By Larry D. Witzel
Doctoral Dissertation (2025)
School of Communication and the Arts, Liberty University

Abstract

The digital transformation of society has resulted in people living much of their lives online. Some believe the command of Jesus to “go into all the world” necessarily includes entering the digital realm for evangelistic purposes, particularly as the effectiveness of traditional evangelistic methods has declined. This research explored the communication techniques used for digital outreach by seven pastors on social media to cultivate parasocial relationships and the calls to action they used to harvest these relationships evangelistically. This qualitative multiple case study analyzed public video communication and other social media, comparing these pastors’ online ministry with the known techniques of secular social media influencers, as identified in previously published academic literature. The research identified seven broad themes found across the content—theology, psychology, politics, self-disclosure, authoritative citation, other parasocial-cultivating tactics, and call to action—and 20 subthemes. This study showed that these pastor influencers used techniques similar to secular social media influencers to cultivate parasocial relationships, including frequent posting, direct address, self-disclosure, and consistent authenticity, although the technique of expressing positive feelings was notably lacking. The calls to action used to harvest the resulting parasocial relationships, however, differed significantly from secular influencers who monetize their content, instead focusing on encouraging followers to step forward in their spiritual journey. A framework of communication techniques for social media ministry is proposed to cultivate and harvest parasocial relationships for evangelistic purposes.

Keywords: parasocial relationships, social media influencers, Christian evangelism, digital evangelism, mediated relationships, influencer culture, religious communication, digital discipleship, online ministry, pastoral communication, qualitative case study, digital outreach, social media ministry, influencer culture, mediated relationships, digital faith communities

Citation

Witzel, L. D. (2025). The cultivation and harvesting of parasocial relationships for evangelism: An exploratory multiple case study of pastors’ use of video on social media [Doctorial dissertation, Libery University]. Liberty University Scholars Crossing.