5 Questions to Ask Before Investing Heavily into Your Online Church
Do you want people 1 hour away to be a “member” of your church? There is a difference between spiritually nourishing people online (old school TV Ministry) and the online experience being their church. Think heavily about this question by picking an approach for the initial launch of your online church. You can always upgrade to another approach later.
How much of your discipleship process do you want to offer to your online watcher? Draw on a whiteboard your paradigm (funnel, baseball diamond, etc.) and ask your leadership where the red line needs to be placed. Focus on defining your sandbox to play, which will give you a clear path to gain trust to move the line later.
What are clear wins in the first six months of launching your newly upgraded online church experience? Align with what is defined as healthy for your church. For example, attendance, response, groups, class, giving, etc. Focus on hitting these key wins to grow your vision and team (aka remove the red line).
What do the next three years look like for your online church? Map out phases of launching a robust online church experience. Think beyond your current sandbox. Do some vision planning. Keep this plan to only essential people. Example of phases (don’t copy & paste, but lean into your uniqueness as a church):
Phase 1: Online Worship Service Upgrade [First Year]
Online Service Order & Reporting (Winter)
Follow-Up Process (Spring)
Facebook Group (Summer)
Serving Opportunities (Fall)
Phase 2: Online Groups & Home Groups [Winter, Second Year]
Phase 3: Classes [Summer, Second Year]
Phase 4: Watch Party Campaign & House Church Program [Third Year]
Who are the key people to pull off your online church vision? Your online church bleeds into all areas of expertise. You cannot pull off everything by yourself, and everyone can’t report to you. You need to identify the key people at your church to help execute phases of your vision. See yourself as the champion of your church’s online vision. Grab many coffees, and Zoom connects with these influencers. Set up a quarterly “Dreaming Online” meeting with all these leaders. Talk about what worked in the last few months and what can get better. Examples of critical leaders would be whoever is over website, communication director, social media champion, video production manager, marketing director, etc. First, identify leaders. Second, build relationships with these leaders.