As I shared recently, we launched our Online Church Campus in a week and I believe that's possible for any church that's ready to get started.
A Platform for People to Gather - this is basically your Sanctuary or Worship Center. Church is about a gathering of people and our primary purpose in our gathering is to worship God together. The most effective way to do this that I have experienced is to have a video stream of your worship services (live or pre-recorded) and some type of chat room for people to interact with each other while watching the video stream. Two of the most popular platforms available to churches are the Church Online Platform (free and offered by the great folks at Life.Church) and Media Social ($249/month and what we use at CBC… I'm a big fan!). Check them out and be up and running in less than an hour!
A Leader to Shepherd the Online Community – this is the most critical piece. People need a leader and someone to connect with personally. I have found too many churches put a techie in this role when technology is really the easy part. Having a leader who is good at establishing relationships and raising up leaders is probably the most critical decision that you will make when launching your Online Church Campus.
Communication Systems – because this is a Church Campus and not just media distribution, you must have ways to effectively communicate with this growing flock. Establishing effective social media communication systems as well as an email list will be critical in keeping your Online Church Campus connected and informed. As much as I believe in social media, I can't emphasize enough how important your email list is in communicating with your Online Campus. Mail Chimp might just be the most effective technology you use when it comes to your Online Church Campus.
Know that this is just the beginning, but is enough to get your started. If you haven't yet signed up for Online Church Leaders, I hope you will take advantage of this FREE resource today. We partnered with ministry friends across the country to create this resource and pray that it will help you like it has helped hundreds of other churches already! For more info click the button below.