More and more churches these days are building a digital campus for their church. A digital campus is exactly as it sounds: it is a copy or extension of your physical church…online. Having a digital church does not mean getting rid of your physical campus and only having church online. Your physical location is valuable and irreplaceable! A digital campus simply builds on what you’re already doing as a church and gives you more opportunities to love your neighbor.
Why a digital campus?
A digital campus is valuable and worthwhile because it serves individuals who are unable to attend your church in person:
- Senior citizens
- Terminally ill individuals
- Members who travel often
- Families with special-needs children
- Night shift workers
- Missionaries
- Members who have to work on Sundays
Instead of letting these individuals fall through the cracks, you can engage them via an online campus. Within your digital platforms, you can feed your congregants the Word of God, equip them to give virtually, and offer them prayer, exhortation, and encouragement. Your digital campus may even open doors to share the gospel and bring someone to Christ who would typically never set foot in a physical church!
What should my digital campus look like?
An effective digital church meets attendees where they’re at and ministers to their needs in a tangible, personal way. In order to build an effective digital campus for your church, think about what your church currently does to welcome visitors and serve members. Then carry that over to your online church.
“Online campuses are interactive virtual church experiences,” says Jim Tomberlin, founder of MultiSite Solutions and author of Better Together: Making Church Mergers Work. “[They’re] more than just a live-streaming video of a church service. People log in to their computers or smartphones, engage in worship and watch the sermon, interact with others, pray together, respond to invitations and challenges, give tithes and offerings, and are cared for by an internet campus pastor — all in real time. These churches are not restricted by walls and can reach literally every inch of the globe.”
The same way you regularly evaluate your physical campus, be on the lookout for ways to improve your online campus as well.