By Carey Nieuwhof: Finally, it seems like the post-COVID world is finally coming into view.

While different countries, regions, provinces and states will emerge out of COVID at different times, 2021 appears to be the year we will be able to move into a post-pandemic world.

So, as you get ready to embrace the new reality, what should you be focused on?

It’s obviously a tough question to answer because neither in-person church or online church is a panacea. Each has its unique challenges, promises and limits. In-person church attendance has been declining for decades before the pandemic, and online church hasn’t solved all the issues the church is facing either.

That said, there are some guidelines that can help moving forward.

Here are 5 critical mistakes it would be so easy to make right now as a church leader.

1. Taking Your Foot Off the Digital Gas Pedal

There will be a real temptation to once the world moves past COVID to think of digital ministry as an afterthought or something that’s no longer necessary.

You’re certainly free to make that decision, but in many ways that would be a mistake.

Barna research shows that 7 in 10 churched adults agree that, post-pandemic, churches should use digital resources to reach and engage their neighborhoods. In addition, 21% of US unchurched adults are open to watching an online service alone. For those unchurched adults with a high digital openness though, that percentage climbs to 87%.

While in-person church is here to stay, to back off on digital now is to back off on the future and to back off on outreach. If you care about reaching people, that’s a mistake.

While in-person church is here to stay, to back off on digital now is to back off on the future and to back off on outreach. If you care about reaching people, that’s a mistake.

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Hybrid church (churches offering great in-person experiences and digital experiences) will be the future because everyone has lived a hybrid life for years. Once moment you’re on social media, the next you’re having coffee with a friend in real life. .

If you want more on the interplay of physical and digital church in the future, including how your online presence serves as both a front door and side door, I wrote more here.

Treating digital as something interesting or nice to have may have been an acceptable strategy in 2011. But this is 2021.

Treating digital as something interesting or nice to have may have been an acceptable strategy in 2011. But this is 2021.

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2. Allocating Most of Your Staff and Volunteers to Ministry In the Church Building

Not much has changed since I wrote this post last year aruing that too many church leaders will step into the past as they step back into their buildings. The same dynamics are very much in play right now.

While it’s true that most churches feel short-staffed and under-resourced, the pre-COVID habit of assigning your online ministry as one line in a job description to your tech person or creative person is history. Or at least if you want a future it’s history.

As distributed gatherings, micro-gatherings and online ministry continues to grow, dedicating a meaningful percentage of your staff, budget, and volunteers to ministry that happens outside the church building is critical.

The pre-COVID habit of assigning your online ministry as one line in a job description to your tech person or creative person is history. Or at least if you want a future it’s history.

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How much of your resources should be allocated to online and distributed gatherings?

I talked to one leader who said that post-pandemic, 40% of his team, time and energy will go into online.

I think that’s a healthy percentage.

While that might seem like a complete stretch for most churches, gradually increasing the resources you devote to online and off-building ministry is possible for everyone.

Don’t have staff or feel understaffed?

Look for 15-25 year old volunteers to help you with your online presence. They see the future because they are the future. And the present.

Don’t have staff? Look for 15-25 year old volunteers to help you with your online presence. They see the future because they are the future. And the present.

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3. Resuming In-Person Services Exactly As They Were Pre-COVID

The jury is still very much out on what’s going to happen to services once the world is re-opened.

But many church leaders are considering running two kinds of services: in-person and then a separate one devoted to online.

In other words, online will become something other than just a live-stream of whatever is happening in the auditorium or sanctuary on Sunday.

While this presents challenges from both a time and resource standpoint, this approach makes sense for a few reasons.

First, almost every church leader has come to realize that online services are best when they’re shorter.

Second, nobody has really figured out what to do with worship music online. The four or five song set that works in church just doesn’t translate online.

Third, preaching to a crowd is great, but it feels less personal when you’re watching on a device. Direct-to-camera preaching (including different camera positions and even the use of DSLRs) can make the online experience much better.

More than a few pastors I talk to are shooting an online version of their message and service mid-week for broadcast on Sunday and for access on-demand, but then doing a different experience in the room live on Sunday that doesn’t get streamed. By different, it could be the same message, just delivered live (or via video), but more music and other elements that may not translate as well online.

This IS a lot of work. I get it.

If you don’t have the resources for it, and least consider doing something different online that’s direct to camera…something like a 5 minute devotion, talk or something other than just the stream of your Sunday morning in-person gatherings.

I have a full training session and application guide on how to create great online content inside The Leader’s Circle. You can get instant access to a free trial of The Leader’s Circle on-demand training for you and your team here.

Finally, when it comes to your in-person gatherings, make the experience more…personal.

Many re-opened churches that are seeing some traction are making the in-person experience different than online by offering food, coffee, parking lot or side room gatherings for people to connect. And they’re providing kids experiences that provide something other than a carbon copy of what you can get online.

