Two years ago sitting in the passenger seat of my Executive Pastor’s car, I was challenged with a simple question: If Christ Fellowship began an Internet Campus, what might it look like? The journey for me began that very day. I was captivated by the question, the vision, and the possibilities.
We began to grapple with some tough questions. Who is the church? What’s our definition of community? Can meaningful relationships be developed online? Can discipleship be effective with someone you’ve never met? The list could go on. I began to ask around and the opinions were as varied as the number of conversations I had. I just started getting more confused about what the right thing to do was. Not having all the answers, we decided to build on what we knew God was calling us to do, not on the things we weren’t sure about.
The following is only a brief overview of our initial plan, and how we focused our development on the premise of connecting people to community, and to a growing relationship with Christ.
Here’s where we started:
1. The Mission
The mission of Christ Fellowship is to Impact the world with the love and message of Jesus Christ.
There was absolutely no reason for us to mess with that. Implementing that mission into our Internet Campus Strategy was a no brainer. Its just simply what we are driven to do. It works itself out for us online with this goal statement: Connect people to community, and help them grow in their relationship with Christ.
Action – Take the mission of your church, and plug it right in to the first line of your Internet Ministry Strategy. It’s the foundation you need to build on.
2. Core Values
Our Core Values express how we live out our faith in Jesus Christ. Developed by the Christ Fellowship members and staff, these values guide, direct, and represent all that we are.
Action – How we do what we do is important. You can do the right things the wrong way, and wind up in big trouble. When it comes to your internet ministry strategy, let your values be your filter for everything you do.
3. Assimilation Pathway
The Assimilation Pathway for Christ Fellowship is clear. The strategy for the Internet Campus simply reflects the strategy for Christ Fellowship as a whole. It begins with First Impressions, followed by Points of Contact and Entry, Worship Experience, Orientation to CF, and finally into a life long developing Spiritual Journey (discipleship) for the individual. Let me break that out a little more specifically:
First Impressions
There are reasons that people are initially attracted to Christ Fellowship. Online these First Impressions take on a relational and digital nature. Our landing page is of utmost importance. It has to be welcoming, directed, easy to navigate, and next steps clearly thought out that lead to our online worship experience. Once in our worship experience, connection to relationship is a primary goal.Points of Contact and Entry
Once an individual has chosen to visit Christ Fellowship’s Internet Campus, we have a specific plan to capture their information, so that we can connect with them, and connect them to the assimilation pathway. This is done through the vehicle of an online response card.Worship Experience
When people visit our online worship experience, we welcome them into our “home”. They can connect online with others coming to be a part of the experience, and participate in or observe worship as they are comfortable. Our desire is that within 48 hours of their visit we will personally connect with them by phone or email and offer to answer any questions they might have about the church. We will at that point, direct them to our strategies for their personal spiritual growth.Orientation to Christ Fellowship
Orientation to Christ Fellowship begins with our Get in the Game Classes that we will offer Online on a monthly basis. These classes will be live and will help people understand the purpose God has for them as well as God’s purspose for the church.Classes
We will offer a specific track of classes during the week for individuals based upon where they are in their own personal spiritual journey. They will follow the “Crawl, Walk, Run” Strategy for growth. We will begin with Foundations, Spiritual Disciplines, and Bible Study Methods. The goal is to help people emabark on a lifelong spiritual growth journey.Life Groups
Online Life Groups will be the place to connect relationally with the global community of Christ Fellowship living out the 5 purposes of God for our lives. We will develop Bible study groups, book clubs, affinity groups both online as well as in different corners of the globe.
Ok so, if you’ve stuck with me this far, you now know we’ve accomplished about 25% of what we’ve set out to! The vision continues to grow as we continue to strive toward creating a digital format for the distribution of discipleship online.
Action – Know what your church is trying to accomplish when it comes to assimilation & discipleship, and figure out a way to distribute it online.
4. Resources
This is where we search out relevant tools that drive us toward our accomplishing our mission through a digital format. In searching out those resources our focus is on these primary areas:
Website Development gochristfellowship.com
Worship Experience (Live Player)
Class Distribution (ustream, mogulus)
Social Media (Facebook, twitter)
Global Ops Center – Yet to come!
Everything we do, every plan we develop, every resource we implement is for one reason and one reason only: To impact the world with the love and message of Jesus Christ.
Action – The only reward, the only measurement of success – a life transformed by the power of God through a relationship with Christ. It all begins and ends right there.
Read about Internet Church Objectives here.
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Great post David! Some excellent advice overall, and the following sentence really jumped out at me: “Not having all the answers, we decided to build on what we knew God was calling us to do, not on the things we weren’t sure about.” What a great response to doubt and uncertainty! Thanks – Larry
Thanks for this, it’s a great explanation of what you are doing and I think I’ll point people to this entry if they’re curious.
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