How to Do Hybrid Church - Part 4

Find Where You Are, Then Move Toward the Middle, Pt. 4 of 4

This is Part 4 of a 4-part series. Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

Let’s review what we’ve covered so far. In step 1, you took your team back to basics by putting your mission first. Once you were grounded in why your ministry exists in the first place, you were ready to define the outcomes that would indicate you were successfully accomplishing that mission. Then, with the clarity those first two things bring, you can erase the line between physical and digital. And finally, once you’ve locked in that mindset shift, you want to sustain that momentum over the long term…

4. Keep moving toward Hybrid.

Ultimately, you want physical and digital to work together. They don’t have to be split 50/50. They don’t (necessarily) need to be balanced; you need to blend them in a way that makes sense for your mission, for your ministry, and for the community of people you serve.

This is probably a good place to define Hybrid Church once again:

Hybrid Church means leveraging all of your resources, whether physical or digital, to provide a seamless experience that helps people easily engage with your ministry.

How you move toward Hybrid will depend on how much your church currently leverages digital tools.

Think about your current circumstances. Do you focus mainly on physical experiences? In-person attendance? Physical sign-ups for events or next steps? Then your next step might be to begin embracing digital tools.

Don’t overthink it. Start small, and do what makes sense for your ministry.

For example, watch some videos and read some articles about how to create a form online. Ask a tech-savvy volunteer or attender for help if you need to. Then create your form and offer it as an option for signing up for your next event. Encourage people to take that step in the moment, or ask them to pray and think about it, and then sign up sometime in the next few days … because your form will be there, long after the service ends.

Do you already offer online forms? That’s great! Then maybe your next step is to start trying some of your in-person gatherings or events online. Think about ways you could offer people to participate in new believer classes or in small groups if they can’t physically attend in person. Watch videos and read articles about how other people are gathering to do group activities online (training, studying together, playing games, etc.). And again, ask someone you know for help!

Keep experimenting, and keep offering people next steps that help them engage more.

Do you already offer online services? Have you already been using digital technology for a long time? Then your next step might be to partner with pastors at your physical location to talk about how together you can create a seamless experience for people who attend in-person one week, then online the next.

Wherever your church stands now, think about what you’re doing well, what you could do better, and most of all—what your people actually need. Here are some questions that can help you keep moving toward Hybrid:

• What do you think is your next step as a church?
• Do you need to embrace online processes?
• Can you do online services, or offer other ways for people to connect with your ministry online?
• Who do you know who can help you learn about things you don’t know yet?
• What can you do to lead your teams—physical and digital—to collaborate better and erase the lines between them?

This is Part 4 of a 4-part series. Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

YouVersion for Churches is developing tools and resources to help you lead and minister in an increasingly Hybrid world.