The speaker, an expert on Black religious and spiritual life, had a message both biting and hopeful: “One of the biggest hindrances to the church is nostalgia. ‘We used to be this….’” he began bluntly. But then Teddy Reeves, curator of religion at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History & Culture, guided the July 22 breakout session at the National Black Catholic Congress to thinking about how to reimagine what “church” is.

“I am not concerned with saving this particular iteration of the Black Church,” said Reeves, who holds a master’s in divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary and a doctorate in philosophy from Fordham University. “My focus is on what we can build from what we have.”

The session that Reeves led was titled, “‘Oh Lord Jesus It’s a Fire’: Reimaging Pastoral and Church Ministry in the Digital Age.” The National Black Catholic Congress XIII was held July 20-23 at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland.

Reeves noted that faith communities have seen membership and participation levels decline for decades, and the COVID-19 pandemic made the trend more pronounced. Yet belief in God and heaven, interest in spirituality and placing a high importance on God in one’s life are not declining, he added. 

The key for congregations that are trying to bring people back to church is to try to understand how best to reach those who are missing from the pews, as well as what has kept the regular churchgoers coming, he said. 

Reeves broke down what sources of media are favored by different demographic segments, noting that all generations use YouTube regularly, whether Baby Boomers (born between 1946 and 1964) or Generation Z (born between 1997 and 2012) or the Millennials and Gen-Xers who came in between. And though many churches rely on Facebook for sharing information, “only 36 percent of Gen Zers use Facebook and only once a week.” They’re only on Facebook because the Baby Boomers in their family are there, Reeves said. Yet Facebook is the only social media outlet used by many churches.

Gen Zers prefer TikTok, he added. “They use TikTok as a search engine more than Google. And if they go to TikTok to find other information, you’ve got to assume they’re going there to find information on God.”

Whatever the demographics, Reeves said, to reinvigorate churches a variety of approaches is needed, targeted to different generations. That means whoever is trying to reach those absent or never-joined members needs to pay attention to the various social media platforms and who is using them for what purposes. 

He suggested for instance, providing content for those potential members of a parish on TikTok or as a podcast. TikTok is a platform for sharing short-form videos on most any topic.

“You have cameras in your churches” from learning how to livestream Masses during the pandemic, he said, “but you don’t use them.” 

“Figure out how to take a homily and make it a podcast,” he said. “Have you ever asked a young person to turn a homily into a TikTok?” That could be a young parishioner or someone who doesn’t come to church but has expressed interest in some activities, he said.

“The church is a brand,” Reeves said. “The pastor is a brand!” The challenge of bringing people back into a faith community begins with recognizing that “when churches and church leaders are not in the spaces where people are, you’re invisible.”