By BusinessImpacts
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Decades ago, people who wanted to attend Christian church services had no choice but to get in the car and head to the closest houses of worship. Now, there are numerous examples of how churches are successfully connecting with people of faith by using technology, familiar concepts, and other now-common tools that were unheard of in previous generations. Keep reading to learn more about this emerging trend, and how it’s changing individuals’ perceptions of what constitutes a church setting.

 

 

Statistics show a rapid rise in the amount of churches using Facebook as a media outreach tool, even compared with relatively recent years. Some analysts believe that’s because a growing number of churches are turning to the Facebook Live streaming feature to get their messages across. The fact that spiritual celebrities such as Rick Warren use the service arguably only makes it more enticing to churches that want to increase the sizes of their congregations and help people hear famous pastors by using a well-known social media site.

 

If you’re not familiar with Facebook Live, it allows people to record live broadcasts, then share them with Facebook followers. Plus, the site’s built-in notifications feature instantly lets people know new broadcasts have started. If people aren’t able to watch live streams as they air, it’s possible for them to go back to the respective broadcaster’s Facebook page, find desired recent streams, and watch them at their convenience.

 

Because Facebook already has such a broad user base, and those people can watch live broadcasts by doing nothing more than clicking buttons to start the streams, it could easily be said Facebook Live has no learning curve. Even better, the content streams across tablets as well as computers, giving tech-savvy Christians a couple of choices for accessing the content.

 

 

To supplement their time in traditional church services, many people take part in or even organize scheduled sessions where people can study the Bible. There are numerous ways to run these high-tech study sessions. For example, the leader might request input on topics to study by asking people to cast votes for subjects they want to learn more about. Others may host live chat services in conjunction with the studies so people can ask for prayer, give praise reports, and raise questions as needed.

 

This method of learning Jesus’s teachings comes with several advantages. Some people might feel shy while expressing themselves in front of others, meaning the ability to hide behind computer screens gives them courage they wouldn’t have otherwise. Others may be restricted by health problems or familial obligations that prevent them from being able to attend in-person Bible studies.

 

It should be obvious how online study groups break down barriers that might otherwise stand in the way due to geographic or other boundaries. As long as the interested people have computers capable of going online, they can learn about the word of God in the company of like-minded individuals, regardless of where those fellow participants reside.

 

 

Twitter may have a character count limit, but that hasn’t stopped churches from filling Twitter feeds with engaging, interesting, and relevant content. Take the Twitter feed from The Way International as an example. Established in the 1940s, the organization clearly got its start when social media didn’t exist. Even so, the group skillfully depends upon Twitter as a way to distribute a wide variety of content to viewers.

 

Scroll through the feed and you’ll see multilingual content, targeted links, and newsworthy features. Representatives from The Way International consistently deliver the kind of material their current and potential followers want to read. Also, because Twitter is such a mobile friendly site, this kind of religion-based content resonates with today’s members of society who prefer to worship on the go.

 

 

Church growth is a common goal of many congregations around the world. In the past, when churches got too big for their surroundings, dedicated church planters got to work and set up entirely new branches of the existing church, including hiring additional pastors and support staff.

 

Now, satellite churches have made that approach less necessary. In a satellite church, members of a congregation can attend in various locations, yet all receive teachings from the same pastor. Satellite feeds provide video and audio footage for all to enjoy regardless of where they are.

 

A satellite church is often cheaper for staff to manage, especially since they don’t have to go through the arguably difficult task of finding new preachers. Satellite churches are especially popular and widely used when a given pastor is very well known, too.

 

You’ve just learned about several tech-related trends in the faith sector. Hopefully, this piece encourages you to think differently about what it means to attend church, and serves to inspire you if you’re also aiming to reach out to the most worshipers possible.

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