The principle here is clear: if everything your church does in the future feels downloadable, probably all you’ll get is a lot of downloads, not a lot of gathered people. (For more on that, read this.)

If everything your church does in the future feels downloadable, probably all you’ll get is a lot of downloads, not a lot of gathered people.

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4. Posting Every Thought You Have On Every Issue Online

Let’s switch gears for a minute and talk less about how and more about what.

This deserves a post of its own, but it’s becoming clear that one of the reasons people who don’t go to church don’t want to go to church is simple: your social media posts.

According to a recent Barna survey, only 30% of non-Christians have a positive reaction when they see people post things about their Christian faith on social media. (45% don’t have a positive reaction, and 25% indicated they don’t know.)

Only 30% of non-Christians have a positive reaction when they see people post things about their Christian faith on social media.

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I am increasingly concerned about the number of church leaders who feel the compulsion to post their opinion online about everything. From negative rants or arguments on vaccines to politics, to legislation, to climate change, to some grievance against a neighbor or celebrity, whatever else they happen to have an opinion on in the moment, the daily tirade I see on my social feed is exhausting.

You know the world is watching and listening right?

Even if you’re posting from your personal account, you’re leaving an impression on the unchurched who follow you.

Influence takes years to build and second to lose. Church, we’re losing a lot of influence right now.

Influence takes years to build and second to lose. Church, we’re losing a lot of influence right now.

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5. Resenting People Who Aren’t Doing What You Want Them To Do

One truth you’ve consistently faced as a leader is this: people rarely do exactly what you want them to do.

That’s going to get more intense in the post-pandemic era.

People won’t follow the patterns you want them to follow. Maybe people will come back in droves. Maybe they won’t. The early evidence hasn’t been encouraging.

The question is this:

How do you interact with infrequent church attenders who don’t seem to be embracing the mission of your church the way?

I think it’s simple.

You embrace them anyway.

I chose the word ’embrace’ on purpose. Because I know there’s something deep-seated in many of us that wants to reject people if we sense they’re rejecting us. And people who don’t come out to church much on Sunday can feel like rejection if you’re an insecure church leader.

Grow up. Be more secure.

Rather than judging them, why not love them? Judgment is a terrible evangelism study. You run from people who resent and judge you. Why should you expect any different from the people you lead?

Ultimately, people gravitate to where they are valued most. So value people.

Judgment is a terrible evangelism strategy.

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Simplify Staff Training and Save Time With Done-For-You Leadership Development

I’d guess that you know how important team training and development is… but doesn’t it always seem like a scramble to get everything lined up for staff meeting?

You know the drill… every time you have a staff or volunteer training time scheduled, you have to read a book, listen to a podcast, or even go to a conference.

That’s why I’m so excited to introduce The Leader’s Circle to you.

It eliminates the hassle of staff training with carefully curated content that builds essential leadership skills into your team. Every. Single. Month.

Learn more about The Leader’s Circle and the 15 months of development content ready to be accessed.

What Do You See?

Those are some potential mistakes I see on the horizon.

What do you see? Scroll down and leave a comment!

The post 5 Critical Mistakes Church Leaders Should Avoid In the Post-COVID World appeared first on CareyNieuwhof.com.

Source: 5 Critical Mistakes Church Leaders Should Avoid In the Post-COVID World

The post 5 Critical Mistakes Church Leaders Should Avoid In the Post-COVID World appeared first on Passion for Planting.

By TheChurch.Digital:

Clubhouse is the latest craze in Social Media. It’s composed of audio chat rooms that can be open or closed. This opens up fun possibilities for engaging in conversation online that are more personable than simply typing into the chat room. Clubhouse also enables the ability to host rooms that have a moderator who can help take questions from the audience in the room. Clubhouse is exclusively for iPhone for now, although there are plans to open it up to Android eventually.

Here are some easy ideas for how churches can use Clubhouse:

Closed Small Groups: Small Groups can be facilitated on Clubhouse. I’d suggest hosting a brief 4-week study that is linked to a tentpole series. (At The Movies/Marriage Series/etc.) to begin getting people involved. The lack of video actually helps improve the ability to engage. Not everyone is capable of engaging in a visual medium. Some prefer audio because of their life circumstances. Clubhouse doesn’t even give you the option, it is purely audio.
Post Message Discussions: Pastors and leaders can facilitate discussions after the service in Clubhouse to allow further discussion. This can be leveraged to help people take next steps.
Reaching subcultures and communities: Clubhouse allows users to join ongoing conversations in communities with ease on the basis of shared interest. Christian influencers who desire to leverage their interests to reach people for Christ can join a group, and leverage discussion to share the Gospel or point people to church.
Special Interviews: Churches can facilitate interviews with leaders in their community to answer questions, but also help the church grow in their ability to influence outsiders. I’ve seen churches, such as Transformation Church in North Carolina, do this well on other platforms utilizing Instagram Live. The difference is that you can take questions from your audience in the same format that you’re engaging. Chat doesn’t work as well for these opportunities. The value for attending goes way up because you can have a conversation with the guest.

