As church leaders we often we say we want to reach people with the gospel where they are, but then we tell them they can meet God at 11am on Sundays. Instead, we need to take God to them.
A consistent online ministry is one way to “take God to people on a weekly basis. But amongst board meetings, community ministerial groups, denominational conferences, sermon preparation, and hospital visits, how do you find time to maintain an online ministry presence? As a solo pastor with no paid support staff, I have three ways that I have created and maintained an online ministry.
WEEKLY EMAIL UPDATE
Never underestimate the power of your written words to feed and nourish people’s souls. Why? Because when people read what you have written they often are inviting you into their most private moments. They read while in bed before going to sleep, they read when they are alone at lunch with a little free time, they might read your words during their devotion times in the morning.
When people show up to church on a Sunday they have their best on display. They are dressed nicely, they have a smile on, and they want to look good for others. A wall naturally goes up when people attend church in person.
But when people read your words at home, in their pajamas, with no makeup on, after a fight with a spouse, or a failed attempt at being a good parent, people have a guard that is down. They are willing to accept what you are saying and allow it to speak to them in a way that does not occur at an in person church service.
In our church I send a weekly email update to our church with an encouraging article written by me (usually 400-600 words), a list of our announcements from church on Sunday, and a list of the prayer requests.
You might ask, “How in the world do I find time to write?” Here’s the thing. You already do a lot of writing. If you preach each Sunday you are writing every week. Almost all the articles I send to my church each week first appeared as parts of my sermon. One year after I preach a sermon I pull out my manuscript and I look for a part of that sermon that I can put into an article. I look for a good story, a significant quote, or a joke, then I tie that to the Scripture and place it in the article. Because most of my articles are taken from my sermon manuscript, most of the work is already done for me.
I am often surprised not just that people read my articles, but also that they remember what I have written. But a weekly update with an article is one of three tools for an online ministry.
PODCAST
I hope you have someone posting your sermons as a podcast. With one upload to a podcast distributor (we use Anchor.fm) your podcast gets syndicated to as many as seven different platforms. Right now our church podcast is distributed to Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, Castbox, Google Podcasts, Pocket Casts, Spotify, and Stitcher.
While people might go to your website to listen to your sermon, they are more likely to listen if it is automatically distributed to one of these services. And if you preach on a topic that someone happens to search in those different platforms (“How do we know Jesus was God?” or “Steps to Peace with God”) they might find your sermon and listen.
An additional benefit of podcast is that people can listen while doing other things. While driving in the car, cleaning the house, or even working at their desk. A podcast allows them to listen to your sermon online when they might not have time to sit and read an article or watch a video.
YOUTUBE
For more than a decade YouTube has been the second largest search engine in the world. Second, of course, to Google.
While it is helpful to read an article, or listen to a podcast, video has a powerful visual element that helps you connect with your audience. When they can see your smile, hand gestures, and movements around a pulpit, it helps them connect with you and better understand your message.
Our church posts a video of the sermon each week on our YouTube channel. Sometimes we have half as many people watch the sermon on YouTube as people that sit in the pew!
One cool thing about YouTube is the way it’s algorithms work. When someone watches your video, then when you post a new video next week, the YouTube algorithms likely will suggest your new video for the person to watch.
Taking advantage of the search engine reach of YouTube along with the increased capacity to convey information in visual form is something you can’t miss. And it’s simple to do. An iPhone on a tripod with a wireless microphone receiver works just fine for us.
YOUR TURN
To maintain an online ministry you need to give people something to read (an emailed article), something to listen to (podcast), and something to watch (YouTube). If a solo pastor such as myself can start and maintain these three items, I’m confident you can too!