Digital Parish: We have a church livestream. Now what?

Ryan Dunn [00:00:01]:

This is Pastoring in the Digital Parish, your resource and point of connection for building digital ministry strategy and bringing your congregation into the digital age. Hi again. My name is Ryan Dunn. I'm the proctor for this podcast which seeks to be the digital ministry class that you just didn't get in seminary. I am a United Methodist clergy person. Through the early summer months, United Methodists across the United States gather into geographic clusters in conferences that are descriptively called annual conference. Well, I just attended the annual conference of which I am a member. The North Carolina Annual conference of the United Methodist Church.

Ryan Dunn [00:00:42]:

As I wandered the Halloween halls of the Greenville, North Carolina Convention Center, reconnecting with colleagues, I heard an oft repeated sentiment and it went like this our church is doing a worship livestream, but we're not sure what to do next. How do we build engagement with the people from our livestream? I have a feeling that I'll be hosting a few follow up phone calls about this, so I thought it would be super helpful to gather some things I've learned in doing this podcast. Like how are digital ministry building engagement beyond the church's livestream to worship services? And how does this digital connection serve their journey or pathway of discipleship? The key question for this session of Pastoring in the Digital Parish is we have a church livestream. Now what? This session is brought to us by the Safer Sanctuary's nurturing Trust within Faith Communities, and that is a new and comprehensive resource that continues the tradition of Safe sanctuary's ministry by building on its trusted policies and procedures. So to learn more, go to safersanctuaries.org or call 1809 720433. Also, I could use a favor from you. Ratings and reviews help the visibility of this podcast, meaning that they make it more visible to both listeners and to prospective guests. So if you're appreciative of what we do on Pastoring in the Digital Parish and you want to get some more great content, well, telling us, tell us by leaving a rating and review on your podcast listening platform.

Ryan Dunn [00:02:26]:

Thank you so much. Okay, let's get to the question at hand. We have a live streaming. Now, what I want to start with fair expectations. Your livestream is not really evangelism, nor is it altogether effective outreach. Really, your Livestream is more for engaging the people who are already part of your congregation. I think it's pretty rare that a person finds a church because they first stumbled across a worship service streaming in real time. More likely, that person encountered the church in some other way and then they made it a point to participate in the worship service because something like piqued their curiosity or connected with them.

Ryan Dunn [00:03:14]:

That being said, new people are going to look for your worship stream, but it's more to check you out and they probably found you another way. In other words, the outreach happened elsewhere and now the worship stream is part of their information collection process about who you are as a community. So bottom line, people aren't finding your worship service simply because they're looking to worship online. They're looking for something else. Okay, a lot of us have heard of the marketing funnel. We've mentioned it on this podcast before. We've also adapted that funnel to fit into our ministries by practice, our funnels often look something like this. We have an outreach event, and then from there we invite people to worship.

Ryan Dunn [00:04:02]:

And then we might invite them to a membership information session and then to a small group or Bible study or actually the member info session. And the Bible study might reverse positions. But then finally we move down into something like a position of leadership in the church. Now, yours is going to look different, obviously, but you probably get the picture. The frenetic among us, we may have several openings to our funnels might be like a podcast and twitch stream and an active Facebook page. And some of us actually put the worship livestream at the opening of that funnel. Others may have put our entire social media presence at the beginning of the funnel anyways. You likely have a funnel in place and in practice, even if it's not like consciously designed.

Ryan Dunn [00:04:55]:

The first step in all of this is to really consider your funnel. What is the first step? And then can you clearly define what your next hoped for outcome is? So let's say someone attends your worship livestream. Do you have a clearly defined and articulated next step for them? You may not. Don't sweat it. We're going to brainstorm some logical next steps in the digital world right now. So let's talk about again what people are looking for, especially when they're interacting online. And we're going to go back to some season one stuff here because people are looking to feel connected with other people who may share interests or values. Think about it, that's often what drives our behavior online.

Ryan Dunn [00:05:45]:

Now, that's not the whole reason that we use the Internet. Obviously, we use the Internet to gather info. And that info can also be a means for connecting with people. So when people are engaging in digital spaces, they do so with a hope that they might encounter a sense of connection to another person. So let's go back to our key question for this session. We have a live stream. Now what? Simply put, we want to move people along a journey or pathway of discipleship. And the way that we're going to do that is by forming a connection with them.

Ryan Dunn [00:06:23]:

Logically, the next step is figuring out a way to get to know the person on the other side of the proverbial screen. In order for this to happen, one big thing has to happen first, the person on the other side of the screen must trust you. Many digital spaces are not really conducive to trusting relationships, are they. And this is because they oftentimes are not really safe spaces. If you engage with other people in digital space, you've likely been called a name or two or been called out for something, or you've been dismissed or derided. And as church, we carry baggage for a lot of people, and in that baggage are past hurts and poor narratives and all kinds of reasons for distrusts. So right off the bat, we need to consider how we're building trust with other people through digital spaces. When Charles Vogel talked about how long it takes to build a relationship digital, this is really at the heart of what he was lamenting.

