The Healthy Church Staff Podcast
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The Healthy Church Staff Podcast
5 Digital Surprises That Build REAL Church Community
We explore five unexpected ways to build vibrant church community through digital discipleship, from virtual small groups to personalized engagement strategies that turn online interactions into meaningful relationships. Churches that embrace these approaches are seeing significant results while those hesitating are missing crucial connection opportunities in our digital world.
• Online small groups organized around specific life stages or struggles that meet regularly with trained facilitators
• Interactive online events that foster two-way participation rather than passive consumption
• Digital service platforms offering on-demand content with discussion elements and curated resources
• Personalized digital engagement through video messages, birthday greetings and targeted resources
• Strategic social media presence that invites people into conversation and treats comments as ministry opportunities
• The digital discipleship revolution allows authentic community building even with people who never enter your physical building
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All right, forget about what you thought about church being just a Sunday morning event. Today on the podcast, we're going to explore five unexpected ways to build a vibrant, connected church community online from virtual small groups to personalized engagement, digital outreach we're going to unpack how pastors and church leaders can hopefully harness technology to create real world connection in our digital world. Hi there, my name is Todd Rhodes and I am one of the co-founders over at chemistrystaffingcom, and today we are talking about digital discipleship, okay, and I've got about five different ideas here for you that you might be able to try. Some churches are trying little pieces of this. Some churches are starting to dip their toes in the water Candidly.
Speaker 1:I really thought because of COVID, when we went through the pandemic and so many churches weren't able to meet for so long. I thought that we would make huge strides in the area of digital discipleship and how to engage people online, and it just hasn't happened in many churches, so we're still a little slow in figuring this out. But let me tell you, churches that are starting to figure this out are really getting some really good results. Here's how I like to think about it. I know a lot of people that have actually met their spouse online on an online dating app. Online dating app right, eharmony, matchcom, farmers Only right. Are they still going? I don't know, but think about it. If you can meet a life partner online without ever meeting, and develop a relationship and eventually you meet and you date and you get married, that's not unlike a lot of what happens in digital discipleship, if it's done well. So I hear people discount that this can never happen. If you can choose your spouse, if you can meet your spouse online, why can't you meet Jesus online? Why can't you be discipled? Or at least that can be an opening thing that can get you maybe in the church on Sunday or in a physical small group or whatever. All right, so get off your soapbox, todd, and let's just stick to the points. Okay, here we go.
Speaker 1:Point number one let me talk about online small groups. Okay, let's kick off this, these ideas, by talking about online small groups, not just Zoom Bible studies. Imagine people around specific life stages or struggles or spiritual goals maybe parents of toddlers, maybe empty nesters, maybe people navigating grief, maybe men wrestling with addiction. When these digital circles meet regularly, just like in those dating apps, relationships grow and it's not uncommon, just like in-person groups. Those relationships start to grow, but with the added bonus of accessibility. Right, they can meet one-on-one online. They can meet in a group online.
Speaker 1:So the tip here maybe just equip each group with a trained facilitator and give them a private space. Maybe it's a Slack, maybe it's a Discord, maybe it's a Facebook group, maybe Todd I don't know what any of those things are. That's okay, figure it out. This is a time to dip your toe in the water and get to learn some new technology. But you've got the group online meetings and then you've got make space for that private space where people can interact in between meetings, either as a group or individually. Okay, so that's the first online small groups. The second is just interactive online events.
Speaker 1:Beyond what you're doing on Sunday, what gets people talking is live two-way interaction. So maybe you host a Q&A night with your teaching pastor, maybe it's a live prayer session, maybe it's a virtual game night for your youth group, maybe it's a parenting workshop with a guest expert. Think outside the box. Those things don't all have to happen inside your big room on Sunday or inside a room in your church. They can happen online and when people can participate, not just watch. So we're not talking just a live stream here, we're talking interactive. You can foster some real connection and these events become shared experiences that glue people together.