Clubhouse is exclusive for now. And while it’s rumored that Facebook will be creating a competitor soon, it’s ok to jump on the bandwagon while it’s hot and see where it goes. The benefit of being an early adopter is that you get to reap the benefits of reaching the people who are first to the platform.

Source: Four Ways Your Church Can Use Clubhouse

The post Four Ways Your Church Can Use Clubhouse appeared first on Passion for Planting.

By TheChurch.Digital: When COVID hit, the majority of churches did not have a digital strategy, at least in context of broadcasting services or making disciples online. March 2020 saw many churches scrambling to adopt digital strategies, sometimes taking the path of least resistance. Facebook Live, YouTube Live… these are great tools! But they are borrowed platforms. While they are easy and free, there ultimately is a “cost” to the church.

What if Facebook, what if YouTube, were to say, “Churches can no longer use our services?” Would your digital strategy still exist? If our digital strategy is totally dependent on borrowed platforms, ultimately, that means that these platforms have the ability to control, to possibly limit or restrict, the voice of the church.

Radical thought? Probably. Something we the church need to be concerned about? Definitely. Join in the podcast as Jeff and Rey talk with Collin Jones, President of Resi Media, in their conversation centering around Churches “owning” their platforms.

If you’re enjoying this episode, subscribe for free using your favorite podcast app below:

Apple Podcasts | RSS Feed | Anchor | Overcast | Spotify | Pocket Casts | Google Play

ON THE SHOW

Source: PODCAST 116: Collin Jones & Owning Your Platform

The post PODCAST 116: Collin Jones & Owning Your Platform appeared first on Passion for Planting.

By Carey Nieuwhof: Pastoral ministry has always been a pressure cooker.

Add a global crisis, rapid change and constant uncertainty into the mix, and what was barely sustainable before has become almost untenable to thousands of leaders.

Recently on my leadership podcast, I interviewed Kayla Stoeklein whose husband Andrew, a lead pastor of a large, growing California mega church, died by suicide in 2018.

Kayla talked about the pressures of ministry Andrew felt as lead pastor. See if you can identify with what she has to say:

“I feel like there’s got to be a better way to lead the church. I think being the lead pastor is like the impossible job. Leading an organization, our church, our staff was big. We had a staff of about 35 people.

And so, being basically the CEO of an organization and then also being the visionary and the voice and having to come up with these compelling messages weekend after weekend after weekend, and then to have the space during the week to actually have the time to sit with God and be inspired and read scripture and read books and go for walks and like do the filling up that you have to do to keep pouring out authentically on the weekends while also leading an organization, I think that’s just the impossible job…

It’s just a lot of pressure, it’s so much pressure. And then it is lonely. I think oftentimes it can be hard. You have this paranoia, Andrew would call it like, a healthy paranoia at the top. Who you let in and it can be hard to know like who attend your church, who works at your church, like who to let into your circle, who to let into your friend group, who to let into your personal life.” (Here’s the whole interview.)

Having just wrapped a succession plan that concludes 25 years serving as a pastor in the local church, Kayla’s words struck me as so true. Yep, those are the pressures.

I fear that the combination of the current crisis and chronic pressure church leaders are under will see more leaders quit, burnout or fail morally (here are some thoughts on why megachurch pastors keep failing).

The mission of the church isn’t broken, but too many of our leaders are.

The mission of the church isn’t broken, but too many of our leaders are.

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For the record, I’m a fan of large gatherings and of churches of every size. And so much good has been done through the kind of church I’m describing here. So if you’re here to beat up on pastors or the church, please stop reading this and go elsewhere.

But for those of us committed to each other and the mission, I think you know the toll is great. Often too great.

With all this in mind, somethings got to give. The pandemic will eventually resolve. But the chronic pressures of ministry won’t unless we change the expectations we have around pastors and ministry.

Here are five sad reasons ministry will continue to be such a pressure cooker long after the global crisis fades.

If something doesn’t give, our leaders will.

If something doesn’t give, our leaders will.

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1. The need to pretend you have it all together

It’s so easy to believe your pastor has it all together, but  of course, anyone who’s been in leadership for more than ten minutes knows that’s not true.

Some leaders but themselves on a pedestal, and they kind of get what they deserve.

God belongs on the pedestal. So why don’t we keep him there and keep ourselves below it?

Well, most leaders don’t try to put themselves on a pedestal. People put them on it without asking.

Most leaders don’t try to put themselves on a pedestal. People put them on it without asking.

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I’m fortunate to have a congregation that accepted us for who we were, not for who they wanted us to be. I’ve also been quite transparent about my shortcomings. It needs to be far more okay to do that than it is in most cases.

