5 Reasons You Should Continue Online Ministry at Your Church

As pastors and church leaders, we’re all excited to get back into our physical buildings soon. But what about church online? Have you given much thought to how you’ll continue online ministry once your physical locations reopen? 

Here at Open Network, we’ve heard so many stories about how your churches are reaching people all around the world because of how you’re leveraging technology and streaming services online through the Church Online Platform.

So, what if church online isn’t just the solution to a temporary problem during the COVID-19 season? What if doing church online can be a continual complement to the work you’re already doing?

5 Reasons to Continue Church Online

1. People may not come back right away.

We can’t make the assumption that when the doors of our church reopen, everyone is going to return right away. Our focus may shift to being in a physical building, but the reality is that everyone will navigate within themselves when they’re ready to return to the physical building. We can stay connected to our people and be an influence in their lives in this transition season. We can continue to offer church online as an option for them to connect with us and what God is doing in our communities. This will help people continue to feel a sense of belonging even when they aren’t with us physically!

2. We can reach people who are disinterested in church.

We know that people of faith come from different locations and backgrounds, but one thing that we all have in common is our mission to spread the message of the Gospel in our communities. Our passion is to reach people for Christ, but what about the people who are hesitant to set foot in church? There are so many reasons why people are disinterested in spiritual things, and many of those reasons probably have to do with negative past experiences. Church online allows attenders to remain anonymous and explore their faith without stepping into a church building. 

3. Some people aren’t physically able to attend church.

Because of the Church Online Platform, we’ve heard for years of the impact churches are making  in prisons, hospital rooms, and nursing homes around the world. The unique and urgent message that your churches are communicating is one that can make an impact far beyond your sphere of influence. There are so many people without transportation or physical ability, that may be caretakers or have jobs that prevent them from physically being able to walk through your doors on the weekend. We can continue to reach these people with the Gospel if we continue to provide a church experience for them online!

4. People outside of our communities need to hear the Gospel.

One of our Aligning Values at Life.Church is this: “We will do anything short of sin to reach people who don’t know Christ.” To reach people no one is reaching, we’ll have to do things no one is doing! The reality is, we can influence people through church online that we’ll never cross paths with in our communities. In the words of Pastor Sam Roberts, “Why would we ever limit the scope of our reach when there’s a tool that sits in front of us that make us able to extend our physical ministries across the globe?” Church online allows you to reach people you could not reach physically!

5. Church online is a great invite tool.

One of the easiest ways for people to invite friends or family to church is to send a link to watch a service online. We’ve heard stories about husbands joining their wives at church online in their living rooms long before they were comfortable attending church in person! This is one of the great things about church online! The fact that people can join us for a service before they even set foot in our church buildings is an incredible invite tool. Many people will decide to join us for a physical service because they got to be a part of church online first. 


As we reopen our physical buildings, instead of focusing on going back to normal, we must create a new normal. Church does not exist the same way it did before; we were innovative in this season and we saw growth in our ministries. We can continue to reach into homes, prisons, retirement communities, and hospital rooms around the world through church online. God has opened up a new avenue for spreading the message of Christ by leveraging technology, and we believe it’s one that is sustainable!

FOMO is real, so don’t take chances.

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