5 ways online church is changing
Putting a camera in the back of the room to stream a service online will come to an end.
Most churches once they start meeting in-person again begin to see a large drop in their online viewership. For those churches that did not fully buy into or invest money into an online presence will most likely stop doing their online services all together. The amount of effort and time to make something look good and sound good for the amount of views they are getting online will make it not worth it to them.
Online services will become shorter in length
When I talk to people about the future of online church, I always ask one question to start the conversation: When was the last time you watched a YouTube or Facebook video that was over one hour? Almost every single person I ask says the same thing: Never. Then why do we as churches post online services that are over an hour long expecting people to watch them when that’s not how people are naturally wired to do? The internet is made to give our lives more convenience, save us time, and to reach an audience greater than what we can do locally. So, I think the future of online church will be shorter in length and will look much different than what it does today. The Sunday online service will become one of the multiple online content the church has to offer to the community during the week.
Churches will shift resources and focus away from the Sunday online service into a daily digital strategy
If you were to move to another town, how would you find a new church? Most likely you would ask some friends for some suggestions, you might google church in that new city, or try to find some options on social media. By the time someone has shown up at our church, they might have visited our website, checked us out on social media, and watched a service online. People will engage with us online well before they ever step into our room. So, how do we get someone to go from checking us out online to stepping into one of our in-person services? We need a clear strategy that involves much more than a once a week service. Churches that will succeed in the future will have a daily digital strategy that includes email marketing, social media, YouTube, and some sort of digital discipleship/training.
Churches will become less focused on engagement during their Sunday service.
We hear it every week in our online services: Comment below, let us know in the chat, send us a prayer request. As churches we are obsessed with tracking data. We all want to know if we are winning. And I get it. At our church, we track 25 metrics each week to help us make better decisions. But when I look at my own interaction with videos I watch on YouTube or Facebook, I comment on one for every 200+ videos I watch. Seldom do I ever feel the urge to leave a comment on a video. But because we as churches want to know if people are watching, we make up ways for people to show they are there. It’s not natural for most people I am speaking with to interact that way. We need to be asking ourselves-- when is it appropriate to ask for interaction? Doing so will create less awkward moments and set us up for success when the time is right.
Churches will create a short church version of their online service.
My biggest pet peeve is wasting time, it can drive me crazy and turn me into a different person. It’s not something I’m proud of.
Research shows that most people like short videos. A great example of this is what Judah Smith does where he takes his sermon from Sunday and preaches it online in 8 minutes instead of 35. Guess which version gets the most amount of views on YouTube? The shorter version gets normally 3 times as many views. Shorter and more dense content is going to get more views every time and I think churches are going to learn that to reach more people they are going to have to change the way they create content.
If you are reading this, thanks for getting all the way to the end. That shows me that you are passionate about the church of the future, and I would love your opinion as well. What did I miss? How are online services changing in your area? God Bless and have a great rest of the day.