Posted by I love to read. I have loved to read since I was a small boy. We had a nice little library in my hometown of Ashland, AL. I would often go there and check out books of all kinds. It is one of the places that my love of history grew. I also remember the Choose your own adventure books in the library. There was a whole shelf of them. I read every single one of them. If you never read one of them what you did was read the book as normal, and then when you reached a certain point you were given a set of choices and then told what page to turn to in the book that would let you follow the path your choice took you down. You did this multiple times throughout the book. I liked to read each book over and over and choose each option to see all the ways the story could turn out. I loved it.
I think this is where we are with the church in the midst of this pandemic we are facing. We are going to have choices moving forward, and those choices will lead us to either prosper or stumble. Our church is blessed to work with Dr. Thom Rainer of Church Answers. He consults for our church. He is like a church coach. I schedule calls with him and email him regularly as our team strives to lead FBC Okeechobee to reach more people with the Gospel. When I spoke with him last week he had some interesting thoughts about what the church will face coming out of this health crisis. This got my mind to spinning as well. I’m constantly trying to be forward thinking when it comes to church. I want to try new methods to reach people with the Message of God, and I think we are on verge of a change moment.
When I think about what the church is going to have to do to be effective moving forward the word that comes to my mind is nimble. That is not something the church has historically been very good at. The ability to quickly change direction isn’t a natural church trait, but I think it is going to need to develop this trait. Our society is going to be rethinking, at least for a period of time, how we gather together. I believe sports, concerts, and all public gatherings are going to struggle until there is a vaccine for COVID-19. This means that even after life begins to return to normal some may choose to not attend anymore or never attend to begin with. I wish I didn’t think this, and I will be happy if I am wrong, but I don’t think I am.
What do we need to do to be successful reaching the people in our communities coming out this very unique time? I think there are several answers to this. There are more than I will briefly discuss in this blog post, and your community will probably need some that are unique to your context. The first thing I think all churches need to do is dive head first into the digital world. Podcasts, blogs, and livestreams are easier than ever. High quality online content is going to get more and more important for a local church. The world is moving digital at a fast pace, and we can’t be left behind. This pandemic has sped this process up even more. Churches need to invest in this world. Churches that don’t will fall further and further behind. There is a learning curve with all of these things, but the time and resources invested are worth it over the long haul.
Short term and in some cases long term small groups are going to be moving online. I’m not a big fan of long term small groups being completely online, but I think it is something that will happen more and more. I find the in person meeting to be a better alternative, but when I watch how young people communicate via skype, facetime, and instagram live I’m convinced it will be what a growing percentage of people will want and will be willing to engage with. I think it is a good option for short term studies. Video driven studies followed by facetime or message board style interaction can be effective. I have tried this method out and found it to work well.
Another thing all churches should be doing is get your services online now in the highest quality you can. Start wherever you can. I remember videoing with an iPhone when we began to do video announcements. This slowly evolved into where we are now, and FBC has by no means arrived. We are constantly looking at how to do it better, and what new equipment we need. Do the very best you can right now. Try and make it look and sound as professional as possible. Look at getting your quality up as a step by step process. There will be bumps in the road when things simply don’t turn out like you want them to. We have problems constantly, but focus on improving one small step at a time.
Churches need to promote online giving. Cash and checks are becoming a thing of the past. Most younger and middle age people often don’t carry cash, and I know quite a few young adults that don’t have a check book. They have an account, but don’t write checks period. The church has to adjust to this. FBC Okeechobee has seen a major drop in cash gifts over the past several years while seeing an overall uptick in giving. The vast majority of our new givers are engaging with us through online giving. Promote this option and then promote it some more.
Keep your social media and website current. You should be posting quality content regularly. Quality may mean good pictures of your service, quotes from the sermon, or nice graphics promoting what your children’s ministry is doing. Short teaching videos from the pastor or other leaders are great and easy. The goal should be one post a day. Pro church tools is a great place to get started. They are a wealth of quality resources.
I could go on and on in this post, and I feel like I have, but this topic is near and dear to my heart because I love the local church and want to see it thrive, and we are going to have to adjust and be nimble to do that. The things I’ve listed here are possible no matter the size of the church. Dig for resources and information. Youtube taught me to podcast in an afternoon. Be ready to accelerate out of this unique time we are in. Hit the ground running. I encourage you to plan now for how you need to do that in the church where God has placed you.
A Christian in the World 