This week I came across a fascinating infographic by Nielsen about “The Digital Lives of American Moms”. (See the entire infographic here.)
Immediately I began thinking about how in the church world we discuss the value of getting husbands and dads into church so the rest of the family follows. That’s still an important focus, but the data on this infographic supports targeting moms to get a family connected to God and the church.
How can your online outreach appeal to moms?
This topic isn’t a typical one for my blog, but many of you know I’ve been Gluten Free more than a year now. I keep a Pinterest board of Gluten Free Goodness and answer questions and offer advice via Twitter about the gluten free lifestyle, but it’s not something about which I blog much.
Because this is a prevalent issue (and many people remain undiagnosed) I want to share my symptoms, how going Gluten Free improved my life, and how I’m overcoming the weight gain that often accompanies cutting gluten out of one’s diet.
Prior to April 2011 I experienced several years of increasing digestion and pain issues. You can read about my health problems and surgery if you’d like the background information. (The quick and dirty version is some of my organs had grown together as a result of stage 4 Endometriosis and I was experiencing depression, pain, inability to concentrate or remember things, indigestion, headaches, and skin breakouts as a result of my diet.)
Becoming gluten free was like walking out of a fog. I felt like a new woman. Many of my endometriosis symptoms have disappeared, and I no longer worry about having to cancel appointments due to suddenly falling ill or having a food reaction or migraine headache.
While people diagnosed with celiac disease are often underweight and undernourished, I was at a proper weight and BMI at the time I consulted a nutritionist and cut gluten out of my diet. A few months into the gluten free diet I felt so well I was able to train for and run my first half marathon. Despite being very active, however, I continued putting on pounds and couldn’t determine how to stop the increasing number on the scale. Here’s what I’ve been doing the past 3 months to remain gluten free and return to my ideal weight:
1) Weight Training (less cardio – for me this means about 90 minutes a week, tops..and I often do less than this.)
2) I minimized my exposure to convenient gluten free goods. It’s wonderful to have so many G-Free snacks and items on local market shelves, but they are calorie and carb dense, providing little nutrition or sustenance for workouts or daily life.
3) Increase protein intake. I noticed I was filling up on veggies and carbs with less attention paid to protein in my diet. This can be done by adding a combination of beans and meat or tofu to your meals.
Are you gluten free? What are your favorite low-carb meals to eat?
Yes. But not for the legalistic reasons many of us are tempted to cite. It’s not likely that I’ll meet all my lovely online friends face to face this side of heaven, but it is important for us to provide the example of localizing church online (by having meet ups, hosting discussion groups at a coffee shop, or planting a home church, to name a few ideas).
The fact is, when anyone is confronted with the love of Jesus Christ, he cannot help but share it with those in his immediate, local life. Shortly after becoming Christ followers, we realize we carry hope and it’s ours to share with the world around us.
No matter where a person first experiences Christ – online or offline – she can’t sit still too long. She is compelled by the Holy Spirit in her to close the laptop and hit the streets to minister with the rest of the Church.
This is why those of us who are online ministers need to continually encourage attendees to invite neighbors, cousins, and co-workers to church online. It can be as simple as sharing a link and then discussing it over coffee.
Leading church online attendees to make a local impact spreads the hope we’re sharing with them every week. It will multiply our reach!
What are some ways you’ve seen people take the online offline?
Receiving emails from BlueDoor.tv partners in non-English speaking countries always makes my day. The latest update from the Czech Republic is no exception. Pastor Michal and Jiri are passionate about sharing God’s love with people in their country, which is one of the most – if not the most – atheistic countries in all of Europe.
I’m often asked how to improve Facebook ad outcomes, whether online experience time lengths need to change, and how to better engage people in a church online chat room. I make suggestions to every team who contacts me, and yet one principle remains true despite an increasing number of online churches popping up all over the globe: One Size Does NOT Fit All.
Church online attendees in Poland might prefer live prayer to participating in a chat room, and the Slovak attendees are used to seeing messages from a variety of pastors. In America some churches provide a more relaxed online experience and others have more concrete processes. This is not a problem unless we fail to take time to assess our approaches or if we are not doing all we can to be most effective at connecting with the specific audience we believe God is working through us to minister to.
My friends in the Czech Republic provide a creative example of trying different approaches. They’ve produced short videos explaining online church and letting people who speak their language gain a more personal view of church as a whole. This is a great idea and I believe it will work well for them. Here’s one of their videos:
Don’t be afraid to make your own path to get to the people you want to reach.
When our family sold everything we owned and moved overseas in 2007, I anticipated a lot of things but never dreamed I’d become a minimalist. I imagined that once our family put down roots in London we’d accumulate duplicates of the items we had in the US.
While we did add to our belongings, I learned that forming the habit to keep stock of what we already had to avoid waste or clutter could make room for more.
More what?
* freedom
* room in our budget
* space
* trips to the park with my kids (fewer toy pick-up sessions)
* yes’s to invitations
* peace
I’d like to share the two biggest benefits I’ve experienced lately thanks to the choice to continue a minimalist lifestyle (despite living back in suburban US with a husband, dog, and 2 kids).
BOOKS & PEOPLE. That’s right! Well, not books that take up space on a book shelf, but books that fill up my Kindle. Last Fall I analyzed what was (and wasn’t) working in my schedule and realized I was gaining little input from others while working my fingers to the bone. I cut back my work hours, added coffee or lunch dates with people in my area, and used my birthday money to buy digital books. Six months later I feel like a brand new woman.
