By DEREK REDD

The Rev. Jake Steele, pastor of Christ United Methodist Church in Wheeling, sees his role as a shepherd for a community of people. Any good shepherd wants to grow the flock.

And that is what Steele has been trying to do, drawing more people to the congregation and to the Word of God. In welcoming people into the fold, Steele is employing new methods, entering cyberspace and broadening the boundaries of the church beyond its physical walls and into the digital.

That need for a digital opportunity to worship became even more crucial after the COVID-19 pandemic forced people to sequester themselves from each other. The 39-year-old Steele said Christ United Methodist was fortunate. It was broadcasting its services online even before the pandemic turned the world upside down.

So when the need arose to pivot more toward the digital realm, Steele and his church had the foundation in place for an easier transition. He found that transition to be helpful, so much that, as pandemic restrictions eased, he maintained that digital presence and tweaked aspects to make it even more effective.

“I think as a as a millennial, it’s important to leverage technology to cast as wide a net as you can,” he said. “And this was this was one of those mediums. But the challenge now is, after you’ve cast the wide net and you have people that tuned in from all over, the really novel question we’re asking now relative to our online platform, is how do we make that space a bit even more interactive so that we can be we can begin to disciple those people, to shift it from an audience on an online community of people that tune in and are a part of your worshiping community?

“How do we take that a step further, to be able to speak to felt needs and to have those folks that tune in from far away, to feel more a part of a faith family?”

Eventually, Steele would like to find a live-streaming interface that would allow online worshippers to seamlessly participate in services in real time. That technology isn’t here yet, but Steele said there are other ways to accomplish the mission.

First, he said, was to not look at those worshiping online as an afterthought. With each service, he tries as much as he can to make sure online worshippers know they’re part of the congregation. Each service, he introduces himself and the church to online viewers. He makes it a point to say, “No matter who you are or where you’re from or how you got here or what it is that’s got you here, in the name of Christ Jesus, you’re welcome in this place. We’re glad that you’re here.”

The method has been working. Steele said that, of the new members Christ United Methodist has welcomed recently, half of them had worshiped online for a couple of months before coming to the church itself. It suprised him a little how quickly those virtual visits turned into actual ones, but as he thought more about it, it wasn’t so surprising.

“Technology has always been a part of our life for a long time,” he said. “But when it comes to faith, when it comes to the formation of community, the technology works to connect us, but it’s not the same as closeness. So the technology works to connect us, but it doesn’t make us close. There’s still a very much a felt. tangible, in-person element to this thing that we call church. It’s now kind of morphed a little bit, but I think it’s still essential.”

Steele has felt that closeness with the Ohio Valley community in the seven years since he became pastor at Christ United Methodist. He feels it, his wife Emily feels it, and his 10-year-old son Brody and 4-year-old daughter Bethany feel it. Some of that comes from his relationship with the area’s interfaith community. Steele considers that camaraderie a breath of fresh air in a world often riddled with divisiveness.

“The Wheeling area is a gem in the sense that there are so many community ministries and civic organizations that meet needs of people, whether it be hunger or health or homelessness or other things,” he said. “That is very much of a draw for me to be in Wheeling because of those community partnerships that we that we can form, and there’s a pretty strong ministerial alliance.”

Steele believes the future of faith in the Ohio Valley won’t be focused on just the brick-and-mortar church building. It will expand past those walls, as the faith community becomes malleable to meet people where they live and serve. Regardless, he feels that future will be rooted in caring for the community.

“What has served me well over the course of time is a is a phrase I picked up from a colleague a long time ago,” Steele said. “And he said there are three things that I’ve done over the course of my lifespan in my professional career in ministry that have buoyed me wherever I been. The first thing is love your people. The second thing is love your people. And the third is love your people.”