BEHIND THE

SCREEN: WHAT
DO WE KNOW
ABOUT ONLINE
CHURCH?

A PUSH PAY COMPANY

WHAT IS CHURCH?

The word “church” is often used to refer to the physical building where people gather to worship.

People say things like, “I went to church this morning” or “Our bible study group meets at the church.”

Although, there’s nowhere in the bible where the word “church” designates a physical building.

The biblical word for church, “ekklesia” refers to an assembly of believers gathered together in some

public place. The emphasis is on those who gather together - the assembly of believers - who

anywhere, are united into one body. We see this in Acts 9:31 where we find the word “church” used

to describe the sum of all believers over a vast geographical area. Some today refer to this concept as

the “big C” church or the universal church. The bible also uses several metaphors to further describe

this gathering of believers as the church. These include referring to the church as “the people of God,”

“the family of God,” “the bride of Christ,” and “the body of Christ.”

The rising use of video streaming for online worship services has sparked a debate on whether we

should count those who participate online as part of the gathering that we know as the church. This

discussion has gone beyond just Christian circles and into secular media outlets. Despite this debate,

the use of online video in churches is continuing to rise.

Life Church in Oklahoma City introduced an “internet campus” in 2006, so we’ve been adjusting to

this new form of church now for over a decade. Many more churches have followed suit and launched

an online church campus in the last several years. Nearly half (47%) of churches are reporting that

they now have online campuses. This is up 28% from our report five years ago, where 62% of those

surveyed indicated they “did not plan” to launch one. Many churches have even hired online campus

pastors to minister to those who participate in their church online.

The focus of this report is not to debate or resolve the discussion of how to classify online church.

Rather the goal is to share research findings from a recentLeadership Network survey to show why

and how churches of various sizes are communicating through online channels.
INSIGHTS FROM THE INNOVATORS
In addition to the quantitative research, we wanted to see what we could learn from some of the
leading innovators and practitioners in their fields when it came to online church and the digital space.
Interviews were conducted with the following church leaders to learn more about how their churches
are leveraging online church to advance their mission and to help accomplish the Great Commission.

• RYAN SCOTT, McClellanville and Online Campus Pastor, Seacoast Church (Mt.
Pleasant, SC), www.seacoast.org
• DAN HICKLING, Online Campus Pastor, Calvary Church (Fort Lauderdale, FL), www.
calvaryftl.org
• MATT WELTY, Director of Information Technology, Crossroads Church (Cincinnati,
OH), www.crossroads.net
• NATHAN MCLEAN, Online Campus Pastor, Hillsong Church (Australia), http://hillsong.
com/australia/

Throughout this report, you will see a series of sidebar interviews that contain these leader’s insights.

WHAT DO CHURCHES DO ONLINE?

The churches in the survey were given ten options to choose from in terms of what they do online
3. MOMENTUM FOR BECOMING MULTISITE IS STILL VERY STRONG.
with their weekly services, and they were asked to select all the options that applied to their situation.
The chart below shows the most used online methods for each of the church size categories included
in this study.

800-1,999 2,000-4,999 5,000-9,999 10,000+ 2018 AVG

On-demand video of service available anytime 32% 47% 59% 55% 48%
Live stream worship service on church’s website 21% 38% 53% 52% 41%
Live stream worship on Facebook Live 10% 16% 22% 25% 18%
Have online team to take prayer requests 9% 20% 26% 41% 24%
and respond to viewers
Have an online campus pastor (paid or volunteer) 3% 10% 18% 28% 15%
Have online small groups 3% 4% 6% 19% 8%
Minimal online beyond audio (podcast) 17% 15% 12% 10% 14%
of the message

