Excerpted from Chapter 1: Welcome to a New Christian Epoch: “Digital-Church”

REBOOTING.CHURCH’S TOP 5 MISSIONS ARE TO HELP CHURCHES & CHURCH-LEADERS:

1. Grow Their Churches by digitally transforming them to “Become More Relevant to More People.”
2. Embrace a New Mindset of the Need for Continuous Change and Self-Disruption.
3. Transform “Church” into “Digital-Church” via “Digital-Transformation.”
4. Adopt a New Church Culture Based on Creativity, Innovation, Urgency, and Startup-Thinking.
5. Find, Attract and Retain more Un-Churched and Under-Churched Seekers.

Now let’s take a look at these missions in more detail:

1.     GROW CHURCHES BY BECOMING “MORE RELEVANT TO MORE PEOPLE”

As you have previously read, Rebooting.Church’s main premise is that exponential changes in Science and Technology are largely responsible for driving the majority of the disruptive changes we’re experiencing in all segments of 21st-Century life today, including in Business, Commerce, Government, Culture, and even in long-established Institutions like our Churches.

These mostly technology-driven changes favor those organizations that are agile and open-minded enough to embrace these new technologies, and by doing so, they are able to remain more relevant to their congregants and other stakeholders. Since these new technologies are disproportionately adopted more quickly by younger generations, as compared to older generations, organizations that lag in transforming themselves to serve this new digital world risk becoming irrelevant to these new generations of “Digital-Natives.” It is this growing lack of relevance that is seen as one of the primary root causes of the overall decline in church attendance and participation, Christianity, and belief in God as well.

Rebooting.Church believes the way to revitalize the Church, both now and in the future, is to make it more relevant to the current and future cultures in which it both exists and serves. This Generational-Relevancy will only be accomplished through open-minded inquiry, innovative thinking, and by embracing the new perspectives, ideas, methods, and technologies required to reflect these exponential changes in the Church that are needed to make it more relevant to Digital-Natives and others.

However, before we can take action to make our churches more relevant, we need to understand the meaning of the term.  The term “Relevant” in the context of this book, and I think from the perspective of the many un-churched, or so-called “Nones” out there, simply means; “How does “Church” relate to my life and needs, if at all?”, or “Why should I make an effort, mentally or physically, to invest my precious time and money attending or participating in Church?” These are just a couple of the questions that must be asked and answered before we can begin to reverse the troubling negative trends in Church participation and Christian belief. Once we have identified the relevant reasons for the above questions, the process of creating innovative and positive change toward becoming more relevant can begin.

Only when Church-Leaders come to the necessary realization and make a commitment to a “Reboot” of their attitudes, perspectives, mindsets, and actions toward realizing the “Digital-Transformation” of their church into becoming the “Digital-Church”, can we create a Church that is more in-tune and in-touch with the millions of Seekers around the world who are desperately looking for the deeper meaning in their lives that only the Christian Church can provide.

“Generational-Relevancy” is how people behave as an age group and how they relate to Christianity and the Church. We live in a new digital reality, and its defining characteristics include:

• Ever-shorter Attention Spans – which means that long-form content, such as “Church,” don’t get a fair shake.
• 500 channels of Boredom – we (more so by younger people) get bored very quickly.
• Unwillingness to Make Commitments – Especially by the Millennial and Gen-Z generations, which negatively impacts their choice of extra-curricular activities like “Church.”
• Lack of Trust – recent generations are skeptical to the nth-degree, if not outright cynical, and are slow to trust what they see and hear from all organizations and large societal institutions like government or the Church.

“Cultural-Relevancy” for the varied cultures and sub-cultures the Church serves, or the lack thereof, is another primary theme of this book. Looking back over my close to seven decades as a Christian, Church Member, Sunday School Teacher, and Deacon, it appears to me that the slow declines in Church attendance and membership are mostly attributable to the Church’s growing irrelevancy to more and more individuals, as well as the cultures and sub-cultures they identify with.

