Paper Short Abstract:

The paper traces the trajectory of a successful church app company from Brazil and reflects on the synergistic relationship between media convergence and economic theology among contemporary evangelical digital entrepreneurs.

Paper Abstract:

The COVID-19 pandemic and social isolation measures have accelerated the seemingly irreversible process of 'deep digitalization' (Hepp 2019), initiated with Internet 2.0. This transformation has impacted religious publics, institutions, networks, and practices. Apps have emerged as a primary driver of 'digital religion,' catering to adherents across diverse religious traditions, offering services and functionalities at individual and collective levels. Among the numerous Brazilian startups dedicated to this market is inChurch, currently serving over 30,000 institutions in Brazil and Latin America, the majority of which are evangelical. Founded by two charismatic Christians, the startup places emphasis on hiring individuals who share a common faith.

This presentation is based on interviews with inChurch's founding partners and company employees, online meetings with clients, analysis of written and audiovisual materials available online, and direct experience with the app. I explore how inChurch's long-term project of digitalizing the Church has unfolded through various stages of media convergence, blurring the boundaries between Christianity and the secular market, piety and profit, virtue and value. I demonstrate how these ethical tensions are resolved by inChurch leaders through a reclaiming of the notion of ministry, a key historical category in Christian economic theology. I show how the mystery of ministry (Agamben) reconciles apparently incommensurable moral imperatives and historical forces, such as instrumental rationality and eschatological conviction.