At That Church Conference a few years ago, I heard a keynote speaker say, “There’s no such thing as church online.” I was immediately shocked. I mean, I was an online pastor. How dare he?!
Now I agree. Church online as we’ve known it for the past decade is gone.
And just like Joshua needed to hear God say the words “Moses my servant is dead” (Joshua 1:2) so he could move into the next level of leadership, I think the Church needs to accept the fate of online church as we know it, so we can move into the next phase of digital church.
See, almost every church is built on a physical attendance model that is location-centric. We need/want/encourage people to come to a specific location at a specific time. This approach impacts church staffing models, systems and ministry strategy. This is also why publications like Outreach Magazine still produce an annual Top 100 list of America’s most-attended churches.
But about a decade ago, forward-thinking churches realized that people no longer engaged with organizations just physically. In response, these churches developed church online platforms that ran parallel to the physical church. Now, this caused plenty of controversy at the time because people now had the option to attend church OR watch online. This rocked the old location-centric model, but we kept the physical and digital services separate enough to make it work.
When social media and YouTube entered the scene, plenty of forward-thinking churches adjusted again, creating multi-channel strategies that allowed people to access some content physically, some online, and some on the church social media platforms.
But the times have changed again.
The secular marketplace has known for several years that customers connect with brands online AND offline seamlessly. Companies like Home Depot, Starbucks, Wal-Mart and Crate & Barrel have adopted “omni-channel” strategies to drive sales both online and at brick and mortar stores. Omni-channel is an approach that provides a seamless experience for people whether they are online, using an app, or in a physical building.
Omni-channel and multi-channel may seem similar, but there’s a difference. Multi-channel is like the swim lanes at a local pool—each lane has its own boundaries and direction. In the same way, physical church has its systems, strategies and measurements of success, while church online has its own separate (but similar) systems, strategies and measurements of success. Omni-channel however, is like a pool with no lanes during free swim—everyone is able to explore any part of the pool in their own time.
An omni-channel approach to church would mean that people could fully connect and fully engage with a church without the need to step inside a physical environment every week—or possibly even at all. They could attend one Sunday, listen to the message on podcast the following week, watch a live online stream the week after, and catch the message on-demand in an church app the week after that. Rather than a location-centric approach to church, this would be an audience-centric approach that allows people to connect and engage with churches both digitally AND physically, for 1 hour on Sunday AND throughout the other 167 hours of the week.
In a world where people have an increasing number of online channels and apps to watch or listen to content, and ways to build community around that content, the church needs to recognize that this is not just the future—it’s the current reality.
And just like when God told Joshua that Moses was dead, his next words were “now then …” (Joshua 1:2). It’s time for the church to focus on the “now then.”
Here’s what I mean: Whether you planed it or not, more people than ever are accessing your church content digitally via live web streaming, video on-demand, podcasts, apps and YouTube. In this way, church attendance is not decreasing, it’s decentralizing. Digital channels do not compete with physical attendance, they partner with it. The marketplace has known this for some time.
After studying 46,000 shoppers, Harvard Business Review discovered in January of 2017 that people who used several different channels to seamlessly connect with a store were:
- more loyal to the brand.
- 23% more likely to make repeat trips to the retailer’s physical store.
- more likely to recommend the brand to family and friends than those who used a single channel such as physical attendance only.
Now then … if the Church is going to make an impact in the modern world, we need to move into a new reality by creating strong experiences that connect and engage people on every channel they use to access our content—including physical attendance—so we can encourage full engagement with our church. We need to take the swim lanes out and let people explore our church and our content in their own time and in their own way. If the marketplace is an indicator, doing digital engagement well will lead to increased physical attendance.
As Craig Groeschel says: “If we want to reach the people that no one else is reaching, we’ve got to do things no one else is doing” because leadership requires focus on where you want to be, not where you were or where you are.
So, this is the new cultural mountain I believe the church is facing … our job is to figure out ways to scale it. I’m excited because while climb may be tough, but the view from the top will be worth it.
I wanna know what you think. Where do you see new opportunities?
How to scale and implement that is indeed the question. My church is way behind in this aspect of the game when it comes to digit content, just barely getting our feet wet with streaming on one channel. Next staff member may need to be a digital guru?
I would highly recommend getting yourself a digital/social media person to take a full step forward.
Dave, you are spot On! Our culture has redefined time, relationships, place, and presence. People are present in this omni channel culture.
We, the Church, need to be present in the presence of people’s lives. Through this omni channel approach the Church can BE the church like never before in history. Thank you for this great post.
Thanks for the comment Steve. Obviously, I TOTALLY agree. We have the opportunity to connect with more people than ever before AND engage with people beyond an hour on Sunday. This is crucial.
