Dr. James Emery White

This is the second installment of a three-part series on what a hybrid-informed strategy for church growth entails. I’ve written an entire book exploring this, titled Hybrid Church, but let me introduce its depth in a simple way. Again, here’s our six-step strategy.

Meck’s Six-Step Hybrid Strategy

1. Hi!

2. Come and See

3. Get Connected

4. Cross the Line

5. Grow

6. Make a Difference

To introduce how a hybrid approach changes things, we started by looking at the first of the six steps – “Hi!” – which you can read here. Now let’s move on to the second step.

Step Two: Come and See

As a step, this isn’t novel to anyone’s thinking. You build a relationship, and then invite them to attend. But what do you invite them to attend? For Meck, for years this was an invitation to a weekend service. During that service we would do everything we could to have it be welcoming, engaging, explanatory and inviting.

This is the secret power of the Church in regard to penetrating the world. It always has been. The late Michael Green wrote a treatise on the explosion of the early Christian Church in the first century. Let me give you the CliffsNotes: They shared the gospel like it was gossip over the backyard fence. 

It’s how any growing church grows. For example, for more than three decades of outreach at Meck we’ve tracked why first-time guests come to our church. Every first-time guest who lets us know they attended is asked four questions in a follow-up survey:

1. What did you notice first?
2. What did you like best?
3. How could we have improved?
4. How did you hear about the church?

The number one answer for that final question has never changed.  The most cited reason for attending has always been, “Invited by a friend.”    

But what has changed is what we first invite them to. Our guests are still saying they are invited by a friend, but that first invitation now tends to be to an online event or service. Whether a visit to a website or an online campus, the front door is no longer physical, but rather digital. 

Here are the new assumptions: First, people want to check a church out online before attending in person, just like they want to check everything else out first online. Second, they may attend or view online for months before an in-person visit—if even then. Third, they want to be able to interact online. Finally, they are accustomed to being served digitally in almost every way.

This is how they want to be engaged; this is the only way the vast majority will even consider being engaged. We will either open that front door or leave it firmly closed to them. 

So is it open at your church?

Can someone check you out online, engage with you online or attend online? Can your current attenders invite their friends to begin online? Think everything through digitally the way you have currently been thinking everything through physically. 

For in-person events, you have signage, greeters and welcome areas. You create an atmosphere and experience designed to serve the needs of first-time guests. It’s no different for your online presence.

Then encourage your church to invite their friends digitally. Make not only the “Hi!” but the “Come and See” hybrid in nature, involving both physical, in-person invites and online, digital invites. And make no mistake—digital invites are easier to make and respond to than physical invites. “Come to church with me this Sunday at our campus on Browne Road” is vastly different than “Hey, you ought to check this out online.” 

Put yourselves in the shoes of an unchurched person and ask yourself which is less intimidating: showing up for something in person or online? We know, don’t we? I can’t begin to tell you how many times (as in almost every week) a first-time guest on our online campus will pop up in the chat room and say, “I can’t believe I’m here for this—I would never have shown up in person.”

Now here’s what we have found happens when you open the digital front door like this. The physical and the digital begin to organically intertwine. That’s the real nature of hybrid. Not solely physical or solely digital, but instead both—coming together in a synergistic way. This is when the “Come and See” reaches its full potential.

For example, we are finding that there is community-based outreach that happens through an online campus that cannot happen in person. We have groups gathering to watch in company conference rooms during lunch breaks, at breweries and through house parties. One online attender who works at an Amazon shipping area told us they put the service on the sound system for their dock. 

One of my favorite stories is how a small group began attending through our online campus at their downtown office building during their Tuesday lunch hour. Word spread, and soon more and more people began attending with them—many who were not Christians.  There were Hindus, Muslims, “nones.” It got so large that at around 50 or so people, they had to break up and meet in three locations. 

They all call Tuesday their “church day.”

A day that would never have been called that apart from a hybrid approach to outreach.

Which brings us to step three in the six-step strategy – “Getting Connected” – which may have already surprised some by being put third instead of later on in the game. 

Part three of this series will explain why it must come next, and how doing it in a hybrid way is a game-changer.

James Emery White

 

Sources

James Emery White, Hybrid Church (Zondervan), order from Amazon.

Michael Green, Evangelism in the Early Church.

About the Author

James Emery White is the founding and senior pastor of Mecklenburg Community Church in Charlotte, NC, and a former professor of theology and culture at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, where he also served as their fourth president. His latest book, Hybrid Church: Rethinking the Church for a Post-Christian Digital Age, is now available on Amazon or from your favorite bookseller. To enjoy a free subscription to the Church & Culture blog, visit churchandculture.org where you can view past blogs in our archive, read the latest church and culture news from around the world, and listen to the Church & Culture Podcast. Follow Dr. White on X, Facebook and Instagram at @JamesEmeryWhite.

