In-Person Attendance v. Online Attendance and The Emerging Trap Of Doing Nothing Well
As you know, these are some of the most complex times in church leadership in decades.
As churches reopen their in-person gatherings, there’s one particular trap to watch out for.
The early indications are that in-person church attendance is lower than anyone expected. Most leaders I connect with who have reopened public worship say they are seeing between 10-40% of their former in-person attendance.
Whether that’s a temporary trend or something more permanent remains to be seen (sadly, I suspect lower in-person attendance is a more permanent trend), the reality is that almost everyone’s expectations of a great return to church have been dashed.
While so many leaders imagined that the first Sunday back would be like Chris Farley’s famous entrance on Letterman, that hope has given way to the tough reality of social distancing, the current inability to offer kids ministry, older or at-risk adults understandably staying away and a lot of people seeming to prefer digital church or non-attendance than in-person attendance.
Which leads into very real trap that’s emerging for church leaders. Most churches are now doing both in-person and online services as they reopen.
The trap: what if you end up doing neither well?
Regardless of your church size, that’s a very real trap for at least three reasons.
As hard as it is to acknowledge, in-person church attendance isn't returning to pre-COVID levels any time soon. Click To Tweet1. COVID Probably Accelerated Trends That Have Been Happening for Decades
While the full story of what happened to church post-COVID has yet to play out, I suspect that the disruption has accelerated at least two trends we’ve seen for decades.
First, declining church attendance has been intensifying for decades.
Second, even Christians who attend church are attending less often.
So what does that mean?
Maybe the low numbers of in-person worship attendance isn’t just COVID related. Perhaps it’s an acceleration of the non-attendance trends the church has seen for decades.
Maybe the low numbers of in-person worship attendance isn't just COVID related. Perhaps it's an acceleration of the non-attendance trends the church has seen for decades. Click To TweetI certainly hope I’m wrong. In fact, I’d be delighted to be wrong.
I also realize I’m stepping on sensitive ground for church leaders who are already tired. But wise leaders don’t let their fatigue make decisions for them.
Whenever I suggest people won’t rush back to church, I get a string of comments and messages from church leaders who deny it, are angry about it, or argue incessantly that the church has always gathered and it will always gather.
I understand.
But denial isn’t a strategy. Or at least not a good one. Neither is anger.
And if this is, in fact, an intensification of trends that have been happening for decades, perhaps it’s time for a new strategy.
I outline some broad strokes for the future church in this post where I outline 7 new disruptive church trends.
Just know this (as hard as it is to admit): adopting a ‘they’re all going to come back just like before” mindset can land you right in the middle of the trap.
Denial isn't a strategy. Wise leaders don't let their fatigue make decisions for them. Click To Tweet2. You’re Currently Staffed for Where You’re Seeing Low Returns
If it’s actually the case that in-person attendance numbers will continue to be lower even after COVID is completely a non-issue (which could be months or years from now), then that creates a challenge.
Namely, that many churches have the highest level of staff and budgets invested where they’re seeing the lowest returns.
Many churches have the highest level of staff and budgets invested where they're seeing the lowest returns. Click To TweetSure, in-person worship and gathering isn’t going away. As long as there are people, people will want to gather in person.
But in the same way almost every CEO is rethinking how much office space they really need in light of how well their teams are working from home, church leaders may want to rethink why they’re spending the vast majority of their time, budget and human resources at in-person services that very few people attend.
If this is indeed an acceleration of in-person attendance trends that have been in play for decades, you could easily end up behaving like the CD salesperson in the age of Spotify or like a mall owner in the age of Amazon.
If your mission is to fill buildings, then keep going with your current strategy. But if your mission is to reach people, it might be time to rethink things.
If your mission is to fill buildings, then keep going with your current strategy. But if your mission is to reach people, it might be time to rethink things. Click To Tweet3. You’re Deeply Understaffed for Where You’re Seeing the Highest Reach
The vast majority of churches pivoted to online quickly in March 2020 and saw a large attendance spike over previous levels.
After leaders figured out how to count more accurately and the novelty of online church sagged for leaders and congregants, most churches then saw a drop off in from their initial online attendance numbers (I share reasons as to why that happened here).
Consequently, when the option of resuming in-person worship again became available, many leaders put all their effort back into that.
A few notes on this.
First, it’s probably wise to see where you’re currently getting the highest reach. My guess is that for many re-opened churches, the higher reach remains online.
