5 ways to reclaim the creativity and connection of online church in a hybrid world
by: Rev. Jim Keat
Six years ago this week, countless churches told congregants to stay home on Sunday as they dove in (were thrown in?) to the deep end of online church.
We drastically changed the way we gather, learning to navigate Zoom and livestream options, replicating our liturgies for digital spaces, and maybe even beginning to reimagine them.
As we made our way back to our buildings a year or so later—we were online only for 18 months over at The Riverside Church!—many churches began to lose the flexibility we had gained for online worship, returning to “the way things used to be.”
We could talk about how there is no way we can ever “go back,” as the world has shifted into a new normal, though churches have a long history of struggling to keep up—but that’s an article for another day.
In this one, I want to offer five ideas for hybrid worship, ways that you can stretch the muscles you had built during the months of online-only worship but may have let atrophy today. These ideas are less about the technology and more about how we engage people with whatever technology we are using. Whether you have someone streaming from an iPhone or a ten-camera livestream setup, these five ideas are for all of us.
1. Assign an Online Greeter
This is not about doing anything new but is simply about being intentional. If most of your congregants are walking through an entrance to your building or sanctuary, you would probably make sure that someone was standing there to say hello and hand out a bulletin. Why should it be any different online?
Whether you have people gathering on Zoom or for a livestream on YouTube or any other platform, assign an online greeter to welcome people as they join the space and engage people in the chat.
I often think that if someone does harness the bravery to say hello in a live chat and is met with utter silence, how likely are they to engage that way again? They retreat to a passive online experience, leaning back rather than being invited in. But when they are welcomed and greeted by name, when they are engaged in a simple but significant conversation, they feel seen and connected, leaning in to this community, even if they might be online.
In my context at The Riverside Church, we always have someone assigned to the live chat on YouTube, welcoming people as worship begins, sharing essential information (how to download the bulletin, links for any events that are mentioned, answering any questions that people might have), and being a real, authentic human being in an online space filled with other real human beings.
It’s not about using any special technology. It’s about being an incarnational presence, even (especially?) in online spaces.
2. Ask Questions
It’s not uncommon to ask congregants questions during a worship service, though they tend to be rhetorical and just a mental exercise to help us make some other point. But with this one, I mean that we literally ask questions that we want to have answered, specifically to online congregants.
If you wonder why your live chat is silent, it might be that no one knows what to say! Asking a question is an easy way to spark engagement.
Every Sunday at The Riverside Church, we ask two questions to our online congregants as part of the welcome: we ask people where they are joining from, and then we ask a question specific to the themes of the sermon and that day’s service. (That second question is something that the preacher comes up with each week. This is also a helpful sermon-writing practice, as it forces you to think about what you’ll be preaching from another angle.)
But more than just asking these questions, we turn around and share the responses in that worship service. Our online greeter/host collects all the responses and passes them along to one of the pastors in the room. During the passing of the peace, we share how far the peace is being passed that morning, listing the states and countries that everyone has shared. This simple addition to the liturgy does (at least) two things: it reminds congregants in the room that they are not the only ones gathered for worship, and it lets the online congregants know that we know they are with us, rather than fading into the digital background.
For the answers to the question, these are shared as a way to transition people back from all the extroverted, extended energy during the passing of the peace: “As you make your way back to your seats, listen to a few responses to today’s question…” Not only does this help transition to the next part of the worship service, but it amplifies the often silent voices of online congregants, sharing their words with the entire congregation and allowing them to offer ideas and insights that help shape the spiritual formation of the community.
This is less about a secret trick and more about being intentional: asking questions and sharing the responses. And it can become a core aspect of the online and onsite community you are cultivating as your congregation gathers for worship.
3. Light a Candle Together
Too often, the default posture for people worshipping online is passive: sit back and watch church happen. But something as simple as lighting a candle can help online congregants actively engage and see their space and this time as sacred.
Your liturgy likely includes a call to worship or prayer of invocation. As this is being led from the physical space, light a candle as part of this ritual, and invite congregants online to light a candle in their space, mirroring the action they see happening and allowing a simple act (lighting a candle) to be filled with significance.