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 WHAT DO YOU DO ONLINE WITH WORSHIP
SERVICES? (LIVE STREAM? ON DEMAND?)
The most common method used regardless of the
Scott: We are currently broadcasting three of our
size of the church was to “offer
on-demand videos of
services in real time online on the weekends which
our teaching that can be watched anytime.” But the includes both Saturday and Sunday. We have our
prevalence of this method decreased along with the size SimLive which is a re-broadcast from our pre-service
music to the closing announcements. We have a team
of the church. of volunteers who interact with online attendees for
both the live broadcasts and the rebroadcast service.
We also have one Facebook live service on Sundays
The second most common online tool used was to “live
that’s also available on demand from our Facebook
stream the entire worship experience on the church’s page later in the week. Our website also has all our
website.” More than half of the churches with over 5,000 Sunday messages available online in an archive that
can be watched any time.
in attendance used this method while only 21 percent of
churches under 2,000 in attendance did so. Hickling: We’ve been doing online ministry for ten
years now and have used different platforms along
the way. Today, we stream five services live each week
The third most common method used by the and have various replays of the service also. We have a
tool that lets people log in to communicate and chat
megachurches (those with an attendance of more
during a live service and typically we have about 50-
than 2,000) studied was to have “an online team to 60 people per service in our chat room. We follow
handle prayer requests and internet-generated dialog.” the same pattern for each service. We meet and greet
online participants before the live service starts. During
Although churches with an attendance of over 10,000 worship, people will post inspirational verses, thoughts
were twice as likely to do so as churches with an and emojis to express themselves which creates a
unifying dynamic. Our online hosts will greet guests,
attendance of 2,000-4,999 (41 percent to 20 percent invite them into our safe chat room environment to
respectively). This is often seen as a way to increase interact in real time. People will post scriptures during
the Bible message and even post thoughts during the
engagement from and with attendees.
message. We try to replicate the invitation online to
present the gospel and give people an opportunity to
A fourth common methodology is use of an “online respond and have someone pray with them. After the
service, people can stay online for intercessory prayer.
campus pastor” who is either paid or volunteer to Online attendees can post a prayer request and one of
interact with online attendees. This is utilized as another our volunteer hosts will type a prayer for that person.

way to extend engagement. Twenty-eight percent of Welty: Our online church service includes the same
churches with an attendance over 10,000 reported teaching recorded and edited from our Saturday
night service combines with streamed worship,
having an online campus pastor. Eighteen percent of
announcements, a tailored welcome and closing
churches with an attendance of 5,000-9,999 had an designed just for online. We also have simulated live
online campus pastor. While 10 percent of churches in services that are available on demand so people can hit
the play button and have church.
the 2,000-4,999 size range had an online campus pastor
and only 3 percent of the churches with an attendance McLean: We broadcast our morning and evening
services on Facebook and YouTube. Before service, we
of 800-1,999 used an online campus pastor. interact with people.

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DO YOU HAVE AN ONLINE CAMPUS PASTOR?
TEAM?
Multisite churches were more than four times as likely
Scott: I am the pastor for our online campus and one of
to have an online campus pastor as single site churches
ourphysicalcampuses.Wehaveoneotherstaffmember
who works with me plus a team of 20 volunteers who (14 percent compared to 3 percent respectively).
help host our services and who pray and chat with
Multisite churches were almost twice as likely to have
online worshippers. We also have a translation team of
30 people interpreting our services and we will cross an online team in place to handle prayer requests and
train these folks to be live hosts as well. So, our “dream to generate dialog with online viewers (22 percent
team” has a total of 50 people currently.
compared to 12 percent respectively).
Hickling: Seventy percent of our online volunteers
aren’t local to Fort Lauderdale where our church is.
Nineteen percent of the churches with an attendance
I’ve learned that the people in the wilderness are the
hungriest to help. I see our volunteer development over 10,000 reported using a fifth method - online small
taking place over a three-year period. In the first
groups. While still a minor percentage overall, multisite
year, we focus on relationships and I try to build trust
and get to know them. The second year is about churches were twice as likely to offer online small
discipleship as we try to go deeper based on the trust groups as single site churches (6 percent compared to 3
we’ve established. The third year is about ownership
as we give them opportunities to serve in the ministry. percent respectively). But less than 5 percent of the other
churches in the study had online small groups available.

Other online methodologies

According to the data, one of the common logistical concerns for online church is how to handle
communion and baptisms. Only 3 percent of the churches overall offered either online communion
or online baptisms. However, anecdotally, many online campus pastors see this as a great opportunity
for those that either prefer online or are unable to attend a physical campus.

WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN THE DIGITAL SPACE BEYOND YOUR ONLINE CAMPUS?