Second, even if your in-person numbers are higher than your live-stream audience, take the time to add in the number of on-demand views you get for a message or service within the first week a service goes live. My guess is it at least matches your in-person attendance, and in most cases will be higher.
What’s strange is that experiencing higher online attendance than in-person attendance has been true for many churches long before COVID hit. It’s just that nobody was really paying attention to the trend or knew what to do with it if they noticed it.
Third, despite the fact that they’re reaching fewer people than ever in-person, many church leaders are pivoting back to putting 90-95% of their time and attention into in-person services.
To make it even more complicated, the necessary requirements of disinfecting, social distancing, touch-free experiences and a highly safe and secure environment mean that unprecedented levels of effort are going into in-person worship.
The big question is if the future is digital, why the lop-sided investment? Everyone you want to reach is online, and digital ministry scales in a way that physical ministry does not.
Digital ministry scales in a way that physical ministry does not. Click To TweetAgain, I think in-person worship is here to stay. I think it’s necessary both theologically and practically. And yes, your physical gatherings may still grow once all the dust settles. All that being true, in-person services will still likely be your smaller footprint moving forward.
So…why invest the vast majority of your time, energy and money into the platform that has the lowest return and the lowest potential?
You can invest for the past or invest for the future, but personally, I’d be investing for the future.
Why invest the vast majority of your time, energy and money into the platform that has the lowest return and the lowest potential? Click To TweetYour Digital Ministry Is Just Getting Started
So what do you do?
As much as you have dreams, hopes and prayers that seem infinite, you and I both live within the constraints of limited time, energy and resources.
To really positions yourself well for the future, here are three suggestions.
First, staff your online ministry like it is real, because it is. As I outlined here (long before COVID) it was probably wise to start investing 30% of your staff resources in online ministry. Today that’s even more pressing.
You probably won’t have a big impact online when you spend 1% of your staffing resources on it.
You probably won't have a big impact online when you spend 1% of your staffing resources on it. Click To TweetSecond, treat the people you’re reaching online as though they’re real people, because they are.
Finally, some of the money you were going to put into physical ministry into better digital ministry. (Hint, digital ministry doesn’t come even close to costing as much as physical ministry does. Here’s why.)
It’s not just new dollars that are needed. You can redeploy existing resources to have a better reach.
Treat the people you're reaching online as though they're real people, because they are. Click To TweetSo here’s the thing about online church and online ministry:
You haven’t even really started yet.
The ‘innovation’ that happened in the first few months of lockdown wasn’t really innovation. It was adaptation.
The ‘innovation’ that happened in the first few months of lockdown wasn’t really innovation. It was adaptation. Click To TweetAfter a month of online church, a lot of church leaders settled into a pattern that would get them through the next few months and stopped experimenting.
Which means the innovation hasn’t even started yet.
If you’re really going to grow your mission, serve your people and reach new people, it’s going to take a lot of innovation and experimentation.
Which means you’ll need to stay curious and agile.
Positioning your church for strong digital ministry positions your church for the future. And if you really want to reach people, it’s the best strategy you have.
Positioning your church for strong digital ministry positions your church for the future. And if you really want to reach people, it's the best strategy you have. Click To TweetPosition Yourself to Thrive in the New Normal
Yes, there’s a ton of change happening right now.
Some organizations will survive, some will thrive, and others won’t make it.
I’d love for you to be one of the thrivers.
Who will thrive in the new normal? The future belongs to the pivoters.
How well-positioned are you for future pivots?
My brand new online training, the 30-Day Pivot, will show you how to develop your agility as a leader and as an organization to position yourself for growth.
The 30-Day Pivot is a simple 3-step process you and your team can utilize every as often as every 30 days to respond to the change around you and capitalize on it.
- A simple 3-step process your team can use to arrive at your next pivot in 90 minutes or less.
- An approach that fosters team-generated innovation.
- An implementation and evaluation framework that will help your team move quickly and accurately.
Some organizations and churches will thrive in the new normal.
Others won’t.
While the future is uncertain, yours doesn’t have to be.
You can learn more and gain instant access to the 30 Day Pivot here.
What’s In Your Future?
I realize not everyone will agree with these ideas…but what do you think about the future?
What’s the best investment for your time, energy and resources?
Good article!
