I am hearing from more and more pastors about how they are experiencing unprecedented levels of personal anxiety, depression, frustration, and spiritual attack. Simply stated, whether it is race-related issues or plans for reopening, right now they can’t win.
This is why I am leaning further and further into my trusted voices on how to deliver God-honoring ministry. Two such people are Todd Rhoades and Matt Steen, founders of Chemistry Staffing. Their webinars and downloadable content is as helpful as anything you will find.
Recently, Matt wrote an incredibly insightful article on the 5 models of virtual ministry churches should be implementing. To help you determine which model is best for your church, they have created a FREE downloadable resource to help you. Simply click HERE or the image provided to get your complimentary resource. I found the information so interesting, I want to share it with you.
Here’s a quick word about Chemistry Staffing, if you are personally looking for a better ministry opportunity or your church is looking to add great people to fill their open staff positions, connect first with this wonderful organization by clicking HERE. Their customer service is top-notch and they will add tremendous value to your interview process. Todd and Matt will help you locate the perfect staff member for your team.
Now onto Matt’s thoughts:
By now you are tired of hearing how much has changed over the last 90 days. I will spare you the grandiose talk of “unprecedented times” and all of that. Churches are beginning to reopen in many states and routes forward are being plotted. In our conversations with churches, we are repeatedly hearing leaders wrestle with how to continue to gain momentum with their virtual ministries while at the same time relaunching their in-person experiences. This won’t be easy.
- The OldNormal: These are churches who want to get back to the way things were in January. The goal is to have everyone back together in the sanctuary and to move forward from there. These churches will have recorded sermons on their website in an on-demand format, but not much else.
- The SimulService: These churches have the goal of everyone being together, in-person, on Sunday mornings but will live stream their services so that those who are on vacation, sick, or otherwise indisposed on Sunday morning can have a ‘second-best’ option for attendance.
- The BuildingFeeder: BuildingFeeder churches ultimately want to have everyone together, in-person, on Sunday morning, but recognize that Sunday morning programming that is customized for their web and social channels can be a great front door for potential attenders. They approach their virtual ministries as a campus, and program accordingly.
- The CampusLauncher: This model is less focused on having people together on campus, but still highly values in-person gatherings. The goal of this model is to birth additional campuses, whether they are micro-sites meeting in people’s living rooms, or full-service campuses made up of hundreds of people. CampusLaunchers have a more regional approach to their virtual ministries as it ultimately leads to a new physical campus or church plant.
- The DigitalDisciple: This is the most radical model of them all as it seeks to engage and disciple people that they may never physically meet. The DigitalDisciple church seeks to extend its reach beyond its region, desiring to create a fully virtual church that makes disciples across the globe.
We dive more deeply into what we are seeing in this free download, but here is what we know: there is no right or wrong model. Each church will need to decide for themselves as to which model is the best fit and then begin to optimize their current staffing, budgeting, and programming to fit the model.
Next week we will be sharing what we believe are the 4 key roles that churches need to be successful in their virtual strategy. In the meantime, if you are wrestling through which model best fits your church, we’d love to talk. Click here to find a time that works for both of us.