Speaker 1:I think of what I'm doing here on this podcast. A podcast is not like a broadcast, it's like a very narrow cast. If you're watching me on YouTube, hopefully it feels like we're just sitting across the desk from each other and talking with each other. If you're listening to the podcast, sure you're listening with hundreds of other people, but this communication is very, very one-on-one. It's like we're talking and while you can't talk back to me, hopefully you feel like I'm talking to you, not to a thousand different people. So that same thing it can happen absolutely online. And when you add that participation, when you add some of that back and forth, when you add a live aspect to that, it can really start to take off and you will see some results from it.
Speaker 1:Okay, let's talk about digital service platforms. Okay, maybe content on demand, maybe community always type church that doesn't end at 1130 on Sunday. Some churches are starting to offer a digital platform where people can watch past sermons and worship sets and spiritual growth videos anytime and maybe, even better, add a discussion, questions or comment sections. Ai makes it easy to come up with additional resources that go along with your message not write your messages, but go along with your messages. Maybe you create playlists for new believers. Think of it almost as a Netflix and a YouVersion and a Bible app and a chat group, all with your church's digital front door and you say, todd, no one would watch that. I think you'd be surprised. I think you'd be surprised People will watch and, honestly, if you're repackaging some of your messages and worship sets and those kind of things and adding some additional resources, you've already got most of that content there. You're just making it accessible and making it to where people can consume that, and if you can add that interaction element, it's going to make a huge difference. Okay, man, I got to keep moving. I get excited about this kind of stuff.
Speaker 1:Two more, I think Personalized digital engagement Treat people like people. It's easy to get lost in the crowd unless somebody remembers your name. You know that. What about this? What about you send a quick video message when somebody joins a small group? Maybe you celebrate a birthday with a digital birthday card. Maybe you text someone yeah, even text is considered digital right these days. Text someone a resource, based on what they're going through, you can use.
Speaker 1:There are all kinds of different platforms on here. Maybe you're not tech savvy, but there's MailChimp, there's platforms like Text in Church, there's pastoral care apps. There's CRMs that help you to know, that can trigger you and flag hey, it's this person's birthday. Maybe just send them. Pop them a text. Don't just write on their Facebook wall. Write them a text. Maybe we use things like Loom or Video Ask or different platforms that allow you to just hit record on your computer and send that video in an email. Just say hey, john, I know it's your birthday. This is Pastor Todd here. Just wanted to say happy birthday. Hope you're having a great day. Boom, send it. You don't know how much impact that has.
Speaker 1:Yesterday we did a thing on quiet leaving and one of the things that people said that they would say after they left some places that nobody even knew I was there or nobody even knew that I left. Things like this, man, they make a huge, huge difference and they take literally seconds or minutes. The little things, they build deep roots. Okay, last thing, and boy, I'm going long today, but I get excited about this kind of stuff. Social media is really the new front porch.
Speaker 1:Don't underestimate the power of a solid social media strategy. Instagram Reels huge right now showing up behind the scenes some of your Sunday prep, maybe some YouTube clips that answer common faith questions. These are huge. You can even if you wanted to do paid marketing, you can even target those right directly to your zip code or to your area. Tiktoks can inspire and spark curiosity. If you're a fan of TikTok Not on TikTok, but I get it Social media isn't just about pushing info.
Speaker 1:It's about fighting people into your story and when somebody engages in your comments, don't ghost them. They started it with a comment. Start a conversation that could be the beginning of their journey with Jesus. You never, ever know. So here's the bottom line you can build a powerful, authentic church community, even if some people never step foot in your building. Matter of fact, if you're not doing some of these things, I think in the current culture, current day and age, I think you're really starting to miss out. Okay, so you've got five ways to get started. Go back and listen if you need to Write those down again, but I hope this is helpful to you. I'd love to hear your comments and you can reach out to me anytime Podcast at chemistrystaffingcom. Alright, that's it for today. Thanks so much for listening. We'll be back tomorrow right here on the Healthy Church Staff Podcast. Have a great day, stay with us.