Other definitions for the term “Relevant”, at least as used in this book, might include; “Things that Matter to a Person”, and “a Sense of Belonging” to something bigger than themselves, or a willingness to become “Personally Invested” in supporting a relevant organization with their time, energy and money.

You know when a person, place, product, or group is relevant to you because you take an interest in its success. Conversely, if somethings not relevant, there’s little chance you’ll pay any attention to it at all, much less become personally invested in it, right?

For the majority of Church-goers, relevancy is not an issue, as they prove week-after-week, and year-after-year, as evidenced by their attendance, participation, time, and financial support for their home church. However, even though relevancy may not generally be a problem for your church’s most engaged members, it can be a problem for the “not-so-committed” in your flock, and the ideas contained in this book can certainly help increase relevancy for all of those members that have already proven that your church is, at least to a high degree, relevant to them. But even if most of your church’s members think it is relevant to them, the long-term health, viability, and growth of your church, as we all know, depends on attracting and retaining new members. The problem then becomes one of convincing the “Laggards” and the “Nones,” that your church is relevant to their needs and desires. For a science and technology-driven culture like America’s, this is indeed a tall order!

Hopefully, this book will help set the stage for the discovery of the causes of irrelevancy for over a third of the population, and why this trend of irrelevancy is growing year after year for Christianity and the Church. But mostly, it is about finding the potential solutions and methods for slowing and eventually reversing the decline in Church attendance and participation.

… (end of excerpt)

Excerpt from Chapter 4: The Magic of Digital-Transformation

Why looking outside of your church for solutions is a smart strategy!

The definition of “Modeling,” as a term, depends on the context in which it is used. So, just to be clear, this is not about becoming a “supermodel,” nor does it require a tube of glue to use! In the context of Digital-Transformation, modeling is using another industry, organization, process, methodology, or best practice as a guide, influence, or “model” in making decisions for your church. We can learn a great deal about what works and doesn’t work by seeing how others have solved problems similar to ours, without having to reinvent the wheel or make unnecessary and expensive mistakes at great cost in time, effort, and money.

MODELING TECH STARTUP’S ATTRIBUTES, METHODOLOGIES & MINDSETS:

Excitement, Energy, Inspiration, Boldness, Urgency, & Confidence!

The word “technology” is far too broad to be of much use to you other than being the catch-all term to describe the entire universe of ideas, expectations, tools, products, services, processes, and methodologies that define the digital world in which we all live. People in the “technology industry,” including software development companies, consulting companies, and device manufacturers, likely see the world far differently than you, your staff, or your congregation as a whole does. Exploring and adopting similar mindsets is the only way I know to “future-proof” your church and avoid becoming one of the “digitally disrupted.” Following are a few examples of this general mindset:

