter the rest of the groups are going through and then compose a reflection/ discussion prompt on a blog I created for this very purpose. To maintain a consistent communication flow and accountability for the group, I e-mail the updated post to group members every week, and they can respond either on the blog or their Facebook group.

Many people think social media is causing disconnection between people. Why is it an effective medium ministry?
Sure, there are drawbacks to the medium. Yet they are some real positives. For one—if you are in any way an observant or nosey person like me—it’s not difficult to notice how a “friend” is really doing in life. Oddly enough, there is a high level of candor people are willing to display online. Now obviously this can pose some challenges, but yet it invites (if directed properly) a healthy transparency which furthers a deeper conversation of faith and the deeper meaning of everything.
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