Dave, great article. Thanks for your insightful discussion of this. I would love to see what this looks like for churches that adopt this model. Questions that come to mind are: What next steps can be taken online or physically and what tool/database will support recording from each. What are those next steps for an organization – salvation, baptism, giving, serving, etc. How do you communicate these next steps for each channel and how did you track conversion. I agree with your omni-channel approach and believe that the path for church attenders online/offline must be clear and unified. I’m excited to be a part of implementing in our church’s expression of this in the months/years to come. Thanks again Dave!
Dave, great post! We have been researching and thinking about how this looks for our church/community ever since we heard Clay’s talk on analog vs. digital at the NP Partners pastor retreat. The more I research, the more I am convinced that this is the future of the church. I’m very interested in learning what you guys are testing/trying in this arena. We’re wrestling with the idea of how do we keep the digital experience personal as the content is being viewed through all of these different avenues? How do we engage those watching so that they feel a part of what we are doing and not just “peaking” through a window? We have a funnel for our Sunday services, what does this funnel look like for those consuming digital content? These are just a few questions we are thinking about as we pursue this. Thanks for all you guys are doing. Keep up the great work!
Hey Jordon. Those are HUGE questions … but they’re the right questions. I think part of what I’m learning is that for decades, everything at the Church has hinged on a Sunday experience. The way we make the experience more than “peaking through a window” is by focusing beyond Sunday. We need to focus on how we can keep people engaged for the other 167 hours of the week — not just the hour they’re in church on Sunday. Good stuff mate.
The tension is tight bro. I had this same conversation with our ChurchONLINE team this week. The way people live is changing and that doesn’t have to create fear it can create innovation. It’s the new reality. Great article and no one should think you are saying this is simple or the all in all.. this is merely, “Now then…” Thank you.
Hey Doug. You’re right, this is not easy … but we don’t change if we’re not challenged. Glad you’re having the discussions too. Maybe we should put our heads together.
Personal follow-up communication is needed, not automated computer responses! The follow-up can be in any form but seen, typed, spoken, touched, etc by a human as well as an auto response!
Totally agree!
Your statement – “…an audience-centric approach.” It’s about time that the church focused on, well the church … and not a place.
I am a one-man show. I served as a tent-making missionary in Asia for nearly 20 years. As a result, I am often asked to minister on an interim basis to Asian-American immigrant churches here in NorCal. I am in my 4th such ministry in Castro Valley, a suburb of Oakland.
We might have 10 young people on a given Sunday. I have taken to doing our morning study/worship experience on Facebook LIVE. We have done 3 and will continue to do more. I showed the kids that with some effort we can expand our reach – we can Lift Up Jesus. Our first week we had 700+ views and the kids really got into it, the second 400+ (the naysayers came out) … this past week we have surpassed 1000 (the kids don’t know yet). The numbers are young and I am tracking views, time on site, 10-sec view and so on ….
What I want to ask is – What recommendations can you make for little people like me? You offer up great advice and insights to churches with a staff or someone who can be devoted or partially devoted to the online ministry. But what abt the little guy? Got ideas? I welcome your thoughts.
I would suggest posting video content to YouTube as much as possible, and doing live video — either FB live or Instagram live stories. These require little no equipment and get massive traction.
Dave, thank you for putting (better) words around the conversation we are having right now at Epic. We are all in for figuring out how to be a church for the entire city of Philadelphia (go Birds! lol) – and that will majorly include digital engagement. What/who are some great examples of omnichannel that you’ve come across (both church and non)? Who should we be learning from?
There really aren’t any churches doing this well—or at all. Unfortunately, we’re behind the curve. I would be looking at Home Depot, Starbucks, Crate & Barrel etc.
Thanks so much for sharing your insights, Dave. Our church is all about R&D and we’re about to take the leap into Facebook Live for our weekend services; a lot of good stuff to think through in terms of meeting people where they’re at, how to engage omni-style instead of multi-channel 🙂
Glad this was helpful. Let me know if I can help in any way.
People connect to a “brand.”
The Concept of church decentralizing and “no lanes in the pool” is a new Way of thinking.
It is what we have been talking. The fact that “Digital channels do not compete with physical attendance, they partner with it.”
This is where data collection, management, & manipulation will be so so helpful.
It sure will!We just need to make sure we’re always connecting with people.
I’m a pastor of 40 years who had to resign because of chronic fatigue syndrome. I also have a television station, Sports crew and do a lot of live streaming of events. I’m thinking of helping a local church where we can live stream to multiple venues at once with our current technology. It might be interesting to be on one of the chat lines as a minister, and possibly have other Christian workers on the other chat lines for each venue. That may be an awesome way to engage and connect people.
I think all of that sounds like a great idea! I bet the church would love to have you.