Chapter 9 of 15 · Tactical Ideas
Why Won't Anyone Volunteer for Digital at Your Church?
Chapter 9, “Getting More People Engaged in Digital Strategy,” from Online Church Is Not the Answer by Jay Kranda
Short answer: Two reasons nobody serves digitally at your church: you haven't asked, and you haven't discipled people online. Cast a vision, host a digital summit, shepherd your volunteers like a real team, and pitch commitment around a table (or a Zoom), not from the stream.
What is this chapter about?
"Why aren't more volunteers engaging in my church's digital strategy?" I get some version of that question constantly. The first answer is that you aren't asking. The ministries that get filled are the ones people see and hear about, which is why you have unlimited ushers. Building the Tabernacle took masons, seamstresses, carpenters, and metal workers, not just priests. Your church has digitally savvy people who don't think their gifts count for Jesus. Host a digital summit, in a room or on Zoom, and pitch it with a joke: if you have more followers than the church account, please show up, we need you. Then let them help you invent the teams: social, streaming, chat moderation, design, vertical video, YouTube, texting newsletter, tech support.
The second answer is that you have to disciple people online to get people who serve online. Most online church strategies are just streaming strategies, so there's a crowd and no core. People ask how we have so many volunteers in our Online Community. Beyond being a megachurch, the real answer is monthly Zoom classes, online groups, ways to serve, and a team that cares for people in crisis. We've been bringing people in, raising them up, and sending them out digitally for over ten years, and disciples do things because they've been trained to.
I got into ministry because my youth pastor invited me onto a volunteer team that hung out monthly. I stayed for the community. So do a monthly Zoom with your digital volunteers, play games, laugh, let them know you. Then borrow the old "Lunch for Twelve" idea from Doug Fields and run it on Zoom: three to fifteen people, questions about the church, and a clear ask to commit. Do that monthly and you'll get maybe three committed people a time. Stack the months and a year later you have thirty.
What are the big ideas?
Vagueness leads to drift, but asking for a commitment brings clarity. If you believe in the priesthood of all believers, practice it in digital ministry too. You don't have to do this alone, and the New Testament model was never one person anyway.
Who is this chapter for?
The one person at the church doing all of digital, and the pastor who wonders why hundreds of viewers never turn into a single volunteer.
What is the Big Idea of chapter 9?
Big Idea: Provide a digital vision and digital serving opportunities for attenders and members of your church to use their digital expertise to help your church integrate digital. You don't have to do this alone!
What else do people ask?
What is a digital summit?
A one time gathering, in person or on Zoom, where you cast vision for streaming, social, tech, and everything in between, and invite the digitally gifted people in your church to build the teams with you.
Why don't online viewers volunteer?
Because most online strategies only stream. No discipleship online means no disciples online, and disciples are the ones who serve. The fix is Zoom classes, online groups, and real shepherding.
What digital teams could a church create?
Social media, streaming, chat moderators, marketing, design, vertical video, website, email and texting newsletters, YouTube, digital ads, and tech support. Let the volunteers help define them.
How do you recruit digital volunteers?
Around a table, not from the stream. Host a small monthly or quarterly Zoom for new people, answer questions, and ask for a commitment. Strengthening events where people turn on their video are the best recruiting ground.