James Emery White is the founding and senior pastor of Mecklenburg Community Church in Charlotte, NC, and a former professor of theology and culture at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, where he also served as their fourth president. His latest book, Hybrid Church: Rethinking the Church for a Post-Christian Digital Age, is now available on Amazon or from your favorite bookseller. To enjoy a free subscription to the Church & Culture blog, visit churchandculture.org where you can view past blogs in our archive, read the latest church and culture news from around the world, and listen to the Church & Culture Podcast. Follow Dr. White on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at @JamesEmeryWhite.

The idea of a hybrid church is simple. When we talk about a hybrid vehicle, we are talking about something that uses two or more distinct types of power, such as a submarine that uses diesel when surfaced and batteries when submerged, or a car that runs on gas and electricity. When we are talking about a hybrid church, we are talking about a church that is also harnessing two types of power—the physical and the digital.

The digital revolution has taken place. There’s no going back. Churches will either embrace the new world – which means the new mission field and the new way of reaching it – or become obsolete, irrelevant, and completely out of touch with the world they are trying to reach.

But what does that mean? What would a strategy, based on this, look like? I’ve written an entire book to answer that question, titled Hybrid Church, but let me introduce its depth in a simple way. The church I founded more than 30 years ago, Mecklenburg Community Church (Meck), has always had a strategy. And, for more than 30 years, it hasn’t changed.

The steps themselves are probably not new to your thinking, but the way they are applied – at least, in a truly hybrid model – may be. By truly going hybrid, Meck is growing faster now than at any other time in its history. Our average in-person attendance from January to June of this year compared to January to June of last year has increased by 40%. Our online attendance has increased by 50%.

So what are we doing differently as a hybrid church? First, here’s our six-step strategy:

Meck’s Six-Step Hybrid Strategy

1. Hi!

2. Come and See

3. Get Connected

4. Cross the Line

5. Grow

6. Make a Difference

Now, to explain how becoming hybrid changes things, let’s detail the first three steps, beginning with “Hi!”

Step One: “Hi!”

The first step is to reach out to a post-Christian, unchurched world and say, “Hi!”; meaning, introducing ourselves to who it is we are trying to reach. The first thing we want to do is initiate some kind of relationship with people, some point of contact.

That’s been at the forefront of Meck’s strategy from day one. We build a relationship with someone who isn’t involved in a church and/or who isn’t in a relationship with God. This used to be done solely through personal interaction. We would talk about the importance of intentionally building relationships outside of the church. For example, I did it through coaching my son’s basketball teams and getting to know the parents of the other kids. Or through strategic patronage—building a relationship with a barista or the person who cuts my hair. Reaching out to neighbors, friends, coworkers, family.

This has been foundational to our thinking and our way of living out our mission, and it still is. Without a doubt, the way someone far from God draws close to God is if someone close to God goes far to reach them. 

But in a hybrid world, you need to have the digital come alongside the physical. The online with the embodied. So starting with “Hi!” means not only a physical hand across a backyard fence, but also a digital hand across an online fence.

The importance of this can’t be overstated.

James Carville was the lead political strategist for the successful election of Bill Clinton, then governor of Arkansas, to the Presidency of the United States. He distilled the campaign to three messages: “Change vs. more of the same,” “Don’t forget health care,” and most importantly, “It’s the economy, stupid.” 

The U.S. was in the midst of an economic recession, and the incessant focus on the economy by Clinton ended with his unseating of then President George H.W. Bush. This despite Bush earlier polling a 90% approval rating following the invasion of Kuwait. If you didn’t live through that like I did, it’s hard to convey how stunning that political turnaround was. But Carville was right in seeing that the real issue – what mattered most to people – was the economy, and then painting Clinton as the one best able to turn it around.

If I had to distill a message to pastors, church leaders, and any and all others interested in the vitality of the church in relation to the practice of ministry, it would be this:

“It’s the internet, stupid.” 

It’s where we now say “Hi!” It’s where the majority of the people you are trying to reach live. 

Americans, on average, visit more than eight websites a day, amounting to more than 3,000 websites per year. As the chief marketing officer at Squarespace said, “Browsing the web plays a central role in our daily lives.” One could even argue that it plays the central role. 

Yet one recent study found that only 21% of church leaders agreed that they have a “well-defined digital ministry strategy to engage with people who are outside the church and outside the faith.” Which means, of course, that almost 80% don’t.