Scott: We also have a strong social media presence on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter that includes regular notifications, announcements,
snippets of sermons. We do all this to try to be present where people are. We’re trying to create some online small group Bible studies to
reach people out of state or who live far away. We believe that doing some community online is better than no community for people.

Hickling: One thing I’ve been trying is to “chain mail” our online attendees with content suited to their interests through a virtual church
bulletin. I also share more about myself, what I’m reading, etc., to create another communication piece for our online folks. Both are
designed to create more engagement.

Welty: We have a smartphone app that we created called Crossroads Anywhere. The purpose is to help people grow with God and each
other. We’ve tried to use tech to teach spiritual disciplines. It also helps people connect to the church and other people through sharing
prayer requests, online journals, podcasts, articles, event sign-ups and more. We’ve developed content personalization on our website
for our articles, podcasts, and videos that are felt need directed.

McLean: There are so many things going on! Podcasts are a big part of this including podcasts from our pastors around the world. We
have streamed our Hillsong conferences online and are still exploring the best way to expand the digital reach without losing the value
of being onsite. We have created digital solutions for churches globally and have created an adaptable conference app for smartphones.

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 Another oft repeated issue for online churches is what to do with children. Less than one percent of
the churches that participated in this survey offered any kind of online children’s ministry. Given that
the use of online church for adults has grown in the last several years, it will be interesting to see if
online children’s ministry will become an additional component offered by more churches seeking
to evangelize and disciple children online.

WHAT ARE YOU DOING ONLINE FOR THE NEXT

HOW DOES ONLINE
GENERATION (CHILDREN’S AND STUDENT’S ATTENDANCE COMPARE
MINISTRY)?
TO OFFLINE (IN-PERSON)
Hickling: We have to be careful about this because we
don’t engage with minors online for safety reasons.
ATTENDANCE?
When we find out an online attendee is under 18,
then there are layers of protection to observe and we
More than two-thirds (68 percent) of the churches in
encourage them to include their parents. We support
parents through prayer, encouragement and counsel. this study overall said that their online attendance was
We don’t have anything structured for children’s and less than the in-person attendance. Two percent of the
student ministry online.
churches said online and in-person attendance were
McLean: We’re going to launch something for this equal. Only 4 percent of the churches claimed that
soon. We envision a whole range of curriculum for
their online attendance was more than the in-person
children including midweek videos. These projects are
in the pipeline now and we want to do something. attendance. Eighteen percent of the churches overall
said they don’t measure online attendance well enough
to know how it compares to the in-person attendance.

HOW DO YOU TRACK/COUNT YOUR ONLINE WORSHIP ATTENDANCE? AND HOW DOES ONLINE WORSHIP
ATTENDANCE COMPARE TO YOUR LIVE/ONSITE SERVICES?

Scott: We get a report each week from our streaming provider that provides a list of the individual IP addresses that viewed our services.
Our average watch time is 25-26 minutes for our live broadcast services. The average view time for our SimLive service 5-6 minutes and
the average Facebook viewer watches for about 20-30 seconds. We have about 3000-5000 in our weekly online attendance.

Hickling: Our online worshippers account for about 20 percent of our physical attendees. We have 4000-5000 people online each week
and 16,000 people on our various campuses.

Welty: Comparing onsite attendance with online is really apples and oranges. They’re both fruit but different. We count an attendee
as someone who views online for at least 30 minutes. It’s a very imperfect model and we may change it in the future. But if you can’t
count it, then you can’t grow it. You have to value the engagement no matter what it is, so you can grow it. On a given week, half of our
attendance is online and half is onsite.

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McLean: We track everything and try to measure it so we can grow it like anything else—start with one and go from there. We track our
Facebook community and the number of interactions and comments. We also count the number of people who are online ten minutes
into the preaching and those who are still online with fifteen minutes of preaching left. We’ve found these to be similar numbers. We don’t
track anyone who just clicks on the link in our total viewers. We track decisions for Christ and ask people to use the hand emoji in the
comments to indicate they’ve made a decision. We follow-up to get more details and to share Bible reading plans with them. We track
prayer requests and praises through our online form and have a team who follows up personally on all requests. And financial giving is
tracked. We have a small number who are giving but some are tithing like they would if they attended onsite.

