At Digital Team Coach, we are passionate about helping supporting and resourcing the church for the digital ministry that supports the mission of our churches. We want to see the next generations be able to thrive off the back of the hard work that you’re doing. We believe that digital ministry and digital strategy has an important part to play in supporting the mission of the church.
When I approach online interaction and engagement, I find this framework helpful for reflecting on the people that we can reach, empower and invest into. I call this framework the Digital Realms Of Influence.
We have 4 circles of influence; you, your team, your community and the world.
Let’s look at the digital systems we need to support each circle of influence in serving our mission and the people we reach.
1. You
We want to make the systems that you have as easy as possible. We cannot function without technology! Files, data, calendars, the list goes on…
The main goal is to streamline your processes and workflows so that you can save time, remove the administration and manual labour, to focus on your main tasks in your role; leading, evangelizing, training, preaching, empowering your people to serve and be Jesus’ hands and feet.
There’s a lot of personal management and discipline required with your time, how you manage your emails, your calendar, your communication, your files and data. This impacts the way that you work with your team to collaborate.
2. Your team
The next realm is your team; your staff and colleagues, key volunteers, church board / eldership / parish council.
We want to enhance their experience working together so that everyone is playing their part well, doing their job well and working in a consistent way that is going to unify together, not turn your team into silos.
Technology has such an important part, particularly as we increasingly work together remotely.
Much planning is required with services and other events that we provide from week to week. A lot of knowledge and communication needs to be shared. Unfortunately, there are many churches that don’t have the systems in place to share their knowledge well, both within their teams, and also with their community, particularly volunteers in different ministries.
Church management software is integral to running any church today. Data integrity, security and privacy are essential. We need to ensure access to data is provided at the right level to the right people at the right time.
Other systems include collaboration, project and task management, planning and compliance systems. As you can see and have probably experienced, there is a lot to consider!
3. Your community
The next sphere of influence is your church; your main members, your main church community, the people who make up the body of Christ.
Our communication channels and messages are vital for our community to listen and understand and respond. We all receive so many messages each day from so many different sources. We need to communicate in a really smart way in a way that is going to benefit those and help them to be able to step up.
There are many ministry areas in, even within a single services; kids ministry, welcoming teams, music and AV. We must make it easy to roster and resource your volunteers, to give them the knowledge they need. The way we manage and share knowledge is such an important part of training and communication. We want volunteers to arrive on any given day, knowing what they’re meant to do and how to do their task in a consistent and unified way.
Groups need to be empowered to meet together, to care for each other offline and online. Group leaders need to be resourced and supported.
Other systems such as giving platforms help make it as easy for people to give electronically in a secure way.
The goal is to empower your people to step up in their gifting and in their ministries.
4. Your world
The final realm of influence is the world; the wider community, your local community.
As we reach people in the wider community, communication extends to your church website. It is the front door to your church today. The first entrance that people will check out your website.
People will also check out your social media. Both those platforms need to be inviting and welcoming. They must demonstrate who you are as a church in your community, what your uniqueness is, what your flavour is. Make it easy for people to connect in with you.
More and more, your engagement and ministries need to be accessible online.
Your church services are an extension of that, whether you do them digitally or as a hybrid service with simultaneous in-person and live streamed gatherings.
There will be other events and programs that you will run such as Alpha course or the Marriage course.
Again, your goal is to make it as easy as possible for people to be able to connect in.
What does your church need to fulfil its mission?
Digital ministry and technology plays such an important part in our churches today. Maybe not all these aspects relate to your church, but you need to have the strategy and systems in place. They need to be configured well and you need to have the people behind you to support that.
If your church is lacking some of the confidence or the tools and resources to do this well, we can help you in your transformation to fulfil your mission and reach the world in the 21st century.