What are your thoughts on churches that continually “advertise the selling point” of how many many years they have been in existence? This feels a bit detrimental to new people to me but what if anything does the research say about this? Does it make people more or less apt to attend a church that tours their many years of existence?
Thanks
Laura
All of this sounds good but what about the small rural church? The majority of our congregation don’t have Internet access much less a computer or smart phone. I agree that the pandemic only sped up the inevitably. We’re dying a slow death- 13 today.
We opened yesterday fully for the first time with 75% of our regular members of all ages. I wonder if this is because we did only a bit online but was fully involved in the community. Myself and my Warden distributed food, flowers to cheer those feeling down, family fun packs. We also helped in the community, things like acquiring a cooker for someone in need, clothes, games, etc.. We are just starting a Cool Food For Families project, giving food to families in need during the holidays. We live in a deprived area and we did this with little funding, we applied for grants where we could and paid ourselves when we couldn’t, my savings are depleted but but congregation has not, and the great thing is we have made so many connections with other services in the area, we now support each other. I have no doubt all of the congregation will return
My town serves a high number of people who have substance use disorders. Like many places the opioid crisis has hit hard. So many people who are homeless, have substance use issues, ect have faith in God and utilize the churches. When Covid hit it sure seems like they just got abandoned. No one came around to the motels or camps to make sure they were ok. Overdoses have been increasing. And the virtual services are something most don’t have the tools to access. In the move to go online those who need help the most have been left out of the conversation. In my area community transmission of Covid is low, ministers could have held small groups outside or at least sent deacons around to check in with people.
Any way of getting a sample of the pivot material. We are a small church with a limited budget and I want to make sure that this looks like it will fit our rural setting
Hey Dale,
There is a bit of information on this page here: https://careynieuwhof.com/the-30-day-pivot/
But if you really wanted to test out the content, I do offer a 30-Day money-back guarantee with the course, so if you purchase it, and think it isn’t worth the money, we will refund it for you within 30 days.
I hope this helps!
I always enjoy your thought provoking insights Carey. One of these days, I will visit your church.
Thanks for this! I’m curious what churches are doing the Digital Ministry well? Not just online worship, but who has a digital discipleship process that’s working that we could learn from? I’m hungry for knowledge!
There are many, I hope that Connexus Church (where I lead) is one of the churches leading the way ahead. (Here’s our site:https://connexuschurch.com/)
Also, Life.Church is one of the forerunners in the space: https://www.life.church/
There are many others as well.
My question is more about how to make the live services more interactive with those who actually attend the worship service. After all, they’re jumping through all the hurdles we’re putting congregants through right now with distancing, masking, hand sanitizing, temperature taking, etc. in order to attend worship. How do we make the live services, as Carey states “more interactive” with attending congregants versus the option of sitting at home and watching a prerecorded live stream? How do we offer those attending an incentive to continue wanting to attend versus the alternative?
One of the things we did during the quarantine was invest heavily in our online livestream…and we saw the same trends that you discussed in your earlier posts [huge spike in views the first few weeks, then gradual decline]. We re-opened a few weeks ago, and we decided to adhere to the 25% guidelines and continue to even though those guidelines have increased to 50%, which means, instead of having one big service, we are holding 3 smaller services. Our first service is following the example of many stores, in that we are allowing only our 65+ or high risk folks attend. We also shortened our services to 45-60 minutes. By doing this, we have seen about 85-90% of our congregation come back, where other churches in our city that are holding only one service are seeing about 30-35% return. One thing I am noticing is a high percentage of our people that are angry that we closed, and are angry that we are following the guidelines…people that are generally good people are filled with a lot of anger towards the Church. And even with our high percentage of people returning, they still seem to think we should go back to the old model of one service–that somehow our church is different from what every other church is experiencing. I think, at least where we are, we have a huge divide between people that are legitimately afraid and many that are very angry thinking the church is catering to people’s fear. Not sure if anyone else is seeing this as well?
Thanks Keith, that’s great info.
We just reopened in Downriver Metro Detroit after 12 weeks online. Our return service had new protocols that we were sharing for weeks. Our Comeback Celebration had about an 80% attendance. We did do one service and people were both excited and happy. We had enough room to keep families together and socially distance using Chair Spacer Cards for people to choose the space needed to clear seats around their own families. It worked out great but I do believe that we have to adjust for the 5X larger online audience we have gained. That’s our assignment now to minister to our new church model. Let me know when you write the script, lol.
