Chapter 4 of 15 · Framework Thinking
Who Is Your Church's Digital Strategy Actually For?
Chapter 4, “Knowing Your Audiences,” from Online Church Is Not the Answer by Jay Kranda
Short answer: Three audiences benefit from your digital strategy: the new person nearby, the engaged attender or member, and the faraway person. Your audiences, not your personal preference, drive the how and what of everything digital.
What is this chapter about?
Context is king, as every seminary says on repeat. Isaiah 6 and Ezekiel 10 describe the same throne room with different creatures because they were written to different audiences. The same translation work applies to your digital strategy. So the chapter walks through three audiences, and I start with the one that confuses people most: the faraway person.
The faraway person lives a hundred miles away, or in another state or country, and geography is the only thing keeping them from going deeper with you. Digital blurred a line that never used to exist. When I was a youth leader, a visiting cousin from out of state wasn't someone I tried to get into a small group. Now that person can watch every week. You have to decide, honestly, whether you want them to be a full attender or member. The way I phrase it to pastors is: do you want to be responsible for marrying and burying them? If yes, resource it. If no, spiritually encourage them and point them to a church nearby. Ninety nine percent of churches are called to a geographic region and shouldn't chase the locationless church model. Those leaders are modern day missionaries, and they make the headlines, but your focus is Kingdom impact, not news.
The second audience is your engaged attenders and members, and it's the one everyone overlooks. They want a local in person church with a la carte digital options, because everything else in their life has them. They pay bills online, their watch has an app store, and when your Roku app glitches they'll let you know ("we're not the size of YouTube" was my reply once). That expectation is a sign of desire, and it's the best argument for resourcing digital properly. The third audience is the new person. My first job was mowing my church's lawn every Saturday for five dollars an hour so the community could see we cared. Your website, your socials, and your YouTube channel are the lawn now. People audit them before they ever show up, the same way you read the reviews before you pick a restaurant, and the same way I dread booking a doctor's appointment that still runs like a time machine.
What are the big ideas?
Digital isn't only for people who want to stay home in their pajamas. Your most engaged people want it, new people judge you by it, and faraway people need honesty from you about what they can and can't be. Jot down what each audience means for your church and see if your team agrees.
Who is this chapter for?
The lead pastor who gets emails from viewers in other countries and doesn't know what to do with them, and the communications person who needs a reason to invest beyond "new people might see it."
What is the Big Idea of chapter 4?
Big Idea: Understanding your audiences of your church and community drives the how and what of your digital strategy, not your personal preference.
What else do people ask?
What are the three audiences of a church's digital strategy?
The new person who lives locally, the engaged attender or member, and the faraway person who wants to go deep from a distance. Each one changes what you build and why.
Should my church try to reach people who live far away?
Only if it fits your objective. The chapter argues most churches are called to a geographic region and should spiritually encourage faraway people while recommending a local church, unless a microsite or house church strategy is part of the plan.
Do engaged church members actually want digital?
Yes. Everything else in their daily life has digital integrations and they expect the same from their church, usually alongside in person, not instead of it.
What is a locationless church?
A church that gathers wherever and however it can, including virtual reality, without a physical place. The book treats these leaders as missionaries and not as a blueprint for the average local church.