How Does Technology Help the Church?
Wondering how technology fits into the bigger picture with your church and its mission? Here are five powerful ways that technology can fuel your church toward making a bigger impact on its community and the world at large.
1. Widen Your Impact
In the modern world, you can get a message around the planet in a moment. As followers of Christ, it’s important that we all take advantage of the tools available to us to share the Gospel far and wide, reaching everyone, — including those who may otherwise never come to a church or find themselves in front of someone willing to explain the Bible and its meaning to them.
As a church, you can use technology to reach a larger audience in many ways. In addition to starting a website or getting on social media, consider digging into the Bible in a public form, like by starting a podcast or creating an application that anyone can download.
You should also empower your congregants online by encouraging them to share what you post and getting them involved through hashtag challenges and other user-generated content events so that they start posting about your church and encouraging their friends to come along.
2. Meet People Halfway
Through time, we’ve continued sharing the message of the Bible, but we’ve found new ways to do it that better match society’s evolution in communication and engagement. In much the same way, it’s important for churches to adapt to the latest in communication and engagement by getting online and meeting people “halfway” in the online forums and platforms they’re already comfortable with and active in.
By spreading your church’s message online, you’re helping to connect with people in a space where they feel at home. It’s much akin to knocking on people’s doors, which is still important, although becoming less effective as many people begin ignoring the doorbell when they aren’t expecting a visitor. The internet is always open and allows you to get your message in front of more people at a time, too.
3. Improve Stewardship
Being able to get a message out to a thousand people at once is far more effective than spending an evening knocking on doors just to get one answer. In other words, when used properly, the internet and technology can help your church improve stewardship by enabling more efficient use of resources.
With technology, your church can reach more people in less time, with less effort, and for less money. All of that means you can stretch your dollars and your volunteers’ hours further, helping your church multiply its impact every time your church gets online.
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4. Connect More Deeply
At best, you may see your supporters once a week, but most churches simply don’t have the staff to talk to everyone on Sunday morning. That means a large part of your congregation likely feels disconnected from your church. Without personal, one-on-one interaction, your supporters may begin to wander to other avenues of worship.
Forming that deep, personal connection with each one of your congregants is important. Amazingly, technology lies right at your fingertips that can help you do just that. A donor management system, for instance, can help shape and guide your interactions with donors. Staying on top of when you contacted who, and planning out your messaging, will help you communicate with supporters much more effectively.
Social media, on the other hand, will help you engage with all attendees, whether or not they give. It also enables you to reach people who have never attended one of your church’s services before, allowing you to grow your congregation faster. With all of that in mind, it’s well worth devoting some volunteer hours to managing your online presence and to connecting with congregants seven days a week.
5. Teach and Preach Freely
Education has never been more accessible. Since the dawn of the internet, people have gained instant access to a growing amount of information that puts knowledge at their fingertips. As a church, it’s important that you take advantage of this priceless asset. Your church’s mission is to spread the Lord’s word, and technology gives you the perfect platform for doing so.
Every church should be leveraging its ability to provide free, impactful, and highly accessible resources by offering content in every form. Be it videos, podcasts, blog posts, or downloadable materials, it’s important that a church invests in the creation of these resources so that they can have an even bigger impact when it comes to spreading the word.
Depending on your church’s budget, you may choose to livestream your services, devote a weekly sermon solely to your online audience, create a podcast that discusses the Bible in-depth — or pursue a number of other opportunities. Every church can add to the growing online library of free Christianity teachings by sharing whatever they can, whenever they can.
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Take Control of Your Church’s Opportunities
Does your church feel like technology represents hurdles and challenges? Are you excited about the possibilities but overwhelmed by not knowing how to get started?
Here at DonorWerx, we help church leaders like you every day in overcoming the fears and challenges associated with getting online and building a strong digital presence.
We feel it’s important to help churches realize the power of technology and make that all-important transition to creating and sustaining a digital presence. That’s why we offer a free 30-minute discovery call for church leaders.
During our phone call, we’ll discuss what your church can do to build its online presence and increase gifting over the next six months.
Ready to get started and discuss your church’s unique strategies for growth? Schedule your discovery call today to get started.