HOW DOES ONLINE ATTENDANCE TRANSLATE INTO

ATTENDANCE AT THE PHYSICAL CHURCH CAMPUS?
Based on the survey responses, the church leaders in all four size categories noted that this was one of
the top three most important measures associated with online church that they talk about as a team.

Thirty-eight percent of the church leaders surveyed said they either “agreed” or “strongly agreed” that
“online church is changing people’s in-person attendance habits.” By comparison, 21 percent of the
leaders studied said they “strongly disagreed” or “disagreed” that online church is changing in-person
attendance patterns.

Overall, 46 percent of church leaders said they “strongly disagreed” or “disagreed” that “online church
hurts attendance at our physical church.” Only 20
percent said they “agreed” or “strongly agreed” that
online church hurt in-person attendance.
38% 46%
AGREE DISAGREE
21% 20%
DISAGREE AGREE

Online church changing Online church hurt

in-person attendance in-person attendance

DOES PROVIDING AN ONLINE SERVICE TRANSLATE INTO

OVERALL ATTENDANCE GROWTH?
According to survey respondents, it’s a mixed bag. Thirty-five percent said they “agreed” or “strongly
agreed” that online services helped with attendance growth. But 26 percent said they “strongly
disagreed” or “disagreed” that online service prompted attendance growth. And 27 percent said that
online services had no impact on attendance growth.

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 WHO IS ATTENDING YOUR SERVICES
ONLINE? WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT
THE DEMOGRAPHICS OF YOUR ONLINE
ATTENDEES?
WHAT’S THE MOST
IMPORTANT FEATURE OF Scott: Our largest demographic or about half of our
online worshippers are women over the age of 50. We
ONLINE CHURCH? hope to adjust our reach in time. More women watch on
Facebook and men are more likely to watch on YouTube.

Survey participants were asked to identify the single

Hickling: Seventy percent of our online folks are
most important feature of online church that their Floridians or people living in the southeast U.S. The
other 30 percent are people from all over the world.
church leaders talk about the most. Listed below in the
We have a strong South American contingency and
chart are the priorities for each of the four categories one of our volunteers lives in Russia. In our chat rooms
of churches based on attendance. during services, 70 percent of the people are women
that we interact with there.

Larger churches over 5,000 in attendance placed a Welty: Most of our online attendees are local. People
are attending church more frequently now because of
higher value on reaching an international audience
online since now they can’t opt to stream the service
from different countries or locations. Just like church when they would have missed church in the past.
We’ve done some surveys of our online folks. The
leaders tend to be concerned about “butts in seats”
online attendees tend to skew a little younger than our
at the physical church campus, they’re equally onsite attendees. Our normal, engaged member will
concerned about “eyeballs on screens” and want to attend onsite and online given the week.

know how many people are watching the worship McLean: We know our top three countries for online
services online. Online attendance was the top viewers are the U.S., Australia, and the United Kingdom.
Our biggest demographic on Facebook is an older
priority overall according to 24 percent of the church
group of women based on those who are commenting.
leaders who responded to survey.

800-1,999 2,000-4,999 5,000-9,999 10,000+ % of Top Concern

How online brings new people 21% 17% 17% 16% 18%
to physical campus
Different countries or locations 12% 11% 17% 29% 17%
being reached
How many are online 20% 29% 24% 23% 24%
Online giving 20% 14% 12% 9% 14%

Other priority features of online church were a strategy to bring new people to a physical campus and
online giving potential.

DOES YOUR STRATEGY SEEK TO MOVE PEOPLE FROM ONLINE TO A PHYSICAL CAMPUS OR SOME OTHER
COMMON LOCATION? IF SO, HOW DO YOU TRACK THIS AND/OR PROMOTE THIS?

Scott: We’ve taken a “both/and” approach. Half of our marketing targets a geographic region with the goal to give people exposure to our
services online with the intent to help move them to attend one of our 14 campuses nearest to them. The other half of our marketing efforts
are focused on anyone in South Carolina or the U.S. We used to focus more globally, but now we only advertise globally in locations where
we have strategic international partners who can help connect an online attendee to a local church in that country or region.

