Cultivating Meaningful Connections with Your Church Website
Cultivating Meaningful Connections
Connection is at the center of every ministry; you want your member to feel connected to God as well as each to each other. While fostering space for community and connection is the main goal, making sure those connections you are shepherding are meaningful is equally important. Meaningful connections give people the purpose and support that is needed to get through daily life and during this time of isolation it is easy to feel disconnected.
Due to the pandemic, there are many challenges that churches face when trying to foster spaces for meaningful connections. When in-person events and gatherings were allowed it was easy to bring people together to conduct that type of outreach, but now churches must think of new ways to translate these same experiences virtually for their members. Technology has enabled us the opportunity to get creative with this and here are a few ways to do just that.
Organize virtual events
Just because we can’t meet in-person doesn’t mean you can’t still host events for your congregation. When you Livestream service on Sunday there is an element of interaction that is lost, but hosting events outside of Sunday service can make way for member-to-member communication. Be thoughtful with these events. Schedule time for breakout rooms or provide members with guided questions to help break the ice when talking to other members.
Create a consistent schedule
Having a schedule will be beneficial in helping your members plan their busy weeks around the events and services you are hosting. You want to make sure that there is one central location that houses all the upcoming events so that they can properly prioritize what they’ll be attending. It is just as important to make sure the schedule is consistent. If you’re only hosting one event or group session every 6 months there is no way that your members will be able to form meaningful connections. Develop a cadence and stay consistent.
Empower your members
When you do create and facilitate spaces for meaningful connections make sure you are empowering your members. It is easy to have church leaders take charge and guide sessions and events but a great way to make people feel connected is to allow them to get involved and take charge. You can do this by allowing them to sign-up to run a group session or by giving them space to speak and lead conversations during planned events.
There are many ways to create meaningful connections while everything is remote, but you need to have a central location your members can navigate to for all their needs - a website! Having a functional website has become more important than ever since the pandemic. You want to make sure new potential members can find you online and current members know where to go to stay up to date and can get involved in what’s going on.
Join Our Next Masterclass!
Understanding and identifying exactly what should be on your website is not easy and we are here to help. On February 11, we are hosting our Clear, Captivated, and Connected Masterclass, which will teach you 5 ways to leverage your church website to cultivate meaningful connections. This is not something you want to miss, so register today! Admission is free for members and $20 for non-members, can’t wait to see you in class!