Christians need to come to terms with the fact that the heroes in the scripture were flawed people. Peter barely got it right. Paul had his critics. Noah was a flawed leader. So was Moses. But reading their story gives me hope for my story. And—you know what—it gives me hope for your story and for the church.

God doesn’t use perfect people. His grace flows best through broken people.

God doesn’t use perfect people. His grace flows best through broken people.

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2. An inability to find anyone to talk to about your deepest struggles

Church is the only place I know of where what you believe is also what you do and the your friends are also part of the community you serve.

When almost everyone you know is someone you’re serving or someone you’re trying to reach, who can you talk to?

In the interview, Kayla said

I, too, struggled with friends and how much to let them into our like interior life and our home life. And a lot of my friends attended the church so Andrew was their pastor. And so, it was hard to know how much to be vulnerable about in what we’re going through. I felt like I couldn’t. There was a lot of things that were happening because my friends would also know those people that worked at the church. There’s things that were happening on staff at the church that I wouldn’t be able to share with anybody.

As most leaders have realized, a lot of friendships can be 90% deep, but, for the reasons Kayla explained (and more), you often can’t really talk about the last 10%.

Some people say “well why don’t you just share everything with everyone?” Great question, except you probably don’t want to do marriage counselling live on stage every weekend.

As wise people say, when it comes to public sharing, let people see your scars, not your wounds. Share your scars publicly. Process your wounds privately.

When it comes to public sharing, share your scars publicly. Process your wounds privately.

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The extremes of telling nobody or telling everybody are both highly dysfunctional.

Somebody needs to help you process your wounds.

Two things help with that: professional counselling (of which I’ve had hundred (thousands?) of hours) and a couple of friends who don’t work for you, who you’re not trying to ‘reach’ and who may not even live near you.  These have been life giving to me.

Dr, John Townsend explains how to develop those kinds of friendships here. Trust me, they are life-lines.

And your spouse? Of course…share everything. But leaders,  your spouse isn’t designed to bear the full weight of your pain.

Leaders, your spouse isn’t designed to bear the full weight of your pain.

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3. Living by (or for) likes, comments, shares and views and growth

You and I lead in an era where everything is measurable.

Some of that’s good, and some of that is devastating. It’s a daily discipline for me to try to keep the right perspective.

While growth is important (I don’t know too many leaders who want things to decline), the pressure you feel to see the number of likes, comments, shares and views grow can be devastating.

Too much of your ‘success’ or ‘failure’ can eat at your identity.

I have to remind myself constantly of what Tim Keller says: when work is your idol, success goes to your head and failure goes to your heart.

When work is your idol, success goes to your head and failure goes to your heart. @timkellernyc

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Leaders have always looked at spreadsheets and reports. I think the difference between fifteen years ago today is most of those metrics were private and occassional: for staff, board or annual reports.

Today your scorecard is public and daily. Everybody sees whether your video got 17 views or 17,000 views. Ugh.

15 years ago, most of your church’s metrics were private and occasional: for staff or board meetings or annual reports. Today your scorecard is public & daily. Everybody sees whether your video got 17 views or 17,000 views. Ugh.

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4. Being the pastor who does everything

Many congregations define the success of their leader according to how available, likeable and friendly their pastor is.

It’s as though churches want a puppy, not a pastor.

You need to be competent at everything, available 24/7 and have a fantastic family life.

Since when did that become the criteria for effective Christian leadership?

By that standard, Moses, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, the Apostle Paul and perhaps even Jesus failed the test.

The goal of Christian leadership is to lead people, not to be liked by people.

The goal of Christian leadership is to lead people, not to be liked by people.

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That’s no excuse for being a jerk or insensitive, but still, leadership requires that at times, you need to do what’s best, not what people want.

If a church is going to grow, congregations have to let go of the expectation that their pastor will be available for every medical emergency, every twist and turn in their lives, every family celebration and every crisis.

That’s a tough sell for many congregations, but if a church is going to grow, it has to happen.

The pastor who attempts to do everything will often become a leader incapable of doing anything. Burnout does that to you.

The pastor who attempts to do everything will often become a leader incapable of doing anything.

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5. The relentless intensity around Sunday

There are few jobs in the world that require you to write a fresh message every week, week after week, year after year. In particular, a fresh Word from God.

Combine that with a powerful or meaningful worship experience and the added pressure of social media where everyone can compare you with anyone, and it’s an intense challenge.

I take preaching very seriously, and the Word of God even more seriously, but one of the unfortunate drifts of the last few decades in ministry is how we’ve made everything rise and fall with the weekend.

Of the five issues we talk about in this article, the pressure on Sunday is most likely to change the fastest.

First, Sunday attendance was already struggling and in decline pre-pandemic.