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Hickling: Yes, our strategy tries to move them, but we want to make sure there’s a bridge that can support some weight. Once we’ve
established some trust, then we’ll ask them about worshipping onsite. We do this through one-on-one conversations online because we
don’t want to sacrifice our relationship for an agenda. We want to be sure they know they’re unconditionally loved and accepted, and we
want to help them see there’s a church they can connect with and grow in. If they’re local, then we try to get them to one of our campuses.

Welty: This is a matter of semantics because we don’t want to convert someone from online to onsite. Our goal is to make sure they’re
connected to the church community. Connecting is more important than converting them from online to onsite for us. But we do work
to try to funnel online viewers to a local campus or at least to make sure they know there’s a local community they can engage with and
we try to introduce them to that community.

McLean: We prefer they would go to a physical church location. In our chat rooms and Facebook page, we ask people where they are
from and we try to connect them to a local church. We ask online attendees the following questions: Are you part of a local church
already? If so, which one? What do you hope to get out of this online church?

WHAT’S THE MOST IMPORTANT FEATURE OF ONLINE CHURCH?

Scott: For us the most important feature is to do things to encourage and facilitate interaction with our online attendees.

Hickling: We believe there are two equally important components. The first is the “content” which is 51 percent of the equation and
represents the online church experience. The content is like a bonfire for everyone to gather around, then when they gather, we can
go deeper with them. The second is “community” which accounts for the other 49 percent. This is the piece that focuses on people
gathering, contributing, being known alongside the content. This is about discipleship and relationships. We want our online worshippers
to feel like they’re part of the life of the church.

Welty: We’ve tried to fold in the digital to the whole experience. Our online church broadcast has a dedicated person in charge of it caring
for people who engage in our church that way. We believe they’re attending church and we have plans for them just like someone who
comes to a campus.

McLean: Need to differentiate between streaming worship services versus having an online campus. The ability to stream the services
is the most important because you need the content. But in an online campus, people will participate in the service and pastoral care,
community and engagement are built in.

WHY DO YOU OFFER ONLINE CHURCH?

The church leaders surveyed were asked to identify the most important reason their church offered an
online campus. Five options were available to choose from in the question. The predominant reason
for online church was to “keep our church family connected for those working, traveling or sick”
(46 percent overall). Churches with an attendance of less than 5,000 were twice as likely to say their
purpose for online church was to keep members connected when away than churches over 10,000
in attendance (56 percent compared to 27 percent respectively).

Overall, 81 percent of the church leaders surveyed said they “agreed” or “strongly agreed” that “online
services help their people stay connected to the church.”
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 The second most important reason for online church was for “evangelism/outreach” with a response
rate of 26 percent. Over half of the churches in the study (56 percent) said they “agreed” or “strongly
agreed” that “online services helped evangelize people we would not otherwise have reached.”
Even though many churches have made an intentional push to be more focused on discipleship in
the last several years, only 5 percent of the churches surveyed noted that discipleship was the most
important reason to offer online church. But 41 percent of the church leaders said they “agreed” or
“strongly agreed” that “their online services help disciple their own congregation.” And almost half of
the respondents (47 percent) said they “agreed” or “strongly agreed” that “online services help disciple
people not connected to any physical church.”

Therefore, online church is seen as a much better “front door” or “side door” to bring new people
into the church as opposed to a strategy to disciple and retain believers. Eighty percent of the survey
respondents said they either “agreed” or “strongly agreed” that “online church helps people check out
the church before visiting a physical campus.”

Evangelism/ Discipleship Keep Church Multisite Increase Revenue

Outreach Connected Strategy Stream
10,000+ 34% 6% 27% 20% 0%
5,000-9,999 30% 6% 44% 15% 0%
2,000-4,999 20% 4% 54% 13% 2%
800-1,999 20% 3% 58% 7% 3%

WHAT DRIVES YOUR VISION AND COMMITMENT TO ONLINE/DIGITAL CHURCH?

Scott: Online is just another tool or avenue to reach people. In 2017, Greg Surratt said, “More and more people are looking to connect the
church on their own terms.” Part of our vision is to be available as people are looking for us and to reach people groups that are not easily
reached like people with a physical disability or social anxiety who might have a hard time coming to church.

Hickling: What drives us is the love of Christ that compels us to try to reproduce the church experience the best we can online for those
who can’t attend. It’s also our God-given passion to make disciples that reinforces our online vision.

