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Substack is where faith, voice, and reflection meet pixels.
Catch the latest writings from Pastor Chris.

📬 The Digital Disciple: What Even Is Substack?

by Eric Miner

There’s a quiet little platform that’s reshaping how writers speak, how readers gather, and how communities form—not in a sanctuary, but in your inbox. It’s called Substack, and it’s one of those digital mysteries that seems to shimmer with both promise and confusion. Is it a newsletter? A blog? Is it something churches should care about?

Let’s take a breath and open the box.

🕰️ A Brief Origin Story

Substack launched in 2017 with a mission to help writers speak directly to readers. No gatekeepers. No noisy ads. Just real words shared from one inbox to another. It began with journalists and now includes theologians, poets, and organizers. Some charge subscriptions; others offer their work freely. Either way, it’s become a place for deeper reflection and authentic connection.

✝️ Why It Matters (Even to Churches)

At its best, Substack is a spiritual practice of writing aloud—of sending reflections, questions, and calls to action into the world, trusting they’ll land where needed. It echoes how Paul once wrote letters to the early church. Now, in the digital era, some of us are doing the same—just with pixels instead of parchment.

At Holy Covenant, Pastor Chris regularly writes on Substack, sharing thoughtful, prophetic reflections that arrive like a trusted voice on your spiritual path. These are not just blog posts—they are modern-day epistles. Part devotion, part witness, part soul work.

We don’t all need a Substack. But we all need spaces for slower wisdom, deeper presence, and real conversation. The platform is not the point—presence is.

🪞 So, What’s the Invitation?

Maybe it’s this: slow down, read something beautiful, and forward it to someone who needs to know that faith still speaks.

Substack is just one voice in the digital wilderness. But when the words are honest and the inbox is quiet, it feels like something sacred. Like a message you didn’t know you needed—delivered not just to your inbox, but to your heart.

💬 This week’s challenge:
Read Pastor Chris’s latest Substack post. Forward it to one person who might be longing for something real.
The Spirit might already be subscribed.

#TheDigitalDisciple | #HCUCCEverywhere | #SacredInbox

📢 The Digital Disciple: “Forward Unto Others…”

by Eric Miner

There’s a sacred act that happens every time you click “Share.”

Not dramatic, not loud. Just a quiet yes—a decision to put something meaningful into someone else’s feed, inbox, or group chat. When you forward a Holy Covenant post, article, video, or event, you’re doing more than spreading information. You’re building the sanctuary. Brick by digital brick.

In today’s landscape of noise and division, sharing something grounded in welcome, justice, or love is a small revolution. It tells the algorithm, “This matters.” It tells your friends, “This is my community.” And it tells a weary world, “There’s still a place where all are truly welcome.”

Here’s the thing: we put heart and time into every post we make. A photo from Pride. A sermon recap. A book recommendation. Each one is crafted with love—but it only travels if you send it.

Go forward boldly. Screenshot the weekly worship post and drop it in your group chat. Share one of our book recommendations from “Read. Reflect. Renew”. Email the livestream link to your cousin who stopped going to church but still hums the hymns. Post one of our many Pride Posts or stories from June with, “This is my church.”

In a way, you become the usher—guiding people in, helping them find their seat, reminding them they’re not alone.

Jesus said to go out two by two. We say: click it, copy it, send it. That’s modern ministry, y’all.

✉️ This week’s challenge:
Choose one Holy Covenant post that speaks to you. Share it with one person who needs to see it.
Let the Spirit guide your clicks.

#TheDigitalDisciple | #HCUCCEverywhere | #ClickForwardBuildTheSanctuary

📱 The Digital Disciple: “Faith Without Clicks is Dead”

by Eric Miner

You’ve told your friends. You’ve brought your kids. You’ve baked the muffins. But have you told Google about Holy Covenant?

We’re launching our very first Digital Disciple call to action: write a review about Holy Covenant UCC on Google. Just scroll to the bottom of our home page and click the button labeled “Leave a Review on Google”. (Go on. It’s right there in the footer. We’ll wait.)

Here’s why it matters: Google reviews are one of the most important factors in how people find our church online. Search engines take your words — the ones about welcome, warmth, preaching, music, justice, and handbells — and use them to decide whether we show up when someone types “progressive church near me” or “open and affirming churches in Charlotte.”

More reviews = higher rankings = more seekers finding us = more chances for us to say “you are already loved.”

It’s evangelism, but make it tech-savvy. Your voice helps extend our extravagant welcome beyond Sunday morning and into the digital wilderness where people are quietly searching for a place like this. And yes — even a short, kind sentence makes a difference.

Now, we’re not trying to guilt you into it… except we kind of are. But in that “if-you-love-your-church-so-much-why-don’t-you-marry-it-and-leave-a-review” kind of way. 💍📲

Let’s use our clicks for good. Be a Digital Disciple. It’s easier than some of our hymns.

📍Click the “Leave a Review on Google” button at the bottom of our homepage:
👉 holycovenantucc.org

#TheDigitalDisciple | #HCUCCEverywhere | #5StarsForJesus