Ryan Dunn [00:07:30]:

It's hard to establish trust, especially in a digital space, so it takes way more time. So as we think about our funnel or journey or pathway towards connection and community, we have to be very intentional about showing our trustworthiness in building community trust. And this is where another marketing term comes in. This is where branding comes in, and this is why branding is important for church in ministries, because branding is our way for our organizations to make themselves easily knowable and thereby more readily trusted. Now, in this case, I'm not talking about branding as merely something like a logo and a catchphrase and a style guide. I'm talking about branding being the clear vision, mission, plan, and people of our organizations. Branding done well in the church world, looks like consistently telling the story of who we are, what's important to us, and what we do. Through our six seasons of this podcast, we've looked at many ministries, and it seems that those which have really taken off are those that consistently lay into communicating these values.

Ryan Dunn [00:08:47]:

In other words, it's very easy for someone to discover who makes up the church what the church values and what the church does. That in itself is good branding. And having these values be easily discoverable is something that inspires trust. We have seen so many good examples of this through our six seasons. Here. For example, Growth Co is quite upfront about being a community for young adults who are faith curious and have questions. Or New Wineskins is up front about being a community for those who feel a bit displaced in the traditional church and crossfire faith. And Gaming is up front about being a community of gamers who want to connect over spirituality.

Ryan Dunn [00:09:33]:

Those are very niched examples, and having a niche actually helps. But in a broader sense, though, we see consistent branding from, say, for example, Glendale United Methodist Church, who we learned about in our conversation with Steven Adair back in October of 2021. If you cruise through their social media feeds, you know who they are, what they care about, and what they do. No one is going to be blinded by a feeling of, oh, I didn't know they felt this way about that issue. It's all upfront and out there. And here's another quick hit for establishing trust. Have a user focused outcome in mind for everything. I have several times been guilty of jumping into a digital project with a self focused outcome in mind.

Ryan Dunn [00:10:23]:

And that might look like, say, I'm starting a TikTok channel so that I can have the experience and notoriety of growing a TikTok channel, right, that's all about me, myself, and I. Alternatively, we might start a TikTok channel so that people can have their questions about the United Methodist Church answered. That's a very user focused outcome, right? Or say we might start a Discord server so that spiritual gamers can connect with other spiritual gamers. Again, we're user focused. Maybe your ministry is considering starting a TikTok channel. Well, make sure the vision for said channel is user focused. What benefit do you have in mind for the user? Users can tell when you're not there for them. So keep that user focused vision and plan central in your execution of your digital ministry endeavor.

Ryan Dunn [00:11:16]:

Okay, we've got no meta here, but we haven't really answered the question around. We have a live stream. Now what? We've set a platform, make sure you stay on brand, and make sure that whatever it is that you're building in digital space that it has a user focused outcome. Those are meta focused action steps, but of course, not to be overlooked. Practically, though, let's talk specifics now and specifically, what are you moving people towards? And this may be a gotcha moment for several listeners because you've just realized that you have not identified a next step. You have your funnel entrance and maybe a next step in the funnel. For example, you have the opening of your funnel as a social media channel. Then the next step is the worship livestream, and then you have a dead end.

Ryan Dunn [00:12:07]:

I'm going to admit that as I planned out this episode, I realized that that is exactly where my local congregation is. We have not explicitly named the next step. In our case, this likely means doing something new. So let's process out or throw out some ideas. And you might have a sermon discussion group on Facebook. That could be a next step. You might have an email devotional drip campaign, which I really like this idea, by the way. Something along the lines of, hey, let's join together in five days of focused prayer for this week, or let's pray through the values of our community.

Ryan Dunn [00:12:46]:

I'm going to be pitching something like this in our next leadership meeting, I think. All right, you might also have a series of YouTube videos about the history of your church or your mission, vision, values, and plan. Maybe you're like Pastor Nathan Webb, and it's all about getting people to check out your discord server. If our design is to be easily knowable and therefore trusted, then we'll put some drops in the proverbial trust bucket by letting people know the course that we have set before them. And that means consistently providing invitation to a next step, letting people know where we intend for them to go. But of course, that means that we have to have that next step in mind. I'm not sure a lot of churches have actually done that bit of planning where they have the next step in mind. And I'm, of course, lumping myself into this group, too.

Ryan Dunn [00:13:40]:

So take a little time to develop either a preexisting or a new next step for the people you meet in digital ministry. And this next step should be a great chance for you to put more drops in the trust bucket by clearly articulating again who you are, what your plan is, what you care about, and what your congregation does. I'm going to jump in here with a reminder that this season of pastoring in the digital parish is being brought to us by a group that takes community building seriously. Safer Sanctuaries. Safer Sanctuaries Nurturing Trust Within Faith Communities is a new and comprehensive resource that continues the tradition of Safe sanctuaries ministry by building on the trusted policies and procedures that have guided churches over the past 25 years. That trustworth keeps coming up, doesn't it? Well, this resource contains theological grounding for the work of abuse prevention, psychological insights about abuse and abuse prevention, basic guidelines for risk reduction, age level specific guidance, and step by step instructions on how to develop, revise, update, and implement an abuse prevention plan in your organization or church. For Christians, resisting evil and doing justice are the ways that we live and serve Jesus Christ. Safer Sanctuaries provides help to do just that by framing this work as life giving, community enhancing, and proactive.