Second, the pandemic has already started shifting the focus a lot of churches from Sunday to everyday, and content delivery from live to on-demand.

Finally, many churches were already moving to team teaching. In the early 2000s, I used to write and deliver over 50 messages a year. I haven’t preached more than 35 a year in over a decade. Still, thanks to social media, the pressure kept rising on the Sundays I was responsible for.

A more distributed ministry owned by the people of God and equipped by the staff team could provide some real health.

And while everything rises and falls on leadership, not everything has to rise and fall on a single day.

While everything rises and falls on leadership, not everything has to rise and fall on a single day.

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The Mission Isn’t Broken…

The mission isn’t broken, but too many of our leaders are.

I’d love to know what’s breaking you, and what you’re doing about it.

Glad we’re in this together, and I’m committed to getting through it together.

Scroll down and leave a comment.

The post Something’s Got to Give: 5 Very Real Reasons Ministry is Such a Pressure Cooker These Days appeared first on CareyNieuwhof.com.

Source: Something’s Got to Give: 5 Very Real Reasons Ministry is Such a Pressure Cooker These Days

The post Something’s Got to Give: 5 Very Real Reasons Ministry is Such a Pressure Cooker These Days appeared first on Passion for Planting.

Source: How to Work Full-Time and Plant a Church

The post How to Work Full-Time and Plant a Church appeared first on Passion for Planting.

by Carey Nieuwhof: Silicon Valley titan Pat Gelsinger, the CEO of VMWare and former CTO of Intel, and Scott Beck, who scaled Blockbuster Video, Boston Market, Einstein Brothers Bagels and Ancestry.com, and is the Founder of Gloo, talk about how the future church can use technology to reach people and connect people.

Pat and Scott also talk with Carey about why church leaders resist technology, privacy concerns and why the future is more relationally-connected than we imagine.

Welcome to Episode 372 of the podcast. Listen and access the show notes below or search for the Carey Nieuwhof Leadership Podcast on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts and listen for free.

Plus, in this episode’s What I’m Thinking About segment, Carey talks about weird lies that pastors and church leaders believe about church online.

Guest Links

Pat Gelsinger on Twitter | Gloo | GlooConnect

Episode Links

Remodel Health

The season to reevaluate your health benefits is right around the corner. Are you ready for it?

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To date, Remodel Health has helped Carey Nieuwhof listeners save $2.1 million in the last year and a half! Imagine what your ministry could do with that extra money. We know right now is a very challenging time for churches, so why not take healthcare off your list of financial stressors.

If you’re interested in learning more, Remodel Health’s benefits consultants can run a free analysis for your unique team to help you evaluate all of your options.

Visit remodelhealth.com/carey today to learn more and get access to their free Savings Calculator, Church Buyer’s Guide and brand new e-book.

ServeHQ

Our partner, ServeHQ, is launching a new option for homeschool families and we want to tell you about it.

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CONVERSATION LINKS

GlooConnect

The Juggling Act by Pat Gelsinger

Moore’s Law

ChurchPulse Weekly

Barna

7 Weird Lies About Online Church Pastors Need to Stop Believing by Carey Nieuwhof

Text CAREY to 33777 to join more than 75,000 subscribers to our leadership content

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INSIGHTS FROM PAT AND SCOTT

1. Your church should use technology, not rejecting it, to reach more people

If you look back at the times of Martin Luther, it’s obvious that it would have been foolish for him to say, “We shouldn’t use the printing press to print more bibles. We should keep doing things the way they’ve always been done.” The printing press was a groundbreaking advance of technology that allowed more Christians to have access to the Bible.

The problem is that many Christians and churches are doing the exact thing with the internet. A lot of pastors are looking at online technology and saying, “It’s only temporary.” Or, “We need to keep getting people into our buildings on Sunday morning.” Sadly, those leaders are going to miss out on the biggest opportunity to spread the Gospel in our lifetime.

2. Privacy needs to be a priority as you move forward with technology

While technology is great, there are some dangers that come with any new technology. One of the biggest concerns with using the internet is data privacy. If your church has an email list or an online database of any kind, you know this is a challenge. Where do you store your members’ data? What happens if it gets hacked? How should you use it?

As you move online, you should put more energy into making sure your church’s data is secure. Platforms like Gloo and GlooConnect are backed with the highest data security in the world and have the resources to continually watch for potential breaches. Most churches don’t have the bandwidth or resources to do this, so it’s critical to outsource this.

3. Digital churches need to scale 1-to-1 interactions along with the 1-to-many

Pastors are focused on three things right now when it comes to online church: Video broadcasting, video broadcasting and video broadcasting. That’s great, but if you want to begin engaging more people online, you need to do more than just broadcast. You need to scale online 1-on-1 interactions as you scale up your broadcast interactions online.