Welty: Our biggest driver is we want to reach as many people as possible and to reach our community we know it requires technology.
We’re not the right church for everybody, but we do reach certain types of people. We wanted to reach beyond driving distance to one of
our campuses so online church was a must have for us to accomplish our mission as a church.

LOYAL FOLLOWERS OR SPORADIC SURFERS?

Church leaders were asked to estimate whether online attendees watched a church’s worship services
irregularly or weekly on a scale from 1 to 5. In-person church attendance has become less frequent in the
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HOW ENGAGED WOULD YOU SAY ARE THOSE
THAT ATTEND AN ONLINE CAMPUS?

last five plus years. Likewise, church leaders guessed

Scott: We’re getting better at our tracking. We’ve found
that about half of our online population is existing members that online attendance was similarly spotty. Overall, 40
from a physical campus who couldn’t attend onsite for
percent said that they guessed online viewers were
some reason that week. So far, less than 10 percent of our
online participants use the chat feature during an online irregular online attendees of their church (responded
service to interact with someone in our chat room. By with a 1 or 2). By comparison, less than a fourth (24
tracking the IP addresses, we’ve discovered that about 5-10
percent of our online worshippers attend online regularly, percent) of the church leaders guessed that online
and 30-40 percent are new people checking it out. viewers tuned in weekly (responded with a 4 or 5).

Welty: This is tricky because we don’t require people to

log in to watch online so we don’t know exactly who is Over one-third (36 percent) answered with a 3 so they
watching.
guessed it was a bit of a toss-up between irregular
versus weekly online attendance.

WHAT’S THE BEST WAY TO CREATE COMMUNITY ONLINE?

Fostering a sense of community among online church attendees fits somewhat with the goal of
keeping the church connected. Regardless of church size, the three most used practices to leverage
online efforts to create a sense of community were: Facebook (46 percent), chat rooms (18 percent)
and email (16 percent).

The smaller size churches (under 5,000 in attendance) were more likely to rely on Facebook than the
larger churches (over 5,000 in attendance) (53 percent compared to 39 percent respectively). Likewise, the
largest churches (over 10,000 in attendance) were three times as likely to use chat rooms compared to the
smallest grouping of churches (800-1,999 in attendance) (28 percent compared to 9 percent respectively).

WHAT “NEXT STEPS” DO YOU HOPE OR EXPECT AN ONLINE ATTENDEE TO TAKE? (I.E., GET INVOLVED IN A SMALL
GROUP? SERVE IN A MINISTRY? GIVE TO THE CHURCH? ETC.) HOW DOES THIS COMPARE WITH THE “NEXT STEPS”
YOU HAVE FOR ONSITE ATTENDEES?

Scott: : We want to replicate every aspect of our onsite service as much as possible online. For the first eight to nine years, we focused on
“content distribution” and our goal was to get the content of the message out to people online. But in the last year and a half, our goal has
been to replicate the full worship experience online.

Hickling: If it’s a person who can’t connect with a local Calvary campus, then we try to encourage them to start discipling people on their
own where they live and to model a devotional lifestyle. For people who connect online, but could go to a local church, we try to get them
to connect to a local church where they live and to help them have a local community to be part of. We encourage them to stay connected
with us and some “double dip” by attending our services online and attending a local church.

Welty: We encourage people online to take physical next steps and have announcements and sections of our website designed to help them
volunteer, join a group, or talk to an expert to navigate Crossroads. For people to take a step online, first they have to get on the grid by giving

11
us their email or phone number so we can text them. Our Crossroads Anywhere team has the goal to connect people to community. We
know that many of our online viewers are geographically close to one of our campuses, so we encourage people online to find the church
community gathering and groups nearest them through our online search tool. We’re intentional about letting people be anonymous but
we make it easy for them to raise their hand. Our campuses so online church was a must have for us to accomplish our mission as a church.

McLean: We’re asking this question now as a church.

IS ONLINE CHURCH A GOOD THING FOR THE

CHRISTIAN MOVEMENT?