• THE START-UP MINDSET – If there’s one thing that sets all new technology companies apart, it’s their “Start-Up Mindset”! They all have the attitude that they’re “David’s” to their established competitor’s “Goliaths.” They believe that anything is possible, and if something is branded impossible, they believe they are the exception to the rule! They can not only do the impossible; they can do in days or weeks rather than months or years! While this may sound like just so much arrogance and hubris, in this case, their beliefs are most of the time well justified because you can’t accomplish great things by thinking that you can’t! What’s the lesson for Church-Leaders here? All long-established human organizations (and the Church is probably the longest established of all) get more conservative in their thinking as the years roll by. It allows what Zig Ziegler used to call “Stinkin’ Thinkin’ ” to get a toehold, which is the beginning of the end as far as creativity, innovation, and “Thinking-Outside-of-the-Church” is concerned. Without challenging yourself or facing a serious challenge from the outside, “Church-as-Usual” thinking becomes pervasive, new ideas are either only paid lip-service, or they’re rejected out-of-hand just because the attitude of “…that’s just not who we are or how we do things” thinking becomes the norm. The consequence of failing to renew a “Start-Up Mindset constantly,” is a slow slide toward irrelevance, or even worse, oblivion, which often happens so slowly and imperceptibly, that no one notices until it’s too late!
• TIME – For technologists, their concept of “time” uses a different scale than the one you and your church use. Theirs is far faster and more highly compressed. They think in “months,” while you may think in “years.” (in reality, it is more than likely “weeks” rather than “months”!) They live in an “exponential” world, while you live in an “arithmetic” one. They have a heightened sense of urgency, which allows them to survive in the ultra-competitive “digital jungle.” By the way, that’s where your church lives too!
• EXPECTATIONS – A technologist’s mindset expects everything to happen faster and at a lower cost today than yesterday. Heck, in most cases, they expect things to be “free” rather than just “low-cost”. Whether this attitude is due to “Moore’s Law” or “Open-Source,” they expect “more-for-less” to be just the way the world works. As Christians, we are taught to think and set our expectations based on a scale of thousands of years, or of using God’s scale when we say – “In God’s Time.” We are taught to be patient, which is superb quality for most human behavior, but a gross disadvantage in the digital world. Learn to set your expectations accordingly or suffer the consequences. Great-Expectations are merely a starting point. (…a tip of the hat to Mr. Dickens!)
• CONGREGANT (CUSTOMER) FOCUSED – This is a part of the technologist’s mindset that you likely share with them. However, theirs is driven more by a sense of competitiveness rather than an altruistic or spiritual motivation. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with being altruistic, but Church-Leaders need to add another layer to it that is more sharp-edged and urgent by realizing that your church has as many competitors as their organizations do – only the types of transactions are different. Your church has hundreds, or maybe even thousands of competitors when it comes to how people spend their time. Other churches aren’t your real competition – modern life is!
• INNOVATIVE – Innovation is the secret sauce of the technology industry! Out-innovating everyone, everywhere, all of the time, is just part of their DNA. They are always dreaming, thinking, planning, trying, changing, pivoting, and disrupting themselves before someone else does! Wow! Look at how successful this industry has become in just the last two decades. If you’re not innovating, you’re slowly dying!

… (end of partial excerpt)

Excerpt from Chapter 5: Digital-Transformation Technologies

Following are samples of just a few of the ideas in the book for using technology to Discover, Attract, and Engage new Seekers to grow your church. Enjoy!

THE SOLUTION TO “CRACK-SLIPPERS?”

Everyone is familiar with the term “falling through the cracks,” which generally describes people or tasks that have been overlooked or gone undone. People are so busy and distracted by so many new and “shiny objects,” plus their super-busy lives, that you might think “crack-slipping” is an epidemic without a vaccine.  This problem keeps churches (and other organizations) from maximizing the effectiveness of their stated mission. It also creates a negative impression in the minds of those “slipees” that, once created, becomes almost impossible to overcome. I think this might explain at least one of the reasons that “Church” is steadily losing its popularity, as evidenced by the growing segment of the “Nones” in the world.

Here are a few examples of “Crack-Slippers” that you might find in your church:

• “Invisible Guests,” also known as “Prospective Members,” are slippers that enter your church anonymously and leave the same way, either never to return or for a few hardy souls, to sporadically repeat this invisible process until someone notices their presence or their absence. These slippers are also known as “Lost Opportunities.”
• “Drive-By Members,” also known as “12 O’Clock Members”, exist in a limbo-land where some people may know their names or at least recognize a somewhat familiar face, but not much beyond that. These members faithfully attend Sunday services and possibly even shake hands with the Pastor on their way out of the church while rushing to satiate their growling stomachs. Still, they are only rarely thought of or contacted by Church-Leaders or other church members. As an usher over many years, I came to know the faces of these members, but because of their lack of participation (a.k.a. – “Engagement”) in other church activities outside of Sunday services, there just wasn’t the time to get to know them before they left the church.
• “Out-of-Mind Members,” (not to be confused with “Out-of-their-Minds” members mind you although they may constitute a fairly large constituency in most churches  These are the members who used to attend church but either don’t for some reason or can’t due to many other reasons like ill health. These members fit in the “Crack-Slippers” category of “Out-of-Sight – Out-of-Mind” or are too often “MIA” (Missing-in-Action) to Church-Leaders and other members. This is not an intentional behavior of churches, of course; however, in my experience,  humans are prone to this tendency of forgetting things or people that they don’t often see, otherwise known as being “Top-of-Mind.” This is a great shame because many of these “Out-of-Mind” members are often those that have attended and been members the longest, and now due to their age and infirmities, they have become unable to participate in church life like they used to do, and still want to do.

