Your Online Pastor?
by Mark Tidsworth, Founder and Team Leader
How important is your church’s online presence? How much is missional engagement with your online community a priority? Even more, does your church consider online engagement “real church” engagement or do you believe those to be second-class Christians?
Two different, yet linked, recent experiences are convincing me more than ever that most churches are, or have the opportunity to be, multisite churches. Think about it. During the pandemic many churches launched their second campuses (online), complete with upgraded technology and expertise. Now, 85% of churches continue online worship (Hartford International University research). Clearly, online church engagement is here to stay.
Now to those two experiences. During a church consultation, I was conducting listening groups, gathering the collective discernment of a church located in Richmond, VA. During the listening group weekend, two of the groups were conducted online by zoom. This church includes people who live in their RV full-time, those who moved away yet remain engaged online, those who are traveling for work or vacation, and one family who serves internationally as missionaries. These two zoom listening groups provided a way for these folks to participate.
When discussing vision, God’s calling, in these online listening groups, participants were very direct and clear about their desire for more online engagement with their church. They are highly engaged with worship each Sunday, yet they want to be in deeper relationship with their church. Clearly, they were expressing an unmet need.
The second relevant experience happened as I returned to the hotel, riding up the elevator. Two boys in baseball uniforms and their mother rode the elevator along with me. We talked about their wins and losses, and what they wanted to do with their evening. The next morning (Sunday), I saw them again in the breakfast room, suited up for another day of travel baseball.
What about their spiritual needs? Would we rather lament travel sports, or do something helpful with these families?
I do remember a conversation with a father several years ago who sensed a calling to provide an early morning Bible study for kids and parents who are part of his child’s travel sports team. But then I also wondered if churches may be providing online worship at a time when these people could participate. Do churches provide worship or small groups during the week, in-person or online, for these travel sports families?
These experiences are heightening my awareness again about the need for robust online church presence. What about calling an online pastor (part-time perhaps)? One whose calling is to develop the online community, the second campus if you will, of your church…?
Potential ministries may include:
Engaging online worshipers through chat during online worship services
Training and equipping leaders for online Christian formation small groups
Encouraging and practicing spiritual disciplines online
Helping the church articulate what it means to be an online participant (like financially supporting this church)
Facilitating the identification of online missional service, or in-person service in one’s community
Facilitating online gathering spaces wherein people could engage the issues of their lives
Providing disciple-care online
There are people in many churches who will remain online disciples, worshiping and serving in the digital acre, on our second campus.
Given this new and emerging reality, perhaps it’s time to staff our churches for engagement with what is.