Countering Your Church’s Lack of Vision Online. No Whining.
Your church’s leadership wants to know people watching online will be cared for correctly. Those seat warmers on big boards monitoring all the vitals of the bride do care about everyone attending locally and possibly tuning in online. The barrier of embracing an online ministry usually comes down to trusting you, the online pastor or potential online pastor. Now, don’t make this personal. It’s not that they think you don’t have the chops. Your leadership is still in the foggy stage of wondering if it’s possible to do ministry online. James 3:1 should be ringing in your ears like it is for your bosses. If a person comes to faith in your church someone is responsible for the stewardship of that person, and the Bible is clear the pastor and church are liable. Your church needs to wisely evaluate taking on a new task, especially if it has eternal implications.
Instead of whining about not being trusted do something about it. I like to remember in tough situations that if it were easy someone else would have already done it. Pitch the vision of a healthy online ministry within your church’s context. Show how you will wisely assimilate online viewers locally into your church and connect people far from your church into network churches. Then paint a picture of a future where you could leverage online to launch micro-sites or campuses. Focus on aligning with your current regional vision and how online ministry would expand what you're already doing. The ball is in your court now and not your leaderships' feet. Build the plan!
