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Digital roots: Newly planted church was launched on the Internet Amy Forbus, Nov 28, 2007
PHOTOS BY DONEL KING
The Rev. Jacqui King, pastor of a new church organizing in Houston called Nu Faith Community United Methodist Church, uses the Internet to preach and connect with members of the virtual church.
By Amy Forbus Digital Community Builder
As a new church start, members of Nu Faith Community UMC of Houston will worship together for the first time next year on April 6. But they’re already meeting regularly—and not just in person.
Twice a month, after leading Study @ The House, a Thursday evening Bible study in her home, the Rev. Jacqui Thomas King logs on and leads Study @ The Line over the Internet.
“We want technology built into the DNA of the congregation from the very beginning,” Ms. King said.
The online study draws participants from several states, but it also provides a way for local participants to maintain their involvement when they cannot be physically present.
“Right now they’re having Bible study on Thursday nights, and I currently teach a foster-parenting training class on Thursday nights,” said Debra Bradley, a member of the Nu Faith launch team working with Ms. King to build the faith community. “But I can come in after the class and pull it up online and participate... and follow along with the lesson and not get behind.”
Ms. King says that online participation is increasing. Attendance via the Internet currently averages between 12 and 15 people. If participants cannot log on when the study is happening, they can download it to view as a podcast, and those download statistics are growing, too.
But while online study is valuable, it would never replace face-to-face community, participants say.
“We like the camaraderie of the small-group meeting,” said Kate Mitchell, a high-school teacher who helps with the launch team and community outreach events. When she can’t be present at the Bible study, she listens online during her lunch break or after the school day ends. “It’s good to know that in a hurried schedule you have a backup.”
In addition to online Bible study, their Web site, www.nufaith.org, provides information on United Methodist beliefs and practices as well as opportunities to connect at the local level. Launch-team members forward Web site links for gatherings and community events to their friends and neighbors.
So far, there’s a plot of land, but no building, which surprised at least one member of the launch team. Domingo Ruiz Jr. met Ms. King after she received the news that she would be starting a church from the ground up. “What do you mean from the ground up?’” he recalls asking her. “And then she showed me the field, and I was like, ‘Oh, you literally mean from the ground up. The church isn’t even built yet!’”
“She taught me the lesson that before you build a physical church, you’ve got to build a virtual church, and that basically you have to build the church spiritually before you build the church physically,” he said. “So by the time the physical building’s there, everybody can all come together and just worship.”
Mr. Ruiz, a musician, will play a vital role in Nu Faith’s worship experience from the very first service. He believes God led him into friendship with Ms. King so they could “work shoulder-to-shoulder on building a church and bringing a community together.”
Mr. Ruiz was among the evacuees who fled New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina, and then fled Houston during Hurricane Rita. He travels frequently between Houston and New Orleans. Because his schedule remains unpredictable, Study @ The Line is even more helpful to him.
Hurricane Rita struck before plans for Nu Faith materialized, but the storm ended up playing a role in the faith community’s beginning.
Before working to launch Nu Faith, Ms. King served as a pastor of St. Paul UMC in Port Arthur, Texas. There, she and her husband, Donel, started the church’s first Web site.
At that point, it was primarily for basic information—but one year later, it became evident how important a virtual presence can be when Hurricane Rita scattered the community.
“We were able to reach people, and they were able to find out information about their families and communities,” said Ms. King. “Social agencies could connect. People really began a whole outreach and they could find out more from the Web site than they were getting from standard news sources.”
When the Kings returned to Port Arthur after the hurricane, they offered sermon podcasts and the ability to view the Sunday bulletin. “It offered a way to connect for people who couldn’t come back yet because their homes were destroyed,” Ms. King said. “It offered hope and healing for a scattered community that needed to know what was going on.”
After that experience, Ms. King knew that her ministry would always include online community.
“I realized that as I continued in my ministry calling, technology would be more than just putting something on the Web and hoping it will invite people to come,” she said. “When it’s dynamic and engaging, it’s a tool of encouragement.”
When people who don’t live in the area connect with Nu Faith on the Web, Ms. King contacts United Methodist congregations near them so that when they are ready for an in-person faith community, she can guide them to someone who will welcome them.
“The UMC is connectional,” she said. “It’s a blessing for us.”
Nu Faith plans to expand its Web reach as the local congregation grows. The youth are working on a Nu Faith MySpace presence and Ms. King expects to open an online forum called Fellowship Hall in early 2008, with an emphasis on grief recovery.
Ms. King praises the flexibility of the Internet in assisting ministries. “There’s fun in the Web. There’s enjoyment in the Web. There’s inquiry, prayer, worship—all aspects of life.”
PHOTOS BY DONEL KING
But while online study is valuable, it would never replace face-to-face community, participants say. 
Hurricane Rita struck before plans for Nu Faith materialized, but the storm ended up playing a role in the faith community’s beginning. 
“The UMC is connectional,” she said. “It’s a blessing for us.” 