So step one in our six-step strategy is to say “Hi!” to the unchurched world, to build a relationship, and to do it both in person and online. 

And the ways you do that are not complicated. You have an online presence – an online existence – that is interactive and welcoming. And you make sure your website, your postings on Instagram and TikTok and X, your digital marketing, an online campus and services are all designed to reach out.

But then, of course, comes step two: “Come and See.” And in a hybrid world, that has changed, too.

And that’s what we’ll explore in the next blog.

James Emery White

 

Sources

James Emery White, Hybrid Church (Zondervan), order from Amazon.

Kate Mabus, “Online or In-Person? Gen Z and Millennials Find Digital Life More Memorable, Study Shows,” USA Today, July 1, 2021, read online.

Carey Nieuwhof, “3 Shocking Statistics That Show How Quickly, Radically (and Permanently?) Church Has Changed Since 2020,” read online.

About the Author

James Emery White is the founding and senior pastor of Mecklenburg Community Church in Charlotte, NC, and a former professor of theology and culture at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, where he also served as their fourth president. His latest book, Hybrid Church: Rethinking the Church for a Post-Christian Digital Age, is now available on Amazon or from your favorite bookseller. To enjoy a free subscription to the Church & Culture blog, visit churchandculture.org where you can view past blogs in our archive, read the latest church and culture news from around the world, and listen to the Church & Culture Podcast. Follow Dr. White on X, Facebook and Instagram at @JamesEmeryWhite.

James Emery White is the founding and senior pastor of Mecklenburg Community Church in Charlotte, NC, and a former professor of theology and culture at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, where he also served as their fourth president. His latest book, Hybrid Church: Rethinking the Church for a Post-Christian Digital Age, is now available on Amazon or from your favorite bookseller. To enjoy a free subscription to the Church & Culture blog, visit churchandculture.org where you can view past blogs in our archive, read the latest church and culture news from around the world, and listen to the Church & Culture Podcast. Follow Dr. White on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at @JamesEmeryWhite.

Editor’s Note: This blog is a favorite of the Church & Culture Team and has become a Thanksgiving tradition. Enjoy, and Happy Thanksgiving!

The barracks where Corrie ten Boom and her sister, Betsy, were kept in the Nazi concentration camp Ravensbruck were terribly overcrowded and flea-infested.

Corrie and Betsy had been able to miraculously smuggle a Bible into the camp, and in that Bible they had read that in all things they were to give thanks and that God can use anything for good.

Betsy decided that this meant thanking God for the fleas.

This was too much for Corrie, who said she could do no such thing. Betsy insisted, so Corrie gave in and prayed to God, thanking Him even for the fleas.

Over the next several months a wonderful, but curious, thing happened: They found that the guards never entered their barracks. 

This meant that the women were not assaulted. 

It also meant that they were able to do the unthinkable, which was to hold open Bible studies and prayer meetings in the heart of a Nazi concentration camp.

Through this, countless numbers of women came to faith in Christ.

Only at the end did they discover why the guards had left them alone and would not enter their barracks:

It was because of the fleas.

This Thanksgiving, give thanks to God for every good and perfect gift (James 1:17), but also thank Him for how He will use all things for good in the lives of those who trust Him (Romans 8:28). 

In a time of economic uncertainty, in a time when many are facing physical and emotional challenges, there can be little doubt that such a trusting prayer of gratitude will be challenging to consider.

But when you feel that challenge, take a moment and remember the fleas of Ravensbruck.

And thank God anyway.

James Emery White

Sources    

Corrie ten Boom, The Hiding Place.

About the Author

James Emery White is the founding and senior pastor of Mecklenburg Community Church in Charlotte, NC, and a former professor of theology and culture at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, where he also served as their fourth president. His latest book, Hybrid Church: Rethinking the Church for a Post-Christian Digital Age, is now available on Amazon or from your favorite bookseller. To enjoy a free subscription to the Church & Culture blog, visit churchandculture.org where you can view past blogs in our archive, read the latest church and culture news from around the world, and listen to the Church & Culture Podcast. Follow Dr. White on X, Facebook and Instagram at @JamesEmeryWhite.    

James Emery White is the founding and senior pastor of Mecklenburg Community Church in Charlotte, NC, and a former professor of theology and culture at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, where he also served as their fourth president. His latest book, Hybrid Church: Rethinking the Church for a Post-Christian Digital Age, is now available on Amazon or from your favorite bookseller. To enjoy a free subscription to the Church & Culture blog, visit churchandculture.org where you can view past blogs in our archive, read the latest church and culture news from around the world, and listen to the Church & Culture Podcast. Follow Dr. White on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at @JamesEmeryWhite.