I have recently been asking those who regularly worship with Resurrection Online questions about vision. Here they are:
As Pastor of Resurrection Online, I have heard from several others who are interested in starting an online worship service. I suggest the following:
Pastor(s), key staff and volunteers need to be able to have clear answers to the following questions:
At Resurrection, I was part of a staff team that considered these and other fundamental questions about the structure of an online worship service for nearly a year before we launched weekly worship online. While many of our initial responses to these questions changed, it was crucial to getting off the ground.
A key to success in launching an online worship service is to be clear about the scope of the initiative and who will own it.
The scope of the online worship service will provide a guide to who will own the effort. It may be within the worship team, volunteer effort, stand alone ministry area or some combination. Before launch, it is necessary to know who will own it.
At Resurrection, it was clear that Resurrection Online would become a stand alone ministry area. It did not begin that way, however it was clear that this was where it was headed.
Go for it.
If you have spent time on fundamental questions, scope and ownership, it is time to kick it off. You might start with a webcam, a laptop and livestream.com or you might have high definition cameras, broadcast quality switcher and dedicated encoders. In any case, start and see what happens. You will not be able to really tell what works and what doesn’t until you actually get started.
When you start an online worship service, you have to be flexible. Be ready to make changes as needed and incrementally. Always be ready to pull the plug on the online worship service if it is no longer making sense for your church. Don’t make it something that starts and can never stop. It would be helpful to go back to the fundamental questions on a regular basis to check for any changes in direction or to realign your efforts.
I enjoy writing on this blog and want to be intentional about asking what you want as a reader. Will you please share:
Please leave your responses in the comments or email me directly at andrew dot conard at cor dot org with “Blog Idea” in the subject line.
I look forward to hearing from you!
I learned the value of focus from 6 Questions for The United Methodist Church.There were a large number of topics which diluted the focus and made it more confusing to participate. For a similar project in the future, I would change the topics to less than seven.
I could have learned this lesson from Simple Life and Deliberate Simplicity – two books which I have read recently. Simple is most often better.
Today, I neither had a picnic nor is it Monday, but I had a great time picnicking with a group of those in the congregation whose last names begin with M-R. We met at the Young Christian Outdoor Recreation Park off 199th on 69 highway. Each night this week there has been a different pastor from the Congregational Care team that is hosting a picnic with part of the congregation.
There was excellent food and I had the opportunity to get to know many people better and hear some of their stories. I also had the opportunity to share my story with those that were gathered there. I really had a good time. Thanks to all that were there! I answered some questions at the event, but wanted to make sure and respond to some of the questions that were written down that did not get asked in person:
What other questions do you have for me?
6 Questions for The United Methodist Church is an open project and I have been encouraged by the response.
If you are interested in data of participation from the project check it out at http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=r06wd0oDSanzEZ3I9gWArVQ&output=html
Data for the day should be added in the morning. Feel free to use the data how you want.
By September 30, I believe that it is possible to see 10,000 people submit 2,500 questions and cast 75,000 votes.
What do you think?
To participate visit: http://bit.ly/6qumc
To read more, visit: http://www.umcyoungclergy.com/6qumc
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