Churches are plugged in. According to the numbers, in March of 2022, 85% of churches were online (up from 19% seven short years before). 

However, churches are regularly using their digital platforms for rudimentary things, like streaming services, hybrid worship, and virtual engagement that is focused on Sunday mornings. 

In effect, remote church has become a subsidiary of the physical worship experience. Its impact is minimal, and its content is uninspired.

What if, instead of using online church to ineffectively mirror the real-life experience on Sundays, we used it to create a genuine, powerful impact on its own merits? What if, rather than using it as a reflective nod to the modern world, churches engaged online as a unique way to build experiences and create intentional connections?

Here are a few ways church leaders can help themselves and their teams understand and invest in intentional content in digital church engagement.

Build a Strategy That Is Day-to-Day, Not Just Sunday

Digital church is too often about the weekend. It should be focused on every day, not just Sundays.

Engaging online gives you the opportunity to beam the love and encouragement of Christ into the pocket of every member (and future member) of your congregation on a daily basis. You can do this through daily reminders that encourage your people to practice gratitude, pray, and read scripture outside of the four walls of physical church.

This “think bigger” context can even help you spread the Sunday impact out across the rest of the week. For instance, no matter how good a preacher you are, it’s hard to get a significant number of people to remember the finer points of a message. 

Heck, we’re willing to bet even you can’t remember all four points from last Sunday’s sermon without some serious effort. How can you expect others to do so?

You can use your digital discipleship initiatives to feed into your larger sermon points. Rather than pop your live stream up on YouTube and call it a day, send reminders that reinforce Bible verses and takeaways from each sermon throughout the week. Include actionable tips and use the constant connection of digital to look for ways to help people live Biblical lessons out in real time.

Address Current Needs in the Real World

Sunday service might be focused on people coming to you and focusing on the Word. But from Monday through Friday, you’re fighting an uphill battle for everyone’s attention. 

Rather than trying to distract from the demands of life, try using your online tools to help your people apply Christian values in everyday settings. Encourage digital disciples through tangible, applicable encouragement.

This isn’t just nice. It’s a necessity that the church is often missing outside of Sunday service. 

For instance, on an episode of the Church3.0 podcast, Alan George from Life.Church and BattleCreek Church ministries pointed to the fact that often secular sources are doing better at real-life encouragement than the church. Here’s what he said:

“When my son was going from elementary into middle school, our public school sent us an email saying, ‘Hey, we’re excited for your child. They’re moving into middle school. Remember, their bodies are changing, their brains are developing.’ You know, talked a little bit about that. ‘So, if you have questions, if you’re trying to figure this out, we’re here for you.’ I’m reading this and going, my public school is sending me this email. Why isn’t my church sending me this email?”

You can watch Alan's full interview below.

Alan went on to add that the church already has databases. We know things like the names, ages, and birthdays of our kids. It’s not a lack of data that is keeping us from meeting needs in this kind of way. It’s a lack of activating what we have and seeing the opportunities that digital tools offer to meet those needs.

Maintain Perspective of What Digital Church Offers

The old-school church model was to build as big a building as possible and then try to fill it with people. We knew that we were sharing the “Good News,” and we expected people to invest in coming to us.

The modern church doesn’t operate like that. We aren’t a commodity to be hidden away for those willing to find it. We need to take the church out into the community, to meet needs and proactively spread the Gospel like Jesus did.

Part of this process is taking the church out of Sunday and into the week. Rather than condensing everything into a punchy Sunday service, complete with pumping music and a fun video announcement, we need to rethink Sunday altogether.

Digital is a key way to accomplish this, and it’s actually incredibly cost-effective. Online initiatives come with costs. Make no mistake. But these are a fraction of the overall cost that has historically been spent on things like outreach and engagement.

In the past, church leaders have invested in things like building gymnasiums and community centers to reach people. These multi-million dollar projects are astronomically higher than the average tech budget at a church — and yet, we would challenge that, at this point, a well-helmed tech stack has a much better chance of having a daily impact on people’s walk with Christ compared to a piece of church real estate.

What does this have to do with intentional content? Consider this.

If you spend half a million dollars on a church addition, you can bet you’re going to be serious about the purpose of that space before you spend that money. 

Just because a digital application, social strategy, or IT hire costs less doesn’t mean it’s important. On the contrary, it can be a key part of your church’s impact that is on par with a million-dollar construction spend. 

Treat it that way. Back every digital investment with thoughtful purpose and intentionality.

Building Digital Church With Purpose

The modern church is digital. Not only that. It’s becoming an everyday experience.

Make sure you’re taking your electronic church investments seriously and that every dollar spent online is done with a clear desire to cultivate digital disciples.

This is more than a fun addition to Sunday service or a backup plan for a pandemic-like emergency. Daily digital engagement is quickly becoming a key part of how we do church in the 21st century. 

Make sure you’re giving it the importance it deserves within your ministry.

If you’re interested in unlocking daily growth for your church, we want to talk. Contact our team with your questions or request a demo. We’re happy to show you how our church-first technology is revolutionizing the way we do church, not just on Sunday but every day.