The survey asked church leaders to identify if the growth of online church has been a good thing for
the Christian movement. Over half of those surveyed (59 percent) either “agreed” or “strongly agreed”
that online church has been good for the Christian movement. The larger the church the more
positive the leaders were about online church.
For example, 41 percent of leaders from churches
with an attendance over 10,000 “strongly agreed” that online church has been a positive compared to
only 17 percent of leaders from the smallest category of churches (those with an attendance of 800-
1,999). Only 6 percent of church leaders surveyed said they “didn’t know” if online church was good
for the Christian movement and 14 percent said they had “no opinion” about online church.

WHAT DO YOU THINK ARE THE PRIMARY OBJECTIONS SOME PASTORS AND CHURCHES HAVE ABOUT OFFERING
ONLINE CHURCH? HAVE YOU FOUND THESE TO BE A REALITY IN YOUR SITUATION?

Welty: One of the primary objections is whether it’s good or bad for people to watch church online and consume church alone. We believe
it’s better to gather and experience the worship and teaching live. We want to make it as easy as possible for people to attend onsite, but we
want to replicate our church experience online and help move people along the journey.

McLean: One objection is does online constitute church? Will it take people away from the physical church? We just started broadcasting
our services live six months ago, so it’s too soon for us to tell what the impact will be. Another concern is child safety related to online
grooming that could happen. Our pastoral care team watches the comments vigilantly and will sometimes delete inappropriate comments.

ADDITIONAL INNOVATOR INSIGHTS

WHAT IS YOUR VISION FOR THE FUTURE OF ONLINE/DIGITAL? WHAT ARE YOU WORKING ON
NOW THAT YOU ARE NOT SURE WILL WORK?
Scott: Our online small groups are one thing we wonder if they will take off or not. We hope these
groups can create meaningful connections. In the next 1-2 years, we hope to support home churches
around the country who are meeting to watch our live services and we would like to create a video

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broadcast of our children and student ministry services to have the complete home church package
available for people.

Hickling: We’re not sure. We know what we’ve done has been fruitful but we’re not sure what the next
step is for this ministry. From week to week, we try to love people well. I’d love to see us take some
strategic trips to visit key volunteers around the world on our team.

McLean: We’re still wrestling with all the questions after our first six months.

WHAT IS THE GREATEST OPPORTUNITY WITH ONLINE CHURCH?

Scott: The opportunity to reach people from different cultures and languages is a great opportunity
for online. We’ve incorporated a multi-cultural element as our worship service online are translated
into French, Mandarin, Portuguese and Spanish so online attendees can now select the language of
their choice when participating in an online service.

Hickling: The ability to reach places no bricks and mortar church could like nursing homes and places
in people’s hearts who won’t go to a physical church for whatever reason but who will watch online.
Another great opportunity is that most of our committed volunteers are 65 and older and now with
technology they can connect with people in this way and the limitations of life are no longer an obstacle.

Welty: The opportunity to reach exponentially more people. It gives people different ways to engage
and can help people see church as relevant and not outdated. Online is key to how young people
interact today so it shows we know people and how they live their lives. We know that people aren’t
physical or digital—they’re just people. They don’t see themselves in two camps. Digital lines can
engage people quicker and differently.

McLean: Reaching people who would never set foot in a church including people with bad church
experiences in the past who will attend online. The stories we’ve heard from our first six months
of offering online services are a great reminder that online is bringing people back to church and
changing mindsets.

WHAT IS THE GREATEST CHALLENGE WITH ONLINE CHURCH?

Scott: I think many pastors fear the online concept will take people away from onsite attendance,
but our research indicates otherwise. Our online ministry is another front door and side door into the

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church. One challenge for us as a church is that there are lots of cool tools available and it can be easy
to get distracted and try too many things.

Hickling: As a pastor, my challenge is knowing that there are real people out there who are suffering,
hurting and have real problems and burdens and that I’m limited in how I can reach out to them. I’d
like to give them a hug and look into their eyes, but I’m limited to a phone call or a text message. There
are certain distances that technology can’t bridge but we must trust that God can. We know it’s better
for them to be online with us than to not be online. While Calvary is in Florida, I live in Nashville TN and
have worked remotely for the last twelve years. God has positioned me to understand the feelings of
disconnection and isolation and have an empathy for our online attendees who often feel that way.

Welty: We’ve trained ourselves to evaluate ministry, but online metrics are different. So, we’re flying by
instruments sometimes not by sight.

McLean: Working in creative ways to create genuine online community as an online church.

WHAT DO YOU WISH YOU KNEW THEN THAT YOU KNOW NOW?
McLean: Everything! We tried to under promise and over deliver. We’re trying to figure it out and don’t
have all the answers. We do know that you can’t please everyone, so you need to know what you’re
trying to do. Getting the lead pastor’s vision and alignment with online church is key. For us, our vision
is to use online as an on-ramp for attending a physical church.

WHAT SUGGESTIONS WOULD YOU HAVE FOR A CHURCH CONSIDERING LAUNCHING AN ONLINE
CAMPUS?
Scott: At Seacoast, we’re high on production and excellence. Online church can either be really well
done and highly produced or it can be raw and personal. Both approaches can be effective. One
idea churches can try is to post a short message each week online that can be real and uncut to help
people connect to the church. If you’re going to broadcast the whole service, then you should bite
the bullet and get good equipment.

Hickling: First, you need to define your motive. Know your why. Don’t do it just because you’re feeling
pressured to do it or to be cool with technology. It’s been our genuine love for people that’s driven
us. We want to reach people who are spiritually hungry. Second, you need to dedicate yourself to it. It
takes someone on staff who has the margin in their schedule to engage with people. You can’t lump

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online into other ministry roles. People respond to love and attention and you need to have someone
who can provide it.

Welty: Just start and be comfortable figuring it out as you go. Remember that when you started your
traditional (onsite) church service that it had to grow and develop as well. Don’t apply an “innovation
tax” to something new but instead give it the space to grow and develop over time. You need to have
one person who will be thinking about online church as their primary ministry focus.

McLean: Start with streaming your services so you’re doing something. Don’t feel like everything must
be perfect before starting. Don’t compare yourself with other churches. Start where you are. Stay
focused on the one person who needs to hear the message.

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER:
• What steps can your church take to help online participants and in-person attendees become
better contributors and not remain consumers?

• How can your church help both online participants and in-person attendees be better evangelists
and invite others to join them in watching your services and attending onsite?

• What can your church do to better engage with online people you’ll maybe never meet?

• How do you feel as church leaders about people who could come to your church but choose
instead to watch online?

• How will you address the issues of whether to include online attendees in your total worship
attendance count?

• How long does an online participant need to watch your service before you count them as part of
your attendance or as a worship participant?

• How can you better determine how many people are watching online from each screen? And how
can you better identify who those people are and what their spiritual needs are?

• What’s next for your church in terms of taking your message online? And how will your online
strategy impact your church’s future ministry staffing plans?
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ABOUT THE SPONSOR: RESI
Every church has different philosophical reasons for how and where they stream their services.
However, whether a church is simply streaming for those who can’t attend in person, or creating an
interactive online community, the stability and quality of the stream is critical. An online environment
can easily feel disconnected from a live experience, and if a viewer experiences buffering, stuttering,
or other distractions in their stream, they will abandon the stream altogether, often after a single
interruption.

Statistically, 31% of people leave your livestream at the first buffering wheel, and another 55%
after the second. We created Resi to give churches the same streaming technology that
previously only high budgeted broadcasters such as NFL teams could afford, and invented and
patented the first technology to do so over the public internet.

Since 2014, over 700 churches around the globe have trusted Resi for mission-critical
content distribution. Resi helps churches support immersive, distraction-free online
experiences by providing resilient streaming technology enabling consistent high-quality
transmission, at low prices for the church.

Streams may also be simulcasted to many other online platforms such as Facebook, YouTube,
Roku, Apple TV, etc., in order to most effectively reach desired audiences. Through Resi’s
platform, churches may create excellent online worship experiences that closely mirrors physical
campuses, encouraging viewers to start attending (either digitally or in-person), participate in
community (online or physical), give financially, and experience the best representation of the
church as possible, whether watching for the first time or returning.

Contact us at [email protected] or https://resi.io

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kent E. Fillinger
President, 3:STRANDS Consulting and Regional Vice President (OH & MI), Christian Financial Resources

16
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BEHIND THE SCREEN: WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT ONLINE CHURCH?

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