Interactive Church

After writing the Micromegachurch post, I started to think about other ways to use low and high technology to enhance the church service experience. Since I am old and prone to forget, I am posting some ideas here shortly after they came, so some or all may be less than realistic.

1. Use of texting.

What a blessed thing that pretty much everyone has a way to communicate with one another quietly and simultaneously. Around here cell phone use is virtually universal.

In church now I typically use my phone to take sermon notes, read Bible passages, look up unusual words, and text friends and relatives when a light bulb goes off in my head on a pressing issue.

What I don't do now is use texting to interact with the pastor or other church members during service.

My thought is that service attenders can text messages to a common service address during the service either with name attached or anonymously. While the sermon is being watched, a "QA Pastor" for that service can be reading and highlighting comments and questions as they come in. After the sermon is completed, the Question and Answer Pastor will take the floor and display the entire feed to the congregation, providing answers as possible within reasonable time constraints. During that time the congregants can continue to add to the feed.

I can envision this QA session becoming the liveliest and most anticipated part of the service, as many come to church specifically looking for answers to questions. The answers can be refined and added to an FAQ section on the church web site on a continuous basis so congregants can be trained to look there for commonly asked questions and answers, even during the service.

2. Use of name tags.

How many people does the typical church attender see on the street and recognize but not know the name and therefore pass on by without any attempt at fellowship?

Years ago, when I taught in a special program in inner city schools, we always every time had every child and classroom visitor put a simple standing name card on their desk in front of them. We wrote every one of these reusable name cards ourselves to make sure they were legible. As a result, on the rare occasions when I have seen these now adult children, I may still remember their names because I saw that face and that name card together over and over and over.

Meanwhile, there are hundreds of people I have seen recently almost every week in church, many of whom I've met once or twice, and I have zero recollection of their names because there has been no repetition to reinforce the association between face and name.

The idea here is to ask everyone in attendance (and leadership) to wear a simple sricky paper name tag with first and last names clearly written. We will do this for the benefit of the seekers more than the benefit of the regulars. The regulars should be taught to show up with their own freshly lettered name tags in their pockets ready to put on so their is no congestion at the door where the seekers and regulars who forgot will have the opportunity to write their own name tags similar to displayed samples. And a greeter will explain that any name or thing they wish to write or not write is perfectly fine.

Children who cannot produce an easily legible name tag on their own should have their name tags written by an adult.

We could also encourage that people, if willing, write their cell phone number along the bottom of their name tag. This will enhance communication opportunities for all.

Who doesn't want to go to a place where everybody knows their name?

3. Use of video

Video is currently used by medium and large sized churches extensively. I believe the micromegachurch has the opportunity to use video in exciting ways.

Most video shot in churches today is focused on the platform. I think a micromegachurch will benefit from focusing video on the congregation. I don't think there is much expectation now of privacy in a church setting.

A few inexpensive and inconspicuous cameras, facing the front and facing the back, can capture and sync what's going on in the seats and what's going on up front, allowing the leadership (and anyone else who wants to see it) a way to review each service and understand what seems to "work" and what is perhaps not so beneficial.

These same video feeds can be used to take attendance, zoomed to pick up visitor information off name tags, and identify potential safety issues. They can alert the pastoral staff to congregants who appear to be going through difficult times that may spur the church to proactive action. Video transfers these tasks from real time to a later time, also allowing leaders to evaluate their own effectiveness.