Pat
I’m in discussion with my Co-Pastor and we will open the 28 June so we’re small enough to have all of the social distances being we donated our pews for very comfortable chairs that a fellow member donated the money to pay 100% for 50 chairs ordered and this works great! This may be something for discussion purposes and knowing that there’s the old argument to not spend money on referring to one discussion on stagnant leadership whining about spending money I get the same thing too.
Thanks for sharing. I’m sensing a lot of anger as well (just check any random comments on social feeds). I’m glad you’re leading your people by doing what’s responsible, not popular. Way to go!
Keith, the church I pastor in a small town in Illinois has not yet resumed in-person worship, but I’m hearing about that anger from my colleagues. We have a weekly online meeting that used to be a book discussion, but lately is a support group. Our conclusions are that angry people are just angry in general, about everything, but worship and church life seem to them to be the one area over which they have some control. They desperately desire to get “back to normal,” and they feel lonely and disconnected, as if no one cares. We’ve found that offering other ways to connect has alleviated this for some. Others seem really stuck in their anger, and some of that group want to blame someone- usually the pastor.
When Hurricane Harvey hit the Texas Gulf Coast, I pastored smaller, mid-sized (or upper small-sized) church southwest of Houston. We averaged about 70 in worship. Following worship, on Sunday after the storm made landfall, the overwhelming majority of the town followed the mandatory evacuation orders we were given. As the next Sunday approached it was clear we would not be back in town for worship. I felt my congregation, spread-out as we were needed to have worship in some way. I decided to try Facebook live. I sent emails to all my members with email addresses and I ran some limited advertising for a couple of days before the service. I honestly didn’t expect much. I was totally shocked when our viewed number was in excess of 600. I know total views may not be the best number to use but I don’t know what is and to this point, I have remained consistent with the way we count, number of views. I know it counts those who stop and move on but other methods and this one too, don’t count that multiple people might be watching on the same connection. Following our return the next week, we continued with Facebook Live and we maintained over 200 per Sunday online for the remainder of the time I served that congregation. I went partime (due to family circumstances) and we started using Facebook Live here too. Since we began we have maintained an average of 105. During Covet quarantine we didn’t see much difference in our online presence from before and after. We made the decision to resume in-person worship on May 17. Last year our in-person average was 29. Since returning it is 14. The Live-stream numbers remain the same. We have not returned to our sanctuary yet and are meeting in the fellowship hall because the surfaces in the fellowship hall are far easier to decontaminate following worship.
I am convinced and have been for since the post-Harvey days that the future of the Church is far more online than in-person. The Covit-19 experience has done nothing to change my mind on that. At least in the size congregations I serve, I was ahead of the curve. Because I have done this now for two years and most of my colleagues in similar settings are asking me questions that frankly I don’t know how to answer, all I have really done is worship and until the last few months it was almost exclusively carrying online an in-house feed, I would like to be part of a conversation on how we best carry out a type of ministry that is meaningful in a time when so many, particularly young adults see the church as irrelevant, can we find ways that they might see the Church as relevant again.
Thanks for sharing James! I think there is so much potential online.
We’re using Facebook and Dish network has it for our package. Also here’s a idea and I’m presuming a lot of you may not know that you can put up a FTA (Free To Air) Satelite dish up with a very large tv the only cost is equipment and labor in USA the FCC already has a Teport and Order for areas to HSA and restrictions area of max 1 meter size dish the former church set one up.
You can record a teaching and play it back later on
I am also AAS degree in Information Technology, Amateur Radio Extra Class and a electronics techie for several years as well a Bible School Student, enjoying life every day
Why are we excited about the future potential of on-line church? Having just gone through this experience with having to stay home and watch church (Pre-recorded. by the way. There was nothing “live stream” about it – about what our church was doing – except for a few times). It has not even come CLOSE to comparing to in person church. Our church usually has a full band and worship team with at least 3 vocalists. During this, we’ve listened to 1 or 2 people singing, with one guitar. The biggest part of the time, it was being recorded from those people’s basement at home, and we didn’t even SEE them most of the time. We saw words to the songs on our screens. Then we watched the pastor give his sermon, sitting behind his desk, in his home, while we could see his own personal belongings (guitars) hanging on his wall behind him. Now, I know that it just was what it was, but that WASN’T “church”.