As you put more and more of your effort online, ask yourself, “How am I helping my church have more 1-on-1 or 1-on-a few interactions online?” Are you providing Zoom rooms? Running ad campaigns around certain felt needs? Whatever you do, your ability to scale your reach will match your ability to scale healthy and helpful 1-on-1 interactions.

Quotes from Episode 372

90% of humanity will be persistently connected to the internet by 2030. 10 billion people are part of your potential congregation. @PGelsinger

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There are going to be two types of churches going forward. There’s going to be the phigital church, that is digital and physical, or the church that’s all digital. @PGelsinger

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This is the opportunity for churches to really scale, to really reach the world. – Scott Beck

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If you’re a physical-only church, you’re dead in the future. I just don’t think that you’re going to be able to survive in this increasing digitally-connected world. @PGelsinger

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Christ didn’t command us to go build churches, he said, ‘Go make disciples.’ @PGelsinger

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There’s nothing more important today than to be able to make sure that the smallest recovery center, the smallest church has the world-class capabilities to be able to leverage technologies. – Scott Beck

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Church is limited today by the capital of the edifices that we’re building. @PGelsinger

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We have to bring technology into the right design in order for it to be used for personal growth and for God’s purposes. – Scott Beck

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The average American spends 152 minutes a day on social media alone. @cnieuwhof

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People are screened out on things that aren’t interesting to them. They’re screened out on bad content, but are they screened out? Nope. @cnieuwhof

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Read or Download the Transcript for Episode 372

Looking for a key quote? More of a reader?

Read or download a free PDF transcript of this episode here.

Watch Back Episodes of The Podcast on YouTube

Select episodes of this podcast are now on YouTube. Our YouTube Channel gives you a chance to watch some episodes, not just listen.

Turn Online Viewers into Real Relationships: Meet GlooConnect

Ever wondered how to turn online viewers into real relationships?

Every day, people visit your church website and access your content, but few ever really identify.

GlooConnect is a new solution that gives people watching the opportunity to introduce themselves to your church.

It can help your church:

Get a steady stream of introductions to people ready to connect with your church
Build real relationships with the people visiting your church’s website
Connect with people who are looking for guidance, hope, and support in life’s challenges where their church is already equipped to serve
Participate in world-class digital campaigns to reach people with needs in your community
Do digital outreach in a way that’s compliant with the strictest privacy laws in the world

GlooConnect lets you pastor while GlooConnect programs. No extra staff. No complex tech. Get started in as little as 15 minutes, and get ready to meet the people already connecting with you online.

To get instant access to GlooConnect and learn more, click here, and make 2021 a year of unprecedented growth for your church.

SUBSCRIBED YET?

Subscribe for free and never miss out on wisdom from world-class leaders like Brian Houston, Andy Stanley, Craig Groeschel, Nancy Duarte, Henry Cloud, Patrick Lencioni, Francis Chan, Ann Voskamp, Erwin McManus and many others.

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Spread the Word. Leave a Rating and Review

Hopefully, this episode has helped you lead like never before. That’s my goal. If you appreciated it, could you share the love?

The best way to do that is to rate the podcast on Apple Podcasts and leave us a brief review! You can do the same on Stitcher and on TuneIn as well.

Your ratings and reviews help us place the podcast in front of new leaders and listeners. Your feedback also lets me know how I can better serve you.

Thank you for being so awesome.

Next Episode: Andy Stanley

In July 2020, Andy Stanley made national news when he announced North Point would not reopen until 2021. In this interview, Andy explains his reasons for the decision, the methodology he uses to find clarity, what he’s learning about preaching to a camera and the hardest part of the pandemic for him personally.

Subscribe for free now so you won’t miss Episode 373.

The post CNLP 372: Pat Gelsinger and Scott Beck on the Future Church, How to Connect with the People Watching Your Church Online and Why So Many Church Leaders Resist Tech appeared first on CareyNieuwhof.com.

Source: CNLP 372: Pat Gelsinger and Scott Beck on the Future Church, How to Connect with the People Watching Your Church Online and Why So Many Church Leaders Resist Tech

The post CNLP 372: Pat Gelsinger and Scott Beck on the Future Church, How to Connect with the People Watching Your Church Online and Why So Many Church Leaders Resist Tech appeared first on Passion for Planting.

by Carey Nieuwhof: Greg Atkinson returns to the podcast to talk about welcoming guests online.

So much has changed since COVID hit, and Greg shares best and worst practices for engaging online and in-person guests, how to move attenders into engagers, and how to best deal with trolls and other people who threaten to take you off mission.

Welcome to Episode 369 of the podcast. Listen and access the show notes below or search for the Carey Nieuwhof Leadership Podcast on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts and listen for free.

Plus, in this episode’s What I’m Thinking About segment, Carey talks about vanity metrics and why we should stop focusing on attendance.

Guest Links

Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | Connect with Greg

Episode Links

Pro Media Fire

Are you a leader of a church facing these challenges?

