teaching ministry
Creating connection within physical absence By Dr. Andrew Zirschky, Director of the MAYM Nashville Extension and Research Professor in Youth Ministry
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midst our pandemic-induced you’ve never had an overwhelming isolation this past year, I’ve spent sense of being socially present or truly a considerable amount of time “known by” this mass of others, despite considering the nature of presence, or the close proximity. Yet, when I was a what it means to feel as though we are pastor, I tended to believe that social seen and heard and “with” others. presence just naturally manifested itself It was exactly a year ago that courses in my church when people showed up. at the Seminary began to move online, Likewise, in my first years as a professor and I quickly realized that part of my I believed it just naturally manifested ministry with and to students during in my classroom. I was wrong on both this time would be to discover ways accounts. of experiencing and extending social While it’s a common idea that presence amidst physical absence. Of teaching is an exercise in knowledge course, at the same time most of the transfer, the reality is that teaching other avenues of social interaction we and learning are most truly social enjoy in American society were also The real challenge was not shutting down or shifting online. The casual social contact we experience transferring classroom content in restaurants and grocery stores ceased; many workplaces were into a digital space, but shuttered in favor of work completed helping students experience my at the dining room table; the raucous cheers at sporting events faded presence and in turn be present away; and the traditional darkness themselves in our interactions. and silence of our churches during Tennebrae services lingered into Easter Sunday morning and long beyond interactions in which ideas are as not even Christian gatherings could be exchanged and grow within us as we spared. Our usual ways of “being with” encounter others and they encounter us. others and feeling their presence were Classrooms devoid of the opportunity suddenly no longer available. Discovering for students to be known, heard, and ways to experience presence amidst seen—or where instructors stand aloof absence became a society-wide quest. from being personally present— are I noticed a few years ago that classrooms that not only feel dead (and Christians tend to have a bias for boring), but are often deadly to our showing up, as if being physically hearts, souls, and minds. present in a place is equivalent to truly As the pandemic plodded on and “being with” others. We love to count Zoom became the architecture of both Sunday morning attendees and often our churches and classrooms, I knew measure the health of our congregations that the real challenge ahead was not by how many people show up in the transferring classroom content into same place (the sanctuary) at the a digital space, but helping students appointed hour. Most especially when experience my presence and in turn be it comes to church, we assume that present themselves in our interactions. physical proximity is the same as How could I bring myself to the Zoom relational or social presence. Somehow experience and not just my content? we confuse attendance with being seen, How could I ensure that students didn’t heard, known, cared for, and loved. We just interact with content, but were able know this isn’t the case in other places to be heard, seen, and known by one in life—public transportation being a another as people? Part of the reason ready example. While standing packed these were important questions for my into a bus or subway car, I’m quite sure classroom was because these were also
important questions for the churches where my students serve. Each student in the Master of Arts in Youth Ministry program serves 25+ hours a week in a congregation, usually in the role of youth director. My students were facing the same issues with their youth groups that I was facing in the classroom. While most teenagers are unaffected by COVID-19, by midsummer they had all been infected by the malady of Zoom Fatigue. While the popular perception is that Zoom Fatigue results from too many hours of video conferencing and screen time, the reality is that this fatigue is the result of countless hours spent in front of a camera, but never being seen; too many hours in front of a microphone, but never really being heard. The real cause of Zoom Fatigue, the “other” illness we’ve faced this past year, is the lack of social presence that easily results from the transactional and sterile interactions that Zoom (and other technologies) so easily foster. In fits and starts I’ve learned how to manifest presence and minister to my students this past year, and they’ve learned along with me for the sake of their own churches and ministries. For example, while we’ve learned there are certainly ways to engage together on Zoom that allow for a sense of presence, these group interactions are no substitute for reaching out to people as individuals. This was the year that “pastoral visitation” and home calls—even if conducted on the front WebXtra: To watch a video porch at a social distance—made a about Austin Seminary resurgence in the ministerial repertoire students’ “Beloved of my students, just as personal phone calls, texts, and one-on-one meetings Community Covenant,” withgo students made a resurgence in my here: weekly rhythm. We’re discovering together that just showing up in the classroom—or the church—is not the same as truly being present with and for others. v
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Spring 2021 | 21
