The Church After Coronavirus

I just participated in a webinar by The Unstuck Group on the Church’s Response to Coronavirus. I found the information helpful as we consider the future. Tony Morgan expressed a lot of opinions during this webinar, and I am not sure where I land on some of these issues, but it is certainly worth having the conversation.

BTW - I have participated in a few other webinars on this topic, and Tony is not alone in his conclusion that the coronavirus interruption is a seismic paradigm shift for the church, and we will never return to a pre-coronavirus normal.

Blessings,

Chris Eller

The Church's Response to Coronavirus - Webinar Series

"March was a really long year.”

Four Take-aways for Churches:

1. Expect to see a significant decrease in in-person attendance for the foreseeable future (mid-2021 or even 2022).
2. Engagement is the new metric that matters more than attendance.
3. A Church needs to have a greater local presence in the community where God has placed a church. A community needs to see the church in action.
4. For churches, the economic recovery will take much longer than other sectors of the economy because for most giving is a discretionary item.
   

Tony Morgan - it will be a long time before in-person attendance returns to pre-coronavirus normal, and many churches will not see that return. There will be many churches that will not recover or survive the shutdown.

Most churches found their identity in their weekend services. This will need to change. Eighty percent of their focus was on their weekend services. This includes finances, staffing, and how we deploy our volunteers.

Moving forward, the church needs to focus their attention now on Organizational Strategies. The foundational values do not change, but strategies do change. Churches make a huge mistake when they begin to associate Organizational Strategies with Foundational Values.

—> The #1 reason churches get stuck is because churches have made their Organizational Strategies their Foundational Values.

The main strategies the church has employed and developed over the last 30 years will no longer work going forward.

Two types of pastors and church leaders right now:

• Pastor 1: "When will we get back to normal? When we will be able to return to our normal weekend services and ministries?" These pastors will likely not survive.
• Pastor 2: "How does this disruption need to change our strategy going forward."
  

Seven Shifts Churches Need to Make Because of the Coronavirus:

https://tonymorganlive.com/2020/04/15/7-church-shifts-coronavirus/

1. The shift from analog to digital. Think beyond just online services on Sunday morning. How do we make the shift to where our ministries are online.
2. The shift from teaching to equipping. This means equipping people with the necessary tools to take next steps to engage with the Word of God through spiritual disciplines and to live out the mission God has given them.
3. The shift from gathering to connect. Too many churches worked hard to keep people busy at events, activities, etc., with little effort to build community and connect
4. The shift from a global perspective to a local perspective. Churches have focused their mission emphasis and spending on global missions at the expense of their local community. It is easier to send money overseas or go on a short-term trip than to engage our neighbors in gospel conversations.
5. The shift from being complex to simple. Churches were struggling to do everything for everyone. The churches with a focused strategy will be effective.
6. The shift from being bloated financially to more frugal. The key area where this needs to happen is with staffing. Most churches will need a different kind of staff with different skills than prior to the interruptions. Over the last 10 years, churches in decline had 35% more staff than healthy churches.
7. The shift from measuring attendees (even viewers) to measuring engagement. Churches need to know who is engaging with their ministry. Requires different metrics.

We need to prioritize our digital strategy. For many churches, this will require an investment. This will be difficult because funds will be limited. Need to be creative and prioritize. This requires a strategy. Need to rethink Operational Strategies in order to accomplish the Foundational Values in a new environment.

We will be doing ministry with less money for the foreseeable future.

One metric they are watching is a correlation between churches who are being visibly generous within their community and at the same time are seeing an increase in giving to these churches.

Discipleship needs to move beyond the classroom and equip people how to engage with God’s word through personal spiritual disciplines. (Spiritual Formation strategies)

Churches need to rethink their facilities. It is very likely churches will not need the facilities they are currently using. A church’s website is its new facility. Facilities have been designed, essentially, for gathering. If in-person gathering is not a priority or option for a long time, how can a church use its facilities in a visible way to minister to the community?

Church leadership needs to get younger. If older leaders can’t engage digitally and be comfortable doing so, they need to step aside to give room for younger leaders who are digital natives.

Based on Unstuck Group’s research, 80 percent of American Churches were in plateau or decline. This interruptions will accelerate that trend.

There is a large disconnect between Digital engagement and giving. Most people today expect digital content and services to be free or low cost. Example, most streaming services (Netflix, Amazon Prime, etc.) are $15 per month or less for almost unlimited content. This will require churches to make sure their strategies reflect their values and demonstrate they are effectively accomplishing their mission in the new environment. In this regard, nothing has changed: people give to vision. For too long, however, “the vision” of the church has emphasized tangible assets (buildings, renovations, staff, etc.) rather than a gospel-centered mission. This was often interpreted in the past as “we accomplish our gospel-centered mission by building buildings, hiring staff, etc.”

You need to rethink your connection process for people who connect with you digitally for the first time. One idea: offer a post service zoom gathering for new people to meet the pastor and to learn about next steps with the church.

Phone calls are more important than ever.

NOTE: Some people may not understand how to get your stream on a device like Roku, Amazon Fire, Apple TV, etc. Explain how to get services on these devices so they can participate as a family in a group watching a television vs trying to do so with a computer or tablet.

There is a weak link in the churches to the digital approach right now, and that is in the ministry to Children. Churches need to change their children’s ministry focus from ministry to children to equipping parents in how to disciple and equip their children.

Again, schools are a good barometer for a community’s response to this virus.

College presidents yesterday: if we are not having on-campus school, we will not have football.

What metrics are the best to measure engagement: start monitoring new guests (figure out how to get contact info). This is the crucial first metric. Next: what are the steps people are taking in your strategy? Giving is an easy metric that many are already doing that gives a great measure of where people are at spiritually.

Is there a new staff role for this new reality? Yes. Digital Strategies.

The season of larger and larger facilities is over. There will not be a need, and churches will not have the finances (even access to loans) to build large facilities.

What is essential to the church moving forward: It is a church's Foundational Values. If these are not at the core of your thinking, you will quickly get off track and off mission.