Your digital team is at max
Your social media team can’t keep up with the need for content
Your creative team is overwhelmed
And you’re cautious about spending money with new staff to help

But how do you increase your quality and output of content without a huge expense?

The solution is Pro Media Fire, where you can hire an entire creative team of professionals for less than the cost of a staff hire. And the best part is the plans are month to month.

You can get help today with professional graphics, videos and content to make an impact while navigating this season of digital expansion.

Book your free strategy session today at promediafire.com/churchgrowth.

The Ascent Leader

This is a unique season that is often the most challenging environment to lead. You may find that you’re inheriting a prior leader’s staff, culture, elders and much more.

If you’re a new lead pastor who is leading a church after a recent senior leader transition, I want to invite you to The Ascent Leader cohorts.

In these cohorts, you’ll get to learn from many of the best transition leaders in the church, you’ll be connected with like-minded A-level peers and you’ll have access to a coach who has experience with dozens, and even hundreds, of church leadership transitions.

Apply today at theascentleader.org.

CONVERSATION LINKS

First Impressions Conference

CNLP 132: Greg Atkinson on the Secrets of a Secret Church Shopper: What People are Looking for When They Come to Your Church

CNLP 132 Transcript

CNLP 185: Greg Atkinson on How First Time Guests Get Alienated by Your Church Services

CNLP 185 Transcript

CNLP 357: JP Pokluda on the Future of Online Preaching, What Pastors Can Learn from YouTubers, and How to Influence the Next Generation

Church Online Platform

Crossroads Church Cincinnati

Church Anywhere

Elevation Church

Life.Church

Churchome

Hillsong East

The Summit Church

North Point Community Church

ChurchPulse Weekly: with Thom Rainer and Myron Pierce

Some Awkward Questions About How to Measure Online Church Attendance (+ 5 Growth Strategies) by Carey Nieuwhof

The Online Church Engagement Summit

Text CAREY to 33777 to join more than 70,000 subscribers to our leadership content

INSIGHTS FROM GREG

1. Questions your team should be asking in the online chat

It seems like most online chat experiences are either trivial or divisive. People are asking questions like, “What’s your favorite flavor of ice cream?” Or, there are trolls who make everything political, making it a point to disagree with anyone who speaks up. How can you avoid this?

To avoid trivial conversations, have the members of your greeting team intentionally go into the chat and ask highly emotionally intelligent questions and give great answers. The quality of your questions will determine the quality of your chat.

For the trolls, Greg recommends that you try and take the conversation offline. If they’re a member of your church, have a phone call or text with that person. If they’re someone you don’t know, and refuse to take it offline, you will likely have to ban that user. Greg and Carey both often have to ban people online. It’s okay.

2. You’ll be tempted to view your online audience as “secondary” to your in-person audience, don’t

Greg has watched pastors completely forget about their online audience over and over throughout his career, and he thinks that pastors will begin to fall back into that habit as they come out of the current crisis.

Many pastors are already saying things like, “The 30% who have returned to in-person church are the devoted ones, and those staying home are less committed members.” This simply isn’t true.

Some of your most committed members have serious health risks that are keeping them at home. Don’t forget about them in your quest to refill your room.

3. Your church’s future depends on what you learned (or didn’t learn) in the crisis

One of the big questions coming out of the COVID crisis is, “Will church attendance go back to what it was pre-COVID?” Greg thinks that it will return for some churches and won’t for others. He thinks it will totally depend on whether a church learns the lessons that we need to learn from this pandemic.

If you go back to the old way of doing things, your church isn’t going to thrive. But if you learn from this season about how powerful online can be, reinvent yourself, and add a healthy online experience and community to your church, your church will likely thrive.

Quotes from Episode 369

If a church feels like they can’t be a church because of missing a one-hour service out of building, we were missing the point all along, ministering to people. @GregAtkinson

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During times of uncertainty, lead with your humanity. @Andy Stanley

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The gospel has never been proclaimed so largely, so broadly, so loudly as in the past five, six months of this COVID experience. @GregAtkinson

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Never forget your online audience. We’re in that phygital world from here on out. There are always people watching at home. @GregAtkinson

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That front door experience, that very first impression, starts online. @GregAtkinson

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When you tune into an online experience, there should be somebody that sees you and acknowledges you and thanks you for tuning in. @GregAtkinson

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Pastoral care has never been so important. @GregAtkinson

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Let people see your heart, because people really resonate with emotionally engaging content. @cnieuwhof

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Read or Download the Transcript for Episode 369

Looking for a key quote? More of a reader?

Read or download a free PDF transcript of this episode here.

Watch Back Episodes of The Podcast on YouTube

Select episodes of this podcast are now on YouTube. Our YouTube Channel gives you a chance to watch some episodes, not just listen.

