In March 2020, the church adapted to a new normal at an astounding pace, moving faster than most businesses, schools, and non-profits. Within days of the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, churches that have never used digital technology before had moved their worship online, bringing praise and prayer to YouTube, Facebook, or Zoom. Nearly six months later, most congregations in the United States continue to worship exclusively online, and will likely continue to do so until advances in treatments and vaccinations bring the virus under control.

When we started doing worship online, we likely selected a platform that was most familiar to someone in our church community. We may have selected Zoom because it was familiar from its use in meetings, and because it didn’t require integration with a YouTube or Facebook account. We may have selected Facebook Live because of the simplicity of streaming to an audience with little more technology than our iPhones. Or we may have selected YouTube so we could make our service accessible to all, even those who choose not to belong to large social media platforms.

However we decided to do church online, we had to decide rapidly. And our congregations likely responded receptively. Many churches saw mini-surges in attendance as they began to worship online, a pattern that faded as summer set in and virtual worship became the new normal. With more months of virtual worship ahead, now is an opportune time for church leaders to consider their next steps. Now is the moment to think of how you will keep your communities engaged and energized with a continuously improving worship experience, one that provides a spiritual anchor for communities adrift in uncertain times.

Church leaders should resolve to innovate within the framework of virtual church in three ways: trying the unknown, layering on new tech, and expanding lay involvement.

Trying the unknown involves determining if a community’s current online worship is asynchronous (recorded) or synchronous (live stream). If your church has relied on recorded worship since March, now is the time to experiment with streaming, engaging your congregation in a shared experience of virtual togetherness. And if your church has relied on live streaming, now is the time to test the benefits of recorded worship, including the ability to add more musical contributions, to invite more voices to lead, and to edit the service into a more polished worship experience.

Layering on new tech involves augmenting what we already know with small innovations. Have you used QR codes to link to a digital bulletin? Have you used a text overlay to present song lyrics? Have you added a second camera to keep worshippers more engaged? With many more virtual Sundays to come, resolve now to test one new innovation each month.

Finally, expanding lay involvement invites your community back into active worship leadership. Find a way to incorporate lay voices in reading, prayers, and even preaching. While I have been impressed by what many churches are doing, my overarching critique of virtual worship is that it is far too staff and clergy-centric. To solidify engagement, you need to promote involvement, and that begins with worship online.

Join the Virginia, North Carolina, and Southeast Synods on September 21st at 11 AM EDT for the second of a three-part webinar series on Being Church in a Digital Age. Registration is required at the following link: se-reg.brtapp.com/BeingChurchinaDigitalAge