ANTI-SLIP TECHNOLOGY TO THE RESCUE!

We’ve just covered a few of the common problems that all churches face in engaging those in their congregations that, by no conscious design, too often slip between the cracks.  So how can Church-Leaders address these problems given the difficulty of expanding and deepening these very important relationships? What’s needed is an “Anti-Crack-Slipper System” that uses technology to help solve one of the most common but least prioritized problems that all organizations face: how to keep people from falling through the cracks in the first place. There are many existing technologies, most not specifically designed for this exact purpose, but are capable of being used, in addition to manual processes, to solve this thorny problem. A few of these technologies include:

• Feedback-Loops
• Analytics Systems
• Video-Conferencing

However, these systems are of little value if they are not integrated with each other, and with “People-Systems,” also known as Pastors, Deacons, Elders, and the most important cogs in this wheel, “Church-Members!”

“TAYAs” – ATTRACTING “TEENS AND YOUNG-ADULTS”

How can churches use technology to overcome possibly the most critical challenge facing churches today, “Generational-Irrelevance?” It’s a stone-cold fact that church participation among the young is declining and has been for many years. While there are many reasons for this trend, I submit that the primary reason young people don’t attend or participate in church activities is that they don’t think the church is relevant to them or their world. The best way to reverse this trend is through Digital-Transformation because the best way to attract and maintain TAYA’s is through the digital devices and applications where they live. Following are a few ideas for new products and services targeted toward teens and young adults that will help make your church more relevant and successful.

USING DIGITAL-OUTREACH:

A SMARTPHONE is a teen’s (13 to 17 years old) or young adult’s (18 to 34 years old) new body appendage, which is the digital equivalent of an arm or leg to them! They don’t go anywhere without it, and if by chance they find they’ve forgotten to bring it, they immediately go into “Technology Withdrawal!” This means that the best, fastest, and cheapest way to find and connect with TAYA’s is through their smartphone, tablet, or laptop. A digital outreach strategy to attract these young people would include:

SOCIAL-MEDIA: This is where most TAYA’s live, so it stands to reason that your church must have a significant presence on social media if it wants to understand and attract youth to your church. Of all of the social media sites, Facebook is still the mac-daddy! There are two ways to do social media:

1. The Hard Way – by spending hour upon hour cruising multiple social-media channels, joining groups, and reaching out through posts and messaging. This method is not only hard; it is painfully slow! As you probably know, you can’t post “ads” for your church that are out of the context of discussions as this is a real turn-off and counter-productive practice.
2. The Easy Way – by bidding on Facebook Ads that will attract TAYA’s to your Facebook page or your church’s website for mere pennies apiece. Like the Hard-Way, this method requires some investment of time to learn how to successfully bid on advertising slots, create engaging graphics and text for your ads, but once you’ve got the hang of it, creating and managing ad campaigns on Facebook is mostly automatic.

WEBSITE: Is your church’s website attractive to TAYA’s? If not, this is the first task you should tackle before trying to drive traffic to your site through social media or other methods. Getting prospects to your website is the very top of an outreach “funnel” where you can then guide visitors to make contact with your church and engage them in your church’s activities. It should not only be attractive and fast, but it should also contain clear “Call-to-Action” dialogs and links to encourage them to share their information with your church.

