Church Executive SEPT / OCT 2019 DIGITAL ISSUE | Page 30

STAYING CONNECTED
BEYOND SUNDAY
Tried-and-true strategies — plus, how technology can come
alongside your best efforts
Chris Kehayiast
CEO
Think Ministry / MinistryPlatform
With regards to technology, what are the most crucial elements in a
“recipe” that best positions a church to keep connected to its members
all week long?
Chris Kehayias: The point of staying connected, and to “do church”
in the first place, is to introduce people to Jesus and teach them to be his
disciples. So, the best ingredients will do that in a way that’s accessible,
digestible and tastes yummy.
Accessible and digestible: those are fairly standard issue. But if
something doesn’t taste yummy, no one’s going to bite. And people’s
tastes vary! You have to get to know the individuals you want to connect
with — their interests and life stages. Find out what makes them tick
and how you can help them grow, and they’ll engage because now you’re
speaking to them.
As churches grow, that’s near impossible without some kind of system
that collects this “data” and returns a comprehensive picture that can
equip you to meet people where they are in their spiritual walk and
engagement with your church. For most churches, this is the Church
Management System (ChMS).
Tom Kline: Successful churches think like Jethro.
Shortly after Moses leads the people out of Egypt, he’s inundated by
the needs of all the people. Lines are wrapping around his tent from
morning to evening. His father-in-law, Jethro, urges: This is no way to go
about it. You'll burn out, and so will all the people right along with you.
That sounds like a lot of church leaders; they’re wearing multiple hats.
Jethro tells Moses to select capable leaders and appoint them as
officials over smaller groups. If you work this way, you’ll have the strength to
do whatever God commands you, and the people will flourish, too.
In terms of technology, successful churches use technology to
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CHURCH EXECUTIVE | SEPT / OCT 2019
Tom Kline
Client Service Director
Elexio
delegate and empower key leaders and volunteers to take ownership of
critical weekly connection points.
WEBSITES
For the purpose of keeping members engaged all week long,
which mistakes or oversights do you observe most often among
church websites?
Kline: Simply letting content get stale and not planning in advance. A
well-planned content calendar keeps website content timely.
Kehayias: You want to equip people to put their faith in action, but
many websites fail to provide clear, if any, next steps.
We also see many churches employ multiple systems to receive data,
but those systems don’t talk to each other, leaving the church with
puzzle pieces that will never be fit together to show the big picture.
What are some best practices for mobilizing a church website to stay
connected with members all week long?
Kehayias: Remember that whole “accessible and digestible” bit I
mentioned earlier? Yeah, that!
Get mobile — People carry tons of sites and apps around with them all
day, every day. Be one of them. Is your site mobile-responsive? Mobile-
optimized? In this day and age, you can’t afford not to be.
Now what? — When someone searches for a group, give them an
action step: sign up for the group, ask the leader a question. Oh, and these
“action steps” are measurable.