Nieuwhof: Returning to pre-pandemic church life not the goal

Podcaster and author Carey Nieuwhof challenged church leaders to look to the future—not return to pre-pandemic church life.

Addressing the Future Church 2030 Conference in Bryan, the founding pastor of Connexus Church in Cental Ontario discussed “Why the Old Model of Church No Longer Works.”

Nieuwhof noted troubling statistics about churches prior to the COVID-19 global pandemic. The percentage of plateaued or declining churches was on the rise. A Barna poll showed 94 percent of churches were growing slower than their communities. Now, as the worst of the pandemic appears to be behind the United States, most churches are at 40 percent to 70 percent of their pre-COVID numbers.

Early in the pandemic, many churches became innovative, finding new ways to broadcast their messages digitally, doing creative outreach in their communities and rising to face the challenges of COVID-19 head-on, Nieuwhof noted.

Moving forward, not looking back

Coming back to the church post-pandemic, many thought things would return to “normal,” but people put too much emphasis on going “back” to a certain way of doing things, he said.

“Getting back to 2019 isn’t a vision. Moving forward is a vision,” he said.

One reason the old model of church has stopped working is because it has not kept up with the modern spirit of technology. Too many churches operate like cable television in the 1980s, when viewers had to turn to the right channel at the right time or they missed a program. Society today, however, operates more like streaming services—making things available at all times to fit peoples’ schedules.

“If coming to Christ means coming to your church at a set location and a set hour, you need a new strategy,” Nieuwhof said.

To adapt to how society is changing, churches need to embrace that new mindset, Nieuwhof said. Churches should continue to find innovative ways to engage people who may be worshiping with them, not in the building but in various times and places.

A full room does not mean a fulfilled mission, Nieuwhof said. There are thousands of people a church can engage through the Internet and other digital resources, he asserted.

Nieuwhof clarified he did not intend to diminish the power and importance of in-person church services.

“I care about in-person church a lot, but I’m overcorrecting on the digital side because the church is undercorrecting on the digital side,” he explained.

Seven trends churches need to embrace

Nieuwhof identified seven trends churches of the future will need to embrace in order to grow.

• Wise leaders will fulfill the mission, not just fill a room.

Leaders of churches will need to see that even though they have a full sanctuary, that does not mean they are reaching the most people.

Nieuwhof likened it to a restaurant saying it would not accept takeout orders because it had full tables. When churches have this mindset, they are missing out on reaching even more people with the gospel, he asserted.

Wise leaders will refuse to shrink the size of their ministry’s vision to the size of the room they can fill, Nieuwhof explained.

• Churches will become digital organizations with physical locations.

Should ministry be digital or physical? Nieuwhof argued that future-thinking pastors should realize the answer to that question should be “yes.”

Offering in-person gatherings and ministry on Sundays is important, but Nieuwhof argued if churches only offer that one hour of discipleship a week, they are missing out on the other 167 hours of ministry. During the rest of the week, people are being influenced by outside sources, like celebrities, pop culture and other secular voices, instead of the church.

“We have an opportunity to influence people all week long,” Nieuwhof explained.

He suggested using Instagram to share brief biblical messages, or sending out emails throughout the week with Christ-centered messages as examples of two small and easy ways to enhance a church’s digital ministry.

• Hybrid church will simply become church.

Nieuwhof explained much of the world operates on a hybrid format now. If someone goes to a new city and is looking for a restaurant, the visitor might look it up on Yelp and read the menu online, before going to the restaurant in-person. Similarly, people are experiencing and watching a church online before they ever step through the doors.

Furthermore, many people will continue to split their time between attending church in-person and online to meet their schedules. The number of people participating in the mission of the church who are not in the building on Sunday will surpass the number of people inside the building, Nieuwhof  predicted.

• Ministry will shