4 Ways To Help Your Church Members Redeem Their Taps, Swipes & Clicks

7 months ago

• BY Field Day Team

4 Ways To Help Your Church Members Redeem Their Taps, Swipes & Clicks

If you’re like most people, you check your smartphone first thing every morning and make it the last thing you check before you go to sleep. You also pick it up several times during the day to find out what your friends are up to, to get your mind off the stresses of life, to keep up with pop culture or to entertain yourself while on the toilet. How many times does “several times a day” actually mean? Well, the average American touches (taps, swipes, & clicks) their phone 2,617 times per day! Most research indicates that the average person unlocks their phone 90-150 times daily. It’s no secret that sometimes (or, most of the time) our smartphone is not helpful for our connection with God or our meaningful connections with our personal community.

Every moment you spend on your phone is not hurting you, of course. Phones can help you stay connected with family far away, can help you track your productivity each day, and can also help you stay informed about things that are important to you. What would it look like to help redeem some “touches” for your church community? What if you could help replace some of those taps meant to help people escape reality and replace it with opportunities for them to grow spiritually?

1. Go where they are

For too many years the Church has spent most of its time, finances, marketing and human resources trying to convince folks to “come and see”. For too long the church has been coaching their members to leverage their influence to get their friends, family, co-workers, workout partners and neighbors to visit their church in hopes that their fancy talking pastor, free coffee and amazing stage production would win them for Jesus.

Instead of doing everything in your power to convince your members to be spiritual pied pipers, why not go where they are already? Why not show up when they swipe up? Churches should be leveraging every digital platform they can. Not just the obvious Facebook and Instagram. In fact those media platforms are shrinking in attractiveness daily. Ask yourself “where are they going?” and go there with them.

Ask yourself
“where are they going?”
and go there with them.

Is your worship band ready to write brand new music? No, you say? Well, could they record covers of some of the songs they are already singing on Sunday and release them on Spotify, iTunes Music and other streaming platforms?

TikTok is rapidly dominating the social media market, particularly the younger users. Generation Z is obsessed with the app. It is now a primary platform of internet pop culture. TikTok is exploding compared to other social media apps. What it took Instagram 6 years to do, TikTok has managed to do in under three years.The average time Instagram users spend on the platform is about 29 minutes versus 52 minutes on TikTok. It costs exactly zero dollars to start a TikTok profile. The bonus is the fact there are very few churches currently on the platform, which will make your church stand out of the crowd.

YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world owned by the first largest search engine in the world. It costs exactly zero to start a channel. More than likely your church already has content it could convert into usable content for other platforms including YouTube. Which leads me to my next point…

2. Use what ya got

One of the biggest reasons churches do not take advantage of the free platforms is they need to find time to “create content”. That is usually not true. The truth is most churches have a lot of content they simply need to send to an editor to repurpose. Almost any editor can squeeze out great nuggets of short from content long form content such as full messages. Whether a 5 second looping clip or a few cut up bite sized clips combined to create a 1-3 minute video, you probably already have what you need to post something to help others learn more about God and grow as a disciple. Each time you post something that glorifies God is another opportunity to redeem another click.

Each time you post something that glorifies God is another opportunity to redeem another click.

3. Have a hot take

People have questions and are desperate for answers. It seems like weekly there is a new topic to be debated in the public forum. Be willing to have a biblical and relevant response to those hot button topics. Whether you write a blog, you take a video with your phone while you’re drinking coffee in your kitchen or you professionally capture a captivating video, you can be effective in the spaces people already are. Speaking truth in love directly to hot topics in culture will give a biblical voice as people swipe around looking for direction.

4. Be the light at the end of the funnel

What funnel? Glad you asked. The proverbial digital marketing funnel. It starts with a felt need. Your desire to be thinner /stronger, your curiosity with how to invest in cryptocurrencies or maybe your dream to be financially free. Marketing firms charge companies thousands to hundreds of thousands to ensure you (the consumer) end up exactly where they want you to. An app designed to fulfill your dreams and desires for the small price of “fill in the blank”. They design elaborate marketing campaigns meant to steer you to the direction of their choosing. What if you had a landing page and app meant to direct them to a relationship with God? What if you had a digital resource that could equip them with tools that help them grow as a disciple of Jesus?

If someone cannot trust you with 60 seconds in the comfort of their own home, how can they trust you with 60 minutes at a location they’ve never been to?

Think about it…what is your website and social media funneling people to? If it’s only a 60 minute, in-person, weekly opportunity to visit a building, then we fear you are missing out on an opportunity to tap into the more than 2,600 times you could be helping them grow as a Christ follower and influencing them to join your in-person community. If someone cannot trust you with 60 seconds in the comfort of their own home, how can they trust you with 60 minutes at a location they’ve never been to? Earn the right to invite them weekly by giving them a place to grow daily. A church app can be the place you are interacting, engaging and discipling people from afar before you connect with them in person. Funnel them to a place of light where they could find true freedom and have the desires of their hearts fulfilled according to God’s will? Not to mention another place where your content can exist and can be shared.

Smartphones and tablets can help or hurt your members. You have a chance to give them another place to click and swipe to when they are hurting, lost and even just plain bored. There is an opportunity before you to help your people grow daily. In fact multiple times a day. Actually you have more than two thousand times a day to replace and redeem the voice of the world with the voice of the Lord.