In order for this to work, you will need to do two things. First, you need to let online congregants know in advance to have a candle and matches ready as they gather for worship. This could be something you share in a weekly email or other announcements, or something you include as part of the welcome before worship begins. Second, you will need to do this again and again and again, allowing it to become a regular rhythm in your community and something online congregants can anticipate each week—one week becoming a reminder for what they should have ready the following week.
Something as simple as inviting online congregants to light a candle and mirror the experience happening in the room is a way to recognize that online worship is always experienced in person. Lighting a candle is an embodied way to engage everyone, wherever they might be.
4. Make Eye Contact
Imagine sitting across from someone for coffee, but rather than looking directly at them, you spend the whole conversation looking off to the side or just over their shoulder. How connected and engaged would they feel? How long do you think the conversation would last? Do you think they would want to join you for coffee again the following week?
This is often the experience we impose upon online congregants, spending most (all?) of our time looking at the people in the room and forgetting (ignoring?) the cameras—and all the people worshiping online just behind the lens.
Six years ago, when we were all online-only, we made constant eye contact with online congregants. But the minute a dozen bodies returned to the room, we shifted our gaze to the people in the room, even if we knew they were only a minority of the gathered congregation.
My general principle is to look at most of the people most of the time and all of the people some of the time. And to do this, you need to know where most of the people are—in the room or online—and be intentional about engaging in both spaces.
It’s common for people to look to the camera during specific moments when the online congregation is mentioned or when online groups or events are highlighted. But often these are the only moments of intentional eye contact. Do we look at the people in the room only during the moments when onsite congregants are specifically mentioned or when we are mentioning events happening in the building? No. Looking at the people gathered in the physical space becomes our default posture, implicitly privileging one segment of our congregation over the other.
Ultimately, this tip is about awareness and intentionality. It’s difficult to feel seen if no one ever looks your way. As the worship leader or preacher, are you aware of all the people? And are you intentional about connecting with them, wherever they might be, with something as simple as making eye contact?
5. Host Virtual Coffee Hour
If you asked me what one thing has made the biggest impact on the online congregation at Riverside, I would invite you to join us for Virtual Coffee Hour so you can experience it for yourself. (And yes, I’ve talked and written about this before.)
It’s one thing to stare at a screen and know that you are sharing this experience with dozens (hundreds?) of other online congregants—but what do we do after the closing hymn, benediction, and postlude? Do we just leave the video, close our browser, and go on with our day? Was church just another show to binge or a video to swipe past?
Childhood rhymes are quick to remind us that the church is not a building, but the church is the people. For congregants who are online, having a Zoom space where they can connect, catch up, and reflect on the shared experience helps us remember—and experience—church as the people.
It’s as simple as having a space available and someone ready to welcome and host. At Riverside, we typically begin by inviting people to share any updates from their life and ministry before we shift to talking about the worship service. We share the moments that especially moved us, how the sermon and service empower us to step into the world around us, as well as any ideas for how to make the online experience even more engaging. (Our Virtual Coffee Hour community has become a regular focus group for me, helping come up with new ideas to include in worship, as well as ways to help congregants stay connected and engaged throughout the week.)
One other thing we do at Riverside is have a laptop set up in the robing room so Sunday’s preacher can join us for the last half hour after they are finished greeting onsite congregants at the door. This means that our online congregants feel seen and connected in an incredible way, having the opportunity to talk with the preacher—often our Senior Minister—every single week.
Of all the things I’ve listed here, this final idea is the one I hope every congregation with online worshippers will try because hybrid worship is about intentionally creating (and shifting) a culture—the rhythms that become implicit in our experience of church, theology, and spirituality. It’s more than just what cameras to use and how to best use Zoom (though that’s all important as well). It’s about how we do whatever we do—the awareness and intentionality we bring.
Looking for More Ideas?
You can join The Commons! It’s an online Community of Practice, and we have a space set up all about Digital Ministry. And in April, I’ll be leading a series of three Community of Practice gatherings all about digital ministry: AI, Substack, and hybrid worship.
Join The Commons. Connect with others around digital ministry (and more!). And let’s continue to step into this brave new world together.