What you all are talking about – and what some of our people, who couldn’t attend services in person due to health reasons – were getting, before COVID – and what people choosing to stay home after we physically go back to the church, is vastly different from what we’ve been doing the past few months. They were, and will be getting REAL “live streaming”. They’re watching an actual service taking place. Not bits and pieces of services that have been pre-recorded, in different places, then all just put together into a video to play at a certain time on Sunday mornings. I want real church back again.
Sounds like perhaps your church was not prepared to do online services with the excellence they deserve. Many churches have been doing a much better job. Online church is still church, if given the focus, creativity, and resources it deserves.
Love this, I want to get real practical in this comment. I live in Ontario where Carey does and we’ve been given the green light to gather with a bunch of guidelines I won’t get into. My discussions with our team about future ministry (staffing, resources, gathering, digital presence) have been great and we’re in the same ballpark but are still very conceptual and vague. I want us to innovate, I’m simply having trouble moving to concrete decisions rather than complex dreams. We value personal over polish, the need to be interactive in person, give live and digital participants a similar experience, and our focus is on discipling. One big question I have is whether others have had success in honouring these kinds of values with a more personal livestream experience when gathered, or have created something completely different between digital and analogue with the same theme and message but different methods?
Jeremy. Well hello fellow Ontarian. I hear you. I literally just got off the phone with a friend who leads a large church in the US and the challenge right now is there is no good model of what the future church looks like. I think Mike Todd is a great example at Transformation church, but I honestly think it’s going to take a lot of experimentation. In some ways I look at my own journey in this space in the last 7 years. While I saw overnight traction on blogging and podcasting, it was only after years of expermenting and trying new things and stopping and starting different ventures that we got to where we are today, helping the leaders we do in the numbers we do. I think we’ll have a much clearer picture in a year or two. The point is simple: don’t abandon online. Keep experimenting. Same with in-person too. Don’t just go back to exactly how you did it. Experiment.
Carey,
Love your thought-leading of us. I feel your stats on in-person attendance are premature, given the high restrictions that States and Provinces have placed upon gathered worship. To compare today’s in person service attendance with those restrictions to pre-Covid 19 attendance is misleading.
Hope you’re right. We’ll all know in a year or two.
We recently read “Neighborhood Church” and, as that book suggested, I look forward to online worship as well as using our building to socialize with community members. We are a so isolated today. Most of us would love to go to our church to fellowship with others on any day of the week- not just Sunday. We need to think outside the box.
I am interested in the futures of the church and technology platform beyond online. Possibilities in the 5G environment for the church
I think this is worth looking into. I’ve heard 5G will change so much, but I haven’t researched how.
Carey, love your blog, have taken 2 of your courses. Question: why so much focus on worship? Jesus told us to make disciples, nor worshipers. And while worship may be a strategy for discipleship, we all learned from Willow Creek’s REVEAL that it’s really not a great one. Often, people drifting away from worship are simply not discovering life transformation. You talk of measuring engagement instead, but you seem to include facebook comments. I’ve gotten some comments I wouldn’t consider positive discipleship measures!
How can we advance – and measure – discipleship, not merely worship? I’d love your thoughts on that!
Great to hear from you. I’m focusing on worship services because that’s what 99% of churches focus on. To move the needle, start with the current obsession. While this isn’t a methodology post, I share some of my discipleship thoughts here. It’s caught as well as taught: https://careynieuwhof.com/how-to-tell-whether-discipleship-is-actually-effective-in-your-church/
Perhaps I misunderstand your point but it appears to me you are suggesting that churches will eventually stop meeting together and go “digital” 100%. Or that they should. I think this completely misses the community aspect of local churches and their small groups. The Body of Christ must meet together in some physical fashion or it becomes a bunch of independent pieces doing their own thing. Zoom and Google Meet can never replace that. They can augment or enhance communal gatherings under certain circumstances but they can’t replace it.
Thzt may depend on safety issues.
We have to go back to how the early Christians did church, they met in small groups, house churches.
This method will be safer and we can have the full benefit of being intimate with other believers.
Big Sunday gathering we can do it online at the same time we must meet in small group during the weekdays.
Hi George. No, the church will always gather. It’s just more of that gathering will be online, not in person. But in person experiences are here to stay.
Enjoyed the read.
I have been concerned that many will not come back because of the tighter sanitary requirements and the feeling that will bring, especially to visitors.
And families with small children will really be hesitant. IMO.
I also think that if a church looks ahead, now is the time to make RADICAL decisions and changes.
