This is the first of a series of blog-posts that unpacks some key findings from our recent Hive church survey, and discusses how this feeds into our future.
Conducted earlier this month, we wanted to learn how our community felt about on-line and in-person church experiences; listen to what was working and not working so well; and also to gauge the appetite for change as we prepare for life after the pandemic.
FEEDBACK REGARDING ON-LINE CHURCH
We’re doing Sunday services pretty well:
- Most people (81%) have watched the Sunday service every week
- Everybody watched at least two services
- Most people (56%) enjoyed or really enjoyed worship
- Most people (71%) said the worship helped them feel much or very much closer to God
- Most people (80%) said the content of the services was relevant or very relevant to their needs
- Somebody said the service “feels and sounds genuine”
FEEDBACK REGARDING IN-PERSON CHURCH
Very obviously, we’re not doing in-person Sunday services.
- Most people (52%) say they’re very likely to attend an in-person service, and the majority (71%) say the availability of a COVID-19 vaccine wouldn’t affect their decision
- Many people (42%) say they’d attend a mixture of online and in-person services; only 14% were in-person-only, and nobody was online-only
So clearly, whilst our sudden transition to an on-line format has been moderately successful, the survey confirms that there’s still an appetite for in-person options.
HOW WE PROPOSE TO RESPOND AND GO FORWARD
COVID-19 restrictions forced us to rapidly find on-line alternatives for activities which once upon a time we personally assumed only worked within in-person environments.
We (Yve & I) were wrong.
Whilst in-person may still be preferable to some extent, we now have a new paradigm from which to consider our future.
We don’t have all the answers, nor do we have complete freedom from the point of view of the easing of restrictions. That said, here’s our leadership response for the immediate future:
RE-OPENING BUILDINGS FOR SUNDAY GATHERINGS
Here are some of the issues we are processing:
- to be frank, it was challenging enough getting people to come to church buildings before lock down
- and in our previous set-up / pack-down scenario at PCYC, it was a lot of work – by a few – for a few
- the problem is that now, as churches re-open across the globe, attendances are reported to be 10-40% of what they were pre-pandemic
- and that’s not just in the USA
- an established church in our area re-opened last weekend and had 9 people came in the doors (with just 4 the week before that)
- whilst a maximum of 50 people can now attend a religious service at a place of worship, a Government ban on communal singing is still in place
- attendance limits are also in force community venues such as PCYC
- so if we chose to go back now, it would be to a triple negative: even less people, experiencing less, and therefore a yet lower return for the effort and cost involved
If we chose to go back to a building now, it would be to a triple negative: even less people, experiencing less, and therefore a yet lower return for the effort and the cost. To re-open in a building under these circumstances would be demoralising, un-satisfying, and poor stewardship.
Whether these are temporary trends or something more permanent remains to be seen. The reality is, we have to make plans for the immediate future and keep an open mind for what’s to come.
WHAT’S THE GOOD NEWS?
Here’s some of the things we’ve learnt in our short history as an on-line community.
On-line church by some measures provides a way we can reach more people for less effort. The R.O.I. (return on investment) when compared to our previous in-person scenario is trending in the right direction.
Our Hive experience during this on-line season, is an increase in attendances by an average of 60%.
on-line church is more accessible and therefore more people can be reached
Here’s some reasons why:
- not limited by geographical location
- less limited by time-zone
- on-line church is less threatening to 1st time attenders who are new to a church environment
- your own lounge room will always be the most comfortable place to experience the unfamiliar, and this is also true for someone from a different church culture or denominational background
- on-line church also obviously asks less of attendees in terms of travel, time, cost and navigating traffic
THE HIVE STUDIO
We thank God for His provision of our current Hive Studio. It ticks lots of boxes for us in that:
- it’s in Hornsby
- it’s very generously provided at no cost
- we leave it set up from Sunday to Sunday, so our team is released from the set up / pack down load
- we can likely keep using it till October 2020
- it provides a ‘real-time’ location to mix with team, one-off contributors, and guests
- all of this is an enormous blessing
WHAT OF THE FUTURE?
Again we must say, it’s too early to predict with certainty the future of church in a global environment that is still so volatile.
That said, we offer the following thoughts & observations:
- on-line church is here to stay
- the majority of the people we want to reach are already on line, so why would we not want to be there too?
- the future of church is not a binary choice of either in-person OR on-line
- it will be both / and
- the future church will therefore be both a mix of physical and digital expressions
IS THERE STILL A PLACE FOR IN-PERSON CHURCH?
Yes.
I’ve just had a text from a young disabled man we’ve got to know pre-pandemic, asking me when we are opening up again at PCYC.
My heart goes out to him and to others like him in our community who are needy and looking for support and relationship.
There has to be a way to provide in-person connection for people like this young man – in fact for all of us! It’s just a question of what this looks like and where.
We’ve given our lives, and so have many in our Hive Community, to the vision of doing all that it takes to reach needy people with the message of the love of Jesus.
THREE STRATEGIC IMPERATIVES
Whilst the vision doesn’t change, our methods must be flexible. For reasons already outlined above, we don’t believe it makes any sense to ‘re-open’ at PCYC right now.
So here’s what it looks like:
we will continue for the next few months to gather on-line from our studio, and we will wait on God for what it looks like after that. Meanwhile, let’s be the church in our families, in our workplaces, and in our communities
The Holy Spirit is at work, empowering the Church to strive with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in us (Colossians 1:29).
Whether on-line or in-person, here are three strategic goals we believe to go after:
- Engaging
- Equipping
- Evangelising
In coming weeks we will unpack what this means and how we propose to focus on these three strategies as a church community.
You can share your thoughts and comments by emailing info@thehivechurch.com