Ryan Dunn [00:15:13]:

It enables communities to be empowered and flourish as they develop and implement policies and procedures make everyone safer. So to learn more, go to safersanctuaries.org or give them a call 809 720433. Again, that's 1809 720433. Check them out and build a little more care, trust and safety into your community. All right, so we're building trust by keeping people safe, and we're building trust by being on brand. We're communicating an expectation of value for our users. What else can we do to build engagement beyond our worship livestream? Well, be consistently present in your spaces and only engage in the spaces where you can be consistently present. I'll admit I have started several Facebook groups on different topics.

Ryan Dunn [00:16:09]:

There's one singular factor that determines how well each group engages its members, and that is whether or not I consistently post a presence within that group. If I'm consistently active and present, then the group is likewise consistently active and present for those groups that have been inconsistent with being present while the engagement struggles. Did I mention already that Charles Vogel says it takes five times as long to form a relationship online than it does in person? If we are not consistently present in our digital spaces, then we have next to no shot of forming relationships with people. The good news, however, is that Digital Ministry allows us to be asynchronously present with people, meaning that I can post something in a Facebook group in the early morning, and then a user can find that post several hours later and have that feeling of engagement. They feel like I am present with them in a way. I can even schedule these posts in batches on a single day and then have them release out in a trickle down effect on subsequent days. And that's all presence. Of course, I need to follow up within reasonable time as well.

Ryan Dunn [00:17:24]:

So if people, for example, comment or post up questions to my posts, I need to be semi prompt in response. But again, it's all presence. I just have to be consistently posting to those spaces and then consistently following up in order for that presence to be felt. Another way to build engagement is to actually ask for engagement. In this case, I specifically mean to reach out to people and ask them how you can be in prayer for them. Anne Beausarge of the Chapel Online made a huge impression on me, as she did that on a weekly basis for quite a while. And social media gives us the access to people to make these requests rather easy. You can direct message people asking, or you can build a whole series of posts.

Ryan Dunn [00:18:12]:

One ministry I saw posted that they would pray at a specific time and ask for requests, and when the allotted time arrived, the minister jumped onto a live session and prayed, including those requests as appropriate. Not all people who asked for the prayers participated in that live feed, but they were definitely moved to find themselves included at a later time. It was presence, asynchronously one final idea is a virtual coffee hour, and this is built on an idea that I've seen put into practice at several conferences where they have a presenter who, following their presentation, sits down for a more informal Q and R or Q and A session. So perhaps in our context, a pastor can be convinced to say hi to the online congregation and then answer a few questions. It gives the opportunity to participate in a post service coffee hour, or kind of like the greeting receiving line that many churches have after service. They can be a great spot to ask questions to the pastor. I would just suggest that when doing this online, have an agenda or some kind of platform ready for these sessions. So come primed with a few starter questions.

Ryan Dunn [00:19:27]:

It's going to take a little priming to get the pump flowing in the conversation. All right, there are some starter ideas for taking your online engagement past the church livestream. You no doubt have some suggestions of your own as well, so I invite you to share them and share your best practices in our pastoring in the Digital Parish Facebook group. Honestly, I love it when people post unprompted stuff in. There no lie to me, that shows that others feel a sense of ownership of that community space, and that's not something that we should be fearing within our own digital church spaces. If you want to learn more about interacting with people during a church livestream, I have a couple great suggestions from way back September of 2021. I spoke with Jason Moore sorry about Maximizing engagement in digital worship. Or you can check out the aforementioned session with Steven Adair.

Ryan Dunn [00:20:27]:

It's called The Journey from viewers to members. That was released in October of 2021. Again. My name is Ryan Dunn. I'd like to thank Resourceumc.org, the online destination for leaders throughout the United Methodist Church. They make this podcast possible, and of course, they host our website, Pastoringinthedigitalparish.com, where you can find more online resources for ministry. I also want to thank Safer Sanctuaries for their support. Again, safer Sanctuaries Nurturing Trust Within Faith Communities is a new and comprehensive resource that continues the tradition of safe, sanctuary's ministry by building on its trusted policies and procedures.

Ryan Dunn [00:21:08]:

The resource contains theological grounding for the work of abuse prevention, basic guidelines for risk reduction, age level specific guidance, and step by step instructions on how to develop, revise, update, and implement an abuse prevention plan. If you want to connect about things digital pastoring, well, check out our pastoring in the Digital Parish group on Facebook, and you can also send me questions and ideas for future sessions at this email address digitalparish@umcom.org. Another session comes next week. In the meantime, peace.