– length of service
– elements in a service
– ministry to people changes
– kids and youth ministry repercussions
– online strategies
Exciting. Challenging.
But, we have the greatest message to share!
I think our cyberspace will be our next mission field. However, the churches are not really equipped to do evangelism or discipleship effectively in the cyber world.
Hi Richard! So well said! This is the challenge for us – equipping God’s people for the new frontier of evangelism and discipleship in a cyber world. It is a new world. I am doing my best to be brave and embrace it in a way that enhances our in-person worship and discipleship experiences. God is doing a new thing!
Thank you for the articles. I am guessing you’ve had more people reading them simply because more church leaders need help right now. Perhaps one of the biggest questions you could weigh into in a future article concerns the theological aspect of the church—or if you have written an article already, would you repost? We hear much about going online, but we also wrestle with the command to assemble (Hebrews 10:25) and to reach our community as a visible, local assembly. For many, depending on their theological or denominational leanings, the issue is a desire to reach people while still knowing they are being obedient to Scripture.
I completely agree that this is the great accelerator and also that we are going to lose lot of churches before this is all over. It’s also the great equalizer as the size of your church doesn’t matter, it’s all about the quality of your content. Personally I think going back in a minimal hybridized way with masks, social distancing etc will kill us as people will come back and experience it as another loss in their Covid19 lives. So I am in no hurry to do that. When we do go back we be doing two services, a physical service and a separate on line service. I think they are very different experiences and I dont think combining them will work for either group. We need to be talking about changes to our job descriptions now.
I think that’s a great point. Our ecclesiology often gets ahead of our theology. I’m not a theologian nearly as much as I am a disciple and leader, but yes…that would be good fodder for future posts.
This is interesting to me. I am the youth and children’s minister at a small/medium church in a small town so I have also gained the online presence on top of family ministry. Ministry here tends to be to the whole community and not just the people that show up to church anyway because everyone knows who you are when you walk into a room. I am curious to see where this trend takes us in our area. I think you are right though about the trend of people who are Christians using covid as an excuses to not attend. We are in a community where a ton of our folks have lake or beach houses so in the summer vacate anyway.
Your last sentence reveals the real issue. 😉 But I love your community focus. Way to go.
Hello Everyone, we’re watching services online being the Leadership at our church and District leadership until our Governor will allow full return of public gathering. Of course there will be some people that will want to get out of the house and go out until they clear the psychological effects of being cooped up and a Suggestion of post traumatic stress from any problems that may arise from what I’ve read that some counseling should be made available based on APA discussion and publications, discussion groups this is crucial as well increased alcohol and recreational drug use other addictions should be addressed as well.
Also another thought of preplanning to leave anyway may been in the works weather was planning a permanent exit, as Employees do exit interviews the church should do when people leave. I’ve been in a situation myself yes the reason primarily I never agreed to join as Just Because of being a card carrying member for wrong reason however two changes later I’ve joined a denomination that I’ve agreed with and I am happy with the decision I’ve made.
I wish we can brainstorm as church leaders on hoe we can keep our church members glued on screen with the online church trends . I find most of the viewers commenting less and paying less attention because they tend to look or watch something that will keep them on their toes. The truth is people become easily bored with online than being in actual church.
I have also observe the attendance in churches after this pandemic attack ( Covid) . The number has gone from less to scarce. Why ? Because people are scared for their lives. Which leaves me a question. What are we doing as leaders to make the online church interesting and making sure that people attend church without fear!!!
Many things to think about. It seems one of the points emphasized for tweeting left out a word -“Digital ministry scales in a way that physical ministry does.” Was the intent for the last part of the sentence to read, “that physical ministry does not?”
Thanks Mary! You saved that one. 🙂 Fixed.
Carey, Innovate and Experiment … that’s what we’ve been doing and doing well. We’re beginning to have discussions about what our in-person gatherings will look like and what that does to our digital/online weekend expression. I feel like the value of online is in the intimate/personal feel, like you’re speaking “to” me not “at” me. And some churches have been great at making their weekend services/expressions feel that way (see Cross Point Church, Nashville). If our online expression becomes a live feed of the main stage, once we are back in-person, I wonder if we will lose that sense of personal connectedness that is the digital world and thus lose the audience we’ve been trying to reach. I wonder if we need to keep leaning toward making digital personal — always trying to also be engaging, and connecting people back to a type of gathering (life groups, serve groups, in-person weekends, etc.). I worry that we’re going to lose the connect to the travel-sports families, that we’ve been able to reach online either on Sunday or onDemand. Anyway .. that’s what I’ve been thinking about and your post here confirms it.