Here’s the part I don’t want you to miss: identifying what was missing then making room for what I truly needed (community, others’ input and perspective) motivated me to find a way to cut back on what I had that wasn’t necessary. That’s minimalism.
And the change is worth it. It’s breathed life into my friendships and improved my ministry.
What are you missing in life? Don’t tell yourself it’s simply a season. It could be a circumstance that’s here to stay unless you make the change.
Today I want church online leaders and volunteers to discuss what could be the most important question for us at this point in time. I’m in prayer and discussion with other church online leaders to seek good solutions regarding this opportunity at hand.
There are pockets of people who are in close proximity to each other choosing to gather and attend church online in homes, share meals, and have informal small group discussions around messages. This is how our family operated when we lived in Europe, and it was one of the best community and church experiences I had.
Years ago Craig Groeschel told me I’m a minister. I believed him, and my perspective on life has never been the same. Your church online attendees are waiting to hear they are ministers. They must know they have permission to use the creative ideas God gives them to change the world. They need to know that it’s encouraged to invite people over to attend church online with them and discuss the message afterwards. They need to hear that churches can be planted in their local city using the experiences you’re providing every week. Church online attendees need to see examples of people scheduling local coffee meetups in our chat rooms regularly. We must be casting the vision every week in our online experiences and on our Facebook pages to use church online as a means of local outreach. Your attendees will grow (and give) exponentially more if they’re involved.
After reading today’s question, feel free to reply here, on my Facebook page, or via Twitter.
3) We need church online attendees to take up the cause of reaching out locally using the online ministry resources we’re providing. How can we share the vision of church planting potential with our online attendees?
I believe our response and approach to this opportunity is a key element of the future success of online church, and I’m dreaming of the day church online attendees plant thousands upon thousands of churches worldwide.
Since last year’s release of my ebook “The Art of Online Ministry“, I’ve connected with countless church leaders and volunteers. You’re all very passionate about connecting with people who are unwilling or unable to attend a local church, and it’s fun hashing out plans to try to make our approaches even more effective for God’s glory. Every good leader has blind spots, though, and I think it would be wise for us to lift our heads from our work at this time and look around to gain perspective.
After reading today’s question, feel free to reply here, on my Facebook page, or via Twitter.
Today we’ll discuss Question 2:
2) Are there trends as to what is NOT working in our online churches?
I’d wager that if you see an issue in your online church there are many other church leaders sensing the same. It’s time to face these sticky situations head-on so we can all get unstuck.
I’ll get the ball rolling: I’ve heard from a few of you that getting volunteers to commit and small groups to form are two issues. Is this true for you?
PS – Did you miss yesterday’s discussion on Question 1: How do we gather passionate church online leaders in a global network to learn from each other?
Don’t miss tomorrow’s post! I’m asking a significant question about the single most important opportunity I believe we all need to maximize.
It’s been just over a year since I released my ebook “The Art of Online Ministry“. Thousands of you in many different countries have read it and contacted me with questions or success stories about your online church launches. This is exciting! Now it’s time for those of you who are ministering online to move into new phases of development and expansion.
Our family began dreaming about and focusing on expanding church online globally about 5 years ago, and our overseas online church planting adventure launched shortly thereafter. It’s been thrilling being a thought leader in online ministry, and I remember back when there were only one or two online churches. Today there are hundreds worldwide!
I’d be failing our community of online ministers if I didn’t challenge us all to accelerate our efforts in some key areas. Let’s discuss them! After reading today’s question, feel free to reply here, on my Facebook page, or via Twitter.
At this point in time, there are 3 key areas of discussion I believe those of us who are ministering online must process. Today we’ll discuss Question 1:
1) How do we gather passionate church online leaders in a global network to learn from each other? (Trust me, fellow Americans – some online churches I know overseas are more creative than we’ve had to be due to limitations. There’s much we can learn from each other!)
There’s currently an active online ministers Facebook group. If you’d like to join, add me as a friend on Facebook and send me a note asking to join the group. Give me a little bit of information about yourself, and I’ll introduce you to the group.
Can you share with us your ideas or what you’re already doing to engage with other online ministers or online church teams?
PS – If you haven’t already, be sure to add your online church’s information to this Google doc list! (Note there are separate pages for international and US online churches.)
Stewardship of resources is a value we should all live by. But sometimes in an effort to run a tight ship we go overboard.
Are you cutting corners anywhere in life that will end up costing you in the long run?
Have you ever experienced an unexpected change in circumstances where your life suddenly feels unsteady?
Yesterday began as a normal, productive day. Around 9:30am, however, I put my laptop down and stood up to get something – and the room was spinning. I sat down, closed my eyes, and it felt as though the darkness was moving up and to the left. Then I laid down – bad idea. It seemed I was going to roll off the couch onto the floor.
When a sudden change happens in our lives, we often ask ourselves: “Is this a good thing, or is it a bad thing?” Because my vertigo has some other symptoms present with it, I saw my doctor yesterday afternoon. I still have testing to be done but in the mean time we’re attacking the vertigo head on. She sent me home with a list of rehabilitation exercises to do at home, and I was surprised by what I learned. The materials read:
“Most patients with vertigo prefer to keep their heads still. However, staying still and not moving the head can make it harder to cope with vertigo.”
The therapy exercises I’m doing involve making sudden turns with my head, flopping down on my side, and jolting upright from a position of laying down. These activities train my eyes and senses to compensate for the sudden movements and adjust to them more quickly.
Has a sudden change left you barely able to function? Lean into it. Don’t sit still. The sooner you face and experience the unwelcome, the sooner you’ll adjust to (and maybe even welcome) it.
