6 Old and New Strategies For Churches Going Forward

Dear Posse,

As I was scanning thru my mailbox, I was hit by suggestions I saw for moving forward after the pandemic. Strategies for churches that will help as we move forward.

Not everything you are doing right now will last into the future, but some strategies need to continue.

1) Phone calls are low tech. Getting a volunteer team in place to regularly make phone contact with members is a strategy that never gets old. Pastors of churches with less than 200 members should have no problem calling 5-10 families a week to personally check on them. Larger churches can have staff pastors and small group leaders participate weekly.

2) Hand-written letters are no tech. But there is value in the personal connection they bring—and not just during a crisis. Here again, encouragement and birthday cards are excellent ways to ensure you keep your connections strong.

3) Keep building your church email list. This one sounds like something out of the early 2000s. However, a church with a strong email list can communicate better than a church with a strong social media presence. The main idea here is you own your email list. The social media company owns your online presence. You can control when an email hits an inbox. You can’t control when someone sees your social media post. Algorithms can change quickly and without you knowing. Most people keep their emails for long periods of time.

BTW, convertkit is free for your first 100 contacts and you can increase your list size as well. Check it out here http://christianstimulus.com/a/convertkit-free

4) Keep moving people toward electronic giving. Those who give online tend to be more consistent in their giving, especially if the giving is automated through weekly or monthly transactions. Be sure to be astute about the costs you pay your providers. If you need to see what others are paying take a look at our free online giving spreadsheet.

5) Keep an option for groups via video calls. Video groups will never completely replace in-person groups, but they will understandably become more popular. Moreover, regular prayer meetings provide a way for the congregation to pray together with having to travel to the physical church facility. Frankly, most churches are still using a form of Robert Raike’s model from the 1700s.

Zoom meetings are so easy to use and can be simulcast on the church facebook page or facebook group FREE. Even seniors who can only use their telephone can call in and hear Zoom meetings without video. Also more than one person can be the focus of the online meeting. Go to Zoom.us http://christianstimulus.com/a/zoom

6) Create Online Membership and Discipleship courses. While you are sidelined now is a create time to prepare online learning for your congregation. New Members classes are important but so are classes in spiritual development and growth.

We use TEACHABLE to develop and present our courses. With Teachable you can create video, audio, pdfs, docs or what ever you like to encourage your members learning experience. Another key feature, is that this provides a way for members to really connect with their pastor in a special way. Check out Teachable Here! http://christianstimulus.com/a/teachable

We’re overdue for a paradigm shift. With the increased bandwidth available for streaming video—something not widely available fifteen years ago—more churches can and will move in this direction.

Now is the time to focus your energy on the things you will keep doing after the pandemic ends. Your time is better spent dedicated to the solutions that have a chance to continue. There is no sense in trying to be the best drive-in church. But online giving and groups via video calls are worth your extra time.

Redeeming The Time!!!