Ben, so great to hear from you. And, yes, those are fantastic things to think about and pray about. I also wonder if travel sports is going to take a hit…but I think the default to digital and non-attendance is going to be a factor. These are brand new times.
Fascinating trends to innovate and experiment around! With all the conversation centered on how to best go about providing a worship experience, I fear many churches have missed the opportunity to innovate and experiment with growing mission right in our neighborhoods. Most of us have spent more time in our neighborhoods than ever before and have had the chance to grow in-person relationships there. Let’s not miss this unique opportunity to lead our people into growing their mission through innovation and experimentation right in the neighborhoods God has placed us!
Ruth. You raise such a great point. Facility centered ministry can give way to community-centered ministry. Thank you!
How can we help the online church attendees to serve with the gathered church? I have seen a trend to stay at home but the now 80/20 rule of service is shrinking and the volunteers who are serving to provide those to stay at home are less. Our church is small and we definitely don’t have the best camera as larger churches. Our online just started weeks ago with borrowed equipment, $20 and a few volunteers who taught themselves. I know it’s not the best. Some that moved online now watch larger churches because the video sound are better. But when they need personal help they come back to the physical small church. How can online contribute and not just take? How can physical not get fatigued with less volunteers? Real problems after 13 weeks online.
I hear you Mary. Just a thought…you can’t change everything overnight, but maybe find a volunteer who has skill in digital and allocate 1-5% of your budget toward it. Build that over time and see what happens. Small beginnings still have great potential, and love the people you gather with physically well. I imagine as a smaller church you’re awesome at this.
Carey – We’re a small ministry (75-100) that has peaked electronically to approximately 250 since COVID19. Now our viewership has leveled off at approximately 80. So it seems that we’ve at least maintained our attendance (albeit on line) that we had prior to the pandemic. Most importantly, our offerings have been consistent our higher! (Hallelujah). We’re contemplating reopening on Father’s Day with a drive up service vs. in house service.
What do you think?
Phil…glad to hear things are hanging together for you. Take a 3 year view. Where do you want to be in three years, and build out from there. Just avoid the trap in the process. Make sense?
I’m sad to see that many of your posts have turned into “sales pitches”. I have usually enjoyed and learned from your posts. But lately, I don’t enjoy the sales pitches. I would suggest you separate out the two. I won’t be watching near as much if this continues.
Thanks Peggy. We’ve been using the same format for years. Sorry you don’t like it. I hope you enjoy and value the free advice. I’m going to keep giving it.
I definitely find much value in your posts even without getting any paid subscriptions. Thank you.
Indeed. Painting a “doom and gloom” picture then selling the solution comes across as disingenuous.
Love this post Carey! Very good!
Thanks Justin. Just time for a little strategic rethink.
I have always believed that the church was the one organization that existed for those who are not yet involed with Faith. With a online church we need to find ways to involve those who check in to go out and make disciples. As a church we haven’t done a great job of sending our member (disciples) out to make disciples. So the challenge for me is how to not make the same mistake. Online church reaching out to make disciples is N interesting chLlenge.
100%
Innovation is getting a digital ministry position (reassignment of duties) started that is more like a missionary to people, but you don’t know their background at the start. However, that position needs to report to someone very high in leadership so that it can get attention when it is needed and won’t be overlooked in meetings. However, you need some people in leadership from the private sector who understand the virtual world and human interactions through video chat or even messaging apps. It is likely that your current leadership (trustees) doesn’t have much experience in this. However, they call the shots and tend to not allow new people to enter or even receive advice from those with more expertise.
Good point Mark. None of us was trained for online ministry.
While I have no reason to doubt what you are saying it seems our church is bucking the trend (thankfully). Our attendance before COVID-19 was around 250 -275. Our attendance yesterday was 200 with some new faces in the crowd. I can’t place my finger exactly on why. The two things we’ve done differently since our reopening is go to two services, and continue to push out daily content on our Facebook and YouTube pages like we were during the time we were not having in-person gatherings. We haven’t stopped investing in those areas post-reopening. We also haven’t started back our kids ministries yet, so I am expecting we may grow through this once our Kids Church and Nursery reopen.
Way to go Art. So encouraged to hear this!