… (end of partial excerpt)

Partial excerpt from Chapter 8: Summary, Takeaways & Action Plans

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

• Change or Die! – “Change” is a necessary prerequisite for the perpetuation of life. No individual or organization is exempted from this continuous and eternal process, and this includes your church. Organizations that resist or avoid change are likely to be replaced by those organizations that embrace innovation and change as key differentiators.
• Digital Technology, as a tool, is a lever that allows even small churches to move the world! It allows churches to accomplish more in less time, with a smaller investment of time, money, and effort. Churches that emphasize the use of technology should generally outperform their non-tech brethren while experiencing increased growth and giving.
• Digital-Disruption is a wave that threatens to drown all organizations today that refuse to change, which is a very real possibility for even our oldest and most beloved institutions, including our churches. The only way to avoid having others determine your church’s destiny is to self-disrupt it first through the continuous process of “Digital-Transformation.”
• Digital-Church – “Church” must be Re-Defined, Re-Imagined, Re-Thought, Re-Invented, Re-Newed, and finally, Re-Booted, to better serve an exponentially changing Digital-World by becoming the Digital-Church. All churches, regardless of size and resources, must transform themselves into Digital-Churches if they are to be effective in their mission to serve a 21st-century Digital-World.
• Hybrid-Church – Churches must in effect become two churches, combining their existing “physical” church with a “virtual” church, into one hybrid
• A New “Mission-Critical Mission” – In the 21st-century, churches must change their priorities and realize that Spiritual-Transformation now requires both Human-Transformation and Digital-Transformation.
• A Digital-Transformation Strategy is of supreme importance in meeting your church’s missions, goals, and congregant’s needs, and is a prerequisite and cornerstone for all successful 21st-century digital organizations.
• A New “Church-Culture” – Church-Leaders must transform their mindsets and reboot their church’s culture into one based on Creativity, Innovation, and Urgency in executing their church’s Digital-Transformation Strategy.
• A New “Startup-Mindset” -The first and most important change Church-Leaders must make in changing their church’s culture is to acquire an entrepreneurial, “Start-Up Mindset,” which will soon become a benchmark of a successful 21st-century Church-Culture.
• New Technology Skills for Church-Leaders and staff are no longer optional. Only those who understand the possibilities that technology provides for organizations, along with their strategic application in increasing productivity, efficiency, and effectiveness in all areas of operations, ministries, and missions, will survive and thrive in the 21st-century. Churches must constantly acquire the new digital-technology skills that are now necessary for any organization to successfully compete in a digital world. The competition for your church’s congregants grows daily, and so does the need to constantly create and innovate new services and strategies to keep them coming back.
• “Think-Outside-of-the-Church”  – Church must become more than a building. A physical presence relative to stakeholders is no longer a prerequisite of success for most organizations, and this holds true for churches as well. Wise Church-Leaders will take a “Think Global & Act Local” mindset as churches go virtual and expand beyond their physical buildings and communities.
• Tradition is not the enemy of our digital age, but “Traditional-Thinking“ might be! Church-Leaders must be willing to leave their “traditional-comfort-zones” and embrace change and innovation to survive and thrive in the 21st-century. They must be able to separate and acknowledge “what worked yesterday” from “what’s possible today,” to achieve a balance of tradition and modernity that will succeed both today and tomorrow.
• Software – Every Organization, including Your Church, is in the Software Business. No exceptions! This means that regardless of the product or service provided, all organization’s missions and operations must now be first viewed through a software and technology lens. Churches are not an exception!
• Generational-Relevance should be a primary goal for all churches and becoming a Digital-Church is the first step towards achieving this badly needed relevance. There’s no “tomorrow” for the church without it! The future of your church and the future of Christianity depends on growing the faith by attracting, engaging, and retaining Teens and Young Adults.

… (end of partial excerpt)

Table of Contents

DEDICATION v
PREFACE vi
INTRODUCTION x
CHAPTER 1: WELCOME TO A NEW CHRISTIAN EPOCH: “DIGITAL-CHURCH” 1
REBOOTING.CHURCH AT A GLANCE 4
REBOOTING.CHURCH GOALS 6
ASKING THE HARD QUESTIONS – “WHY CHURCH?” 13
THE FUTURE OF CHURCH IS DIGITAL! 15
BITS & BYTES of SALT & LIGHT™ 17
REBOOTING: THE WHO, WHAT, WHY,  WHEN, WHERE & HOW 18
REBOOTING.CHURCH’S MISSION & THEMES 32
TRANSFORMATION PROCESSES & GOALS: 43
CHAPTER 2: 21ST-CENTURY CHALLENGES & OPPORTUNITIES 49
CHALLENGES OF DIGITAL DISRUPTION & TRANSFORMATION 51
CHALLENGES OF CHANGE & CULTURE 72
CHALLENGES OF A NEW DIGITAL WORLD 80
CHALLENGES OF CHANGING DEMOGRAPHICS & BEHAVIORS 100
CHALLENGES OF CHURCH LEADERSHIP & CHURCH CULTURE 130
CHALLENGES OF RELIGION & CULTURE 149
CHALLENGES FOR ALL CHRISTIANS 157
CHAPTER 3: TRANSFORMATION – A CORE CHRISTIAN COMPETENCY 163
TRANSFORMING THE CHURCH FOR A 21ST-CENTURY WORLD 170
CHURCH ADVANTAGES & DISADVANTAGES 176
TRANSFORMING LANGUAGE 179
TRANSFORMING MISSIONS & ROLES 182
TRANSFORMING ENGAGEMENT 187
TRANSFORMING CHURCH-CULTURE 193
TRANSFORMING RELATIONSHIPS 197
VIRTUAL-CHURCH: TRANSFORMING DISTANCE, PLACE, & TIME 202
CHAPTER 4: THE MAGIC OF DIGITAL-TRANSFORMATION 206
DEFINING ATTRIBUTES OF A “DX” PROJECT 209
THE 5 MAJOR COMPONENTS OF DX 212
SECRETS FOR ACHIEVING DIGITAL-TRANSFORMATION SUCCESS 216
SECRETS TO AVOIDING DIGITAL-TRANSFORMATION FAILURE 221
DIGITAL-TRANSFORMATION DECISION METHODOLOGIES 224
MODELING SUCCESS 229
BECOMING A “DIGITAL-FIRST” CHURCH: 239
THE “PURE-DIGITAL-CHURCH” vs. “HYBRID-DIGITAL-CHURCH” 240
CHAPTER 5: DIGITAL-TRANSFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES 244
WEB, SOCIAL, MOBILE & OTHER ONLINE TECHNOLOGIES 245
SOFTWARE 250
MOBILE 274
DATA 278
ANALYTICS 281
SECURITY 282
NETWORKS 297
VIRTUALIZATION 301
FEEDBACK 307
GAMIFICATION 313
SPIRITUAL-TECHNOLOGIES 314
TECHNOLOGY USE-CASES & IDEAS 320
TECHNOLOGY BEST PRACTICES 327
TECHNOLOGY TRENDS & THE FUTURE OF CHURCH: 330
CHAPTER 6: DIGITAL OUTREACH & ENGAGEMENT 335
INREACH & OUTREACH DEFINED 336
INREACH vs. OUTREACH 336
THE DIGITAL-MEDIUM 337
OUTREACH PROCESSES & METHODOLOGIES 340
FULFILLING YOUR CHURCH’S DEStiny WITH OUTREACH 344
BUILDING COMMUNITY-DRIVEN OUTREACH PLATFORMS 358
RE-BRANDING CHURCH 365
DIGITAL-STORYTELLING 371
CHRISTIAN EDUCATION 375
CHAPTER 7: SEVEN STEPS TO BUILDING A DIGITAL-CHURCH 379
STEP ONE: TRANSFORM MINDSETS 380
STEP TWO: TRANSFORM CHURCH CULTURE 382
STEP THREE: TRANSFORM GOALS 392
STEP FOUR: TRANSFORM WORK 397
STEP FIVE: TRANSFORM STAFF 399
STEP SIX: TRANSFORM CONGREGANTS 401
STEP SEVEN: TRANSFORM SEEKERS 403
CHAPTER 8: SUMMARY, TAKEAWAYS & ACTION PLAN 405
BASIC PREMISES: 405
KEY TAKEAWAYS: 406
ACTION PLAN: 408
WHAT’S NEXT BEYOND THIS BOOK? 414
ABOUT THE AUTHOR 421
SHARE THE LOVE! 424
GLOSSARY 425
INDEX 428