COVID-19 has changed the way we do church and its impact will be lasting, even after the virus is brought under control. A silver lining during this pandemic is the technological opportunities for the church to take advantage of. There are at least 4 main ways technology can support your church:
1. Increase Outreach
As technology has grown and become more efficient, the ability to connect with people anywhere and at any time has become more and more feasible. If we look at history, we can see how the church has utilized innovative technology. For example, Roman roads expanded the physical reach of people in their time. The Gutenberg press helped us print scriptures. As church technology continues to grow, your church’s ability to reach people grows alongside it!
Do you have a social media strategy for your church? If you could meaningfully connect with anyone in your community and beyond, do you have a digital communication plan?
2. Make Accurate Decisions
Today you can gather data like never before. Yes, there are big companies out there gathering info and using it to manipulate and convince you to purchase their products. But for every organization that is trying to manipulate big data for political gain, multiple organizations are working to leverage data for good. Your church can be one of those organizations. It’s important for churches to understand and leverage data in a meaningful way.
Megachurches leverage the geographic data of visitors to their online campus to inform strategic discussions about where to plant another physical church campus. Data can help your church be more effective and efficient in reaching people with the gospel, and you can even use data to track giving in your church. Are you gathering appropriate data and using it to help your church?
3. Help Other Churches
As technological sophistication increases, it is becoming easier to share resources, knowledge, encouragement, and anything else digital. Churches need to have a heart positioned toward giving. Not just to their members, but to other churches. LifeChurch.tv is a good example of this.
The more churches are willing to give freely of all they have without any brand recognition or association, the easier it will be to plant churches. Does your church make its resources available to any church in your area?
4. Equip Your Members
One of the most amazing things about the world we live in today is we can learn virtually anything for free. The Internet is called “the information superhighway” for a reason. The way we distribute information from person-to-person is one of the fundamental shifts in communication we’ve experienced in the last 20 years.
Both today, and in years to come, you will be able to make endless discipleship, training, and learning resources available to your members, at basically no cost. The challenge will no longer be how to acquire the information (especially if churches share their resources), it will be how to guide people through a wealth of knowledge and training.
Is your church leveraging technology to provide free resources and training to equip your members? Are you making assets your church members can share for the sake of spiritual growth, evangelism, and outreach?
Why not start now?
We’ve been serving churches for 20 years. If we can help you in any way, reach out to us at StreamingChurch.tv using live chat or email us at [email protected]