3 Ways to Engage Church Staff and Volunteers While Social Distancing

As church leaders, we know how important relationships are, especially as we navigate how to lead through the current COVID-19 situation. How can we effectively love and lead our people through new social norms?

Life.Church Albany campus pastor, Christina Ross, shared with us three ways she and her team are rising above the challenge and leveraging technology to be the church.

1. Schedule daily team time.

Loving and leading your staff well means connecting with them on a daily basis. While in-person meetings in the office are a no-go right now, the Life.Church Albany team connects each morning via video call. These digital meetings may be anywhere from 15 minutes to 2 hours but either way, the purpose is the same.

“I want to check-in and see how they are doing, appreciate them, and hear stories of how God is working through this time,” explains Pastor Christina. The team also uses this time to brainstorm how they can be the most effective in their ministry areas right now by asking themselves “What can we do this week to make the most difference in our church?”

2. Have fun on social media.

Social media is becoming more important than ever to effectively engage with your attenders. People are at home and turning to Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to find hope, relief, and relationships. Pastor Christina points out that while we can drive our followers to spiritual content and make posts appreciating all the people helping out, we should also be having fun on social media!

How did her church bring the fun? By hosting a digital game night using Facebook Live!

“We invited people to join so they knew about it ahead of time, then had two of our funniest staff members go live with exciting trivia and challenges for people to do. The chat function was the best part though—our church members were able to engage with one another and it felt like we were all together.”

One attender commented on Facebook, “I need to say thank you to all of you guys. You seriously put the biggest smile on my face and were the highlight of my day.” WIN!

3. Be a leader who is real rather than perfect.

“It’s better to follow a leader who is always real than a leader who is always right.”

-Pastor Craig Groeschel

In today’s world, we want to look like we have it all together. But we know this isn’t the best way to connect with others.

Pastor Christina’s final suggestion is to be real rather than perfect on your own social feed. Finding common ground (and a little humor) not only creates connection but helps your followers see that you are a real person who can be trusted. Posting funny videos of your kids alongside photos of you watching church online as a family can go a long way in creating the community your church is looking for.

We hope you enjoyed these tips from Christina and her team! Hear her share these tips and a few more on our Facebook page.