The Online Church Engagement Summit

So you’ve got people watching your church online. How do you turn them into engagers?

On October 8th, 2020, Carey Nieuwhof is hosting The Online Church Engagement Summit. It’s a free, 90-minute value-packed event where Levi Lusko, Nona Jones, and Bobby Gruenewald will give you their best practical strategies to turn viewers into engagers.

If you feel like you don’t even know where to begin, or if you’ve had success but want to reach and engage more people, this is for you and your team.

Learn more and register for free.

SUBSCRIBED YET?

Subscribe for free and never miss out on wisdom from world-class leaders like Brian Houston, Andy Stanley, Craig Groeschel, Nancy Duarte, Henry Cloud, Patrick Lencioni, Francis Chan, Ann Voskamp, Erwin McManus and many others.

Subscribe using your favorite podcast app via

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Google Play

Stitcher

TuneIn

Spread the Word. Leave a Rating and Review

Hopefully, this episode has helped you lead like never before. That’s my goal. If you appreciated it, could you share the love?

The best way to do that is to rate the podcast on Apple Podcasts and leave us a brief review! You can do the same on Stitcher and on TuneIn as well.

Your ratings and reviews help us place the podcast in front of new leaders and listeners. Your feedback also lets me know how I can better serve you.

Thank you for being so awesome.

Next Episode: Brad Lomenick

Brad Lomenick returns to the podcast to talk about his new podcast, H3 Leadership, and how to grow your influence without producing more content. Brad explains the power of curating content and connecting people, and how he used that to build one of the largest leadership networks out there. Brad also discusses future trends every leader should watch. Plus, Carey and Brad talk about the launch of a brand new podcast network: Thrivicity.

Subscribe for free now so you won’t miss Episode 370.

The post CNLP 369: Greg Atkinson on How to Grow Engagement in Online Attendance, Best and Worst Digital and In-Person Church Practices, and Improving the Church Guest Experience appeared first on CareyNieuwhof.com.

Source: CNLP 369: Greg Atkinson on How to Grow Engagement in Online Attendance, Best and Worst Digital and In-Person Church Practices, and Improving the Church Guest Experience

The post CNLP 369: Greg Atkinson on How to Grow Engagement in Online Attendance, Best and Worst Digital and In-Person Church Practices, and Improving the Church Guest Experience appeared first on Passion for Planting.

Source: Find the Evangelism Style That Excites You

The post Find the Evangelism Style That Excites You appeared first on Passion for Planting.

By: Brandon A. Cox

Source: Time Management Matters in a Pandemic More Than Ever

The post Time Management Matters in a Pandemic More Than Ever appeared first on Passion for Planting.

by TheChurch.Digital: All of these tools are all to be used to work as smart as possible, it will reduce the amount of time that you worry about what posts to create and remembering to actually post them. Use these tools to sharpen your tools of ministry that you might be able to reach more people and deepen the impact of your ministry!

Schedulers – Scheduling content ahead of time can help you be more mindful in the types of content that you are publishing. You can utilize Creator Studio within Facebook to manage Facebook and Instagram posts, but if you have additional networks you might want to consider a scheduler like HootSuite and Buffer are free up to three social media profiles.
Canva – If you are a small church with limited staff and resources, designing a graphic for an upcoming event may feel a little daunting. Canva is an easy-to-use online design tool with tons of templates!
Stock photos – Posts with images do better than plain text posts, so I would encourage you to take a look at sites like UnSplash and Pixabay for free stock photos that you can use.
Hashtags Generators – Creating a batch of hashtags for your Instagram posts is helpful in reaching new viewers for free. Using a resources like the Hashtag Generator from Instavast, can help you determine which ones will get you the most exposure.
IFTTT – IFTTT stands for If This Then That. This is an app as well as online platform that allows you to automate some of your processes. For example, if you stream your service online every Sunday at 9:30am – you can set up an applet, as they call them, that will trigger on a specific time to send a tweet or post 5 minutes before to remind people to join you online. There are so many options within IFTTT that you could get a little lost, but start with a few basic ones that will help automate some of your weekly tasks.
AnswerThePublic.com – This is a website that allows you to input a topic and see all of the things that people are googling related to the topic. A simple search for prayer will show you that people want to know what to do when prayer becomes difficult, if prayer heals, what scripture says about prayer, and how prayer differs from meditation and fasting. Use this to create content that answers the questions that people asking about our faith.

Using a dull ax requires great strength, so sharpen the blade. That’s the value of wisdom; it helps you succeed. – Ecclesiates 10:10 NLT

If you need some help in developing your standard responses or some quick graphics to share with your staff during this time, schedule a time for free to talk with me using the “Quick Questions” appointment here.

Source: 6 Free Tools Churches Can Use to Elevate Their Social

The post 6 Free Tools Churches Can Use to Elevate Their Social appeared first on Passion for Planting.