4 Technology Mistakes Your Church Might Be Making

Churches can reach more people today with the gospel using technology, but what 4 technology mistakes might your church be making.

Sound Bites

Churches can reach more people today with the gospel using technology, but what 4 technology mistakes might your church be making? One of those mistakes churches may make is not utilizing technology. For example, a great way to reach people of all ages with the gospel is by using technology such as Sermon Shots. At Sermon Shots, they help churches create professional looking, short-format video content (we call them Sermon Shots) from their uploaded sermons and/or Bible studies. And it’s perfect for the technology-challenged of us who don’t have experienced editing and formatting messages or church services. Sites like Sermon Shots make it so easy. There’s no need to worry about editing or copy and pasting videos together because they provide steps for them to easily create their own short, sermon clips. In turn, these small sermon clips can be posted on church websites, their Facebook page, their Twitter page, on TikTok or whatever media they choose to use. Sermon Shots requires no software to download, no added staff and no outsourcing is ever needed.

We know that professional looking video content is hard to create today but it’s so important. That first impression is usually a lasting one. Hiring someone or downloading apps to help you do it yourself can be really expensive, very time consuming and actually creating a good, quality clip can be exhausting. That’s why great tools like Sermon Shots allow you to choose from Sermon Clips, Sermon Snippets, Sermon Snaps, Mini-Sermons, Micro Sermon Videos, Sermon Recaps, Sermon Highlights, Bite-Size Sermons and even Little Short Sermon Videos to post to social media. And by adding music in the background, it makes it much more appealing.

TikTok

If you’re between the ages of 16 or 24 (even younger), then you probably already use TikTok on a daily basis. This app had over 315 million downloads, setting a world record for downloads, and today, there are well over one billion users, so posting messages on TikTok can help you reach an audience you might not otherwise reach. What TikTok does is reach age groups for Christ in the 16-24 age group (and younger) who almost live on TikTok and use this platform nearly every single day. TikTok can be an effective outreach and branding tool for your church, so use this viral tool to reach people with the Gospel, to encourage believers, and to build awareness of Christ around your community. TikTok, like YouTube, allows you to upload messages or go livestream, but nothing has exploded in popularity like TikTok has. Your church should include this technological door as part of your outreach.

Mobile Apps

Statistics show that Americans spend about 71% of their digital time on mobile devices. That’s nearly three hours a day, so it makes good sense to have a specific mobile app for your church to use. One church launched an app and within the week, someone emailed the senior pastor and said they had been thinking about leaving the church but now sensed there were going to be changes and so they said they’d “stick around.” They were not always able to be at church as they had to travel a lot for their job, but this church’s app kept them connected to the local Body of Christ until they could again physically connect to the church when they returned home. The instant prayer request chains contact people in real time and allow people to be notified of an emergency in short order. Can you imagine a place where sermon notes, videos and podcasts live in one convenient location and are accessible at your fingertips? The good news is there are custom mobile apps for your church and many of these app have platforms that contain all kinds of wonderful features like an extensive database of prayers, Bible verses, Christian quotes, sermon messages and more.

No Technology

One of the most serious mistakes churches can make in technology is not using any technology at all. If you have Sunday sermons and no one outside of the church can hear or listen to them, they are not always going to be able to make a sound judgment when trying to find a church home. And churches are losing a huge opportunity to reach a younger generation if they remain “off-line,” which means, inaccessible to most of this generation. If people aren’t coming to the church, the church must be coming to the people. Today, most Christians are using technology in one way or another for their devotional life. If they have to miss a Sunday, they can always visit the church website and (hopefully) listen to the sermon or open their church app and listen to the message and announcements.

Virtual Reality

Churches can utilize amazing new technologies like virtual reality which uses computer-generated 360-degree images to immerse the viewer into a comprehensive, realistic experience as if they were actually in a church. This type of technology can be a portal to faith and spirituality for those who might not otherwise get the chance to hear or read about spiritual matters. Some may never come to church, but the church can reach out to them. Reposting sermons, even on Facebook, allows others who are not near a church or in a church or not able to go to church (illness, shut-ins, incarcerated, etc.) have an opportunity to hear the church’s worship music and message.

From Experience

I have actually used some of these technologies for our church like where I mentioned, like Sermon Shots, Facebook and our church’s website. These are some of the easiest to use today. Sites like Sermon Shots guide you through the whole process and make it very simple to produce short video clips that give short, precise sermon bites that cover what the message was all about and whet’s the viewer’s appetite. If we don’t keep up technologically, we’ll lose important opportunities to share the gospel and we might not get a second chance to reach them. Using technology in association with preaching the gospel of repentance and faith (Mark 1:15) makes it possible to reach the lost in ways the traditional brick and mortar churches cannot do. Most may not come to church, so why not have the church come to them through the use of technology.

Conclusion

The world thrives on sound-bites today so it makes sense to share the gospel in short precise sermon clips that get right to the point of your message. They’re short enough to keep their attention and keep them tuned in but still sufficient to share what the message is about. Technology or websites such as virtual reality, Facebook, TikTok, or Sermon Shots are a great technological tool that your church can use to reach more people with the gospel. Many churches not only share their messages on social media, they create their own podcasts. Video sermons can be used to create podcasts and MP3 programs that are easily downloadable.

Here is some related reading for you: How Technologies Like Faith Brush Can Make Your Church More Visible

Resource – Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version^® (ESV^®), Crossway Bibles. (2007). ESV: Study Bible: English standard version. Wheaton, Ill: Crossway Bibles. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Tagged as: Church Outreach, evangelism, Sermon Shots, Technology