Online Discipleship 2

Ok. Last week we started wrestling with the question, “how do we disciple our local neighborhood using the internet?”

Then, we talked about “discipleship pathways,” a useful tool many churches use for their in-person programming, structures and strategy. Cool.

So what do we do with these discipleship pathways on the internet?

That part’s kind of simple: you create content aimed at people in different stages of the Discipleship Pathway.

Let’s look at some specific examples. Here’s the hypothetical Discipleship Pathway we used last week:

1. Uninterested in religion

2. Spiritually interested, but unconnected

3. Churchgoer, but not changing

4. Pursuing Transformation (with support)

5. Taking responsibility for self-growth

6. Guiding the growth of others

If you want to disciple a person in say, Stage 2, you’re trying to help them get to Stage 3.

Here’s the thing: in social media, you want to consciously create shareable (always shareable) content aimed at specific Discipleship Stages.

The basic idea isn’t very complicated. If you just go do that, you’ll be doing good work.

Let’s level up a little bit, though. If your church leadership team meets, and reflects on what Discipleship Stages you serve well with your in-person programming, it will probably be uneven. Chances are good your Sunday worship service is aimed at people in Stages 3-5, more or less. Perhaps you have other programming aimed at other stages, perhaps not.

Chances are good your church will want to take organized, strategic steps online. You will want to aim at a specific audience, which means people at a certain discipleship stage (in a certain community, perhaps of a certain demographic, etc).

For example, you might realize “our church actually doesn’t do much to engage people who are in Stage 2! Maybe we can do that with our social media!” Another approach would be to say “our existing programs are great, but they don’t meet people in Stage 5. Let’s use social media to help close that gap.”

There are lots of options here, but the core idea is to recognize a Discipleship Stage as a basic question. This is a basic part of defining your audience when you’re creating content.

To be honest, I think this is some of the stuff that helps our clients make the most of their tech stuff and online ministry. If you would like to chat a bit about what discipleship pathways your church already has (and you certainly have some implicitly), then let’s schedule a zoom meeting!