Is your congregation's future hybrid (part 2)? Questions to help you plan.
Last week I offered some discussion prompts for congregations that are discerning whether to lean into true hybrid community that creates robust belonging for both online and offline participants. If responses to those questions point to an openness to hybrid church, the reflection cues below begin to get at planning the specifics.
Logistics
Based on responses to these questions, what might our digital sandbox look like? What’s the container for the sandbox? How big is it? Who might want to play in it? What toys are in it for people to play with? (Sit with this metaphor a bit before moving into practical details below.)
What platforms would we utilize? What criteria will guide this decision? Which ones are current constituents and those who aren’t yet engaged already using?
What elements of hybrid church would be synchronous or asynchronous?
Which elements of hybrid church would be open to anyone and which would be password protected? What community norms would we need to establish for each, consistent with what expectations are for in-person congregational interaction? What would the bar be for obtaining the password?
What systems and leadership would we need in order to tend the online aspects and to facilitate mutual connection between online and offline participants?
What training would leaders and participants in hybrid church need?
How would we actively invite people for whom our hybrid church is good news?
How could we create space for hybrid participants’ contributions and big questions, indeed for their full participation in creating a faith community characterized by belonging?
What mechanisms for regular assessment and course-correction would we put into place?
Membership
What are our formal and informal practices around and beliefs about church membership? In what ways do they serve us well, and in what ways do they not?
How would the intentional cultivation of hybrid church necessarily affect what membership means and who can become a member? What changes do we need to make as a result?
Leadership
What time and attention, and from whom, would hybrid church require?
How could we make this leadership consistent and sustainable?
What does this mean for our staffing configuration (and budget) and the roles of lay leaders?
Mutual responsibility
What kind(s) of commitment are we asking for from online church participants in order to create the mutuality that belonging entails?
How do we communicate the what and why of these expectations to online community constituents and get their assent?
How do we engage online community participants in helping to craft mutual expectations?
How do we make it as inviting as possible to uphold expectations?
Sacraments/ordinances
What are the most important rituals in the life of our congregation? What meaning do they convey? What role does physical presence play in them?
What is and isn’t negotiable about being physically present to participate in these rituals?
Within what is negotiable, how might we get creative – and invite those online to do the same – in order to invite participation and communicate meaning across online and offline spaces?
The questions I’ve offered over the course of these two posts are not the only ones your church would need to address, but they offer a place to start. Your congregation might work through these prompts and decide that your call is not to be a hybrid church. You might not have the capacity or deep desire. That’s ok! But for congregations that are excited for this possibility and have the resources to make it happen, much is possible. In this time of increased polarization, the body of Christ has become loosely connected at the joints, and uniting those with a propensity to go online for church with those who attend in person offers the chance to strengthen the relationships among these parts to the glory of God.
Photo by Dan-Cristian Pădureț on Unsplash.