The new rules of engagement

COVID-19 has changed the rules of engagement for churches. Converge church planting leaders Lee Stephenson and Danny Parmelee discuss how your church can make the most of this opportunity.

0:41 According to Barna, about one-third of practicing Christians (32%) aren’t attending church in-person or online.

1:11 Danny says the novelty of attending church online has worn off for people.

1:43 Danny says not having accountability makes it easy for people to skip church.

2:44 Danny feels the upside of this time will be reimagining what engagement looks like, whereas before engaging the church meant: serve on "this" Sunday team.

3:08 Lee says initially online engagement and giving at his church increased. Then summer hit, and like a typical summer, things changed. Giving started to drop, and overall engagement dropped significantly.

4:12 Lee says it’s been difficult for his church to get people to engage on social media.

4:57 Churches have to be more creative on how they define, look at and count engagement.

5:12 If you’re going to change the rules of engagement, you have to answer these key questions. What are you going to change, and how are you going to change it? What’s realistic when it comes to expectations on engagement?

5:46 Danny says his engagement and participation at his church have dipped during this season.

7:36 Danny thinks there’s a great opportunity for pastors to see engagement beyond the online Sunday service or social media. He’s seen church plants mobilize their people to engage in community nonprofits, outreaches events, schools, etc. That is real church engagement when you are the hands and feet of Jesus in the community.

8:43 Lee says we have to be willing to get our hands dirty and get involved in people’s lives. "The more involved you get in people’s lives, the messier it is."

9:55 When you see somebody share something that you do on social media, you as a church should go in and thank them for that. Celebrate that they are trying in this season to get the word out, be an encouragement and share what your church is doing.

11:34 Lee says people are suffering from screen fatigue.

12:06 How do we do discipleship in the digital world?

13:02 Where should you invest your resources? Do you see yourself making disciples just of those people in your community? Or do you see yourself making virtual disciples all across the world?

16:19 What are you doing to create conversation? It’s not about just content development. There is plenty of content out there. It is more about: Are we creating conversations that are moving people further in the discipleship pathway?

16:55 Lee encourages listeners to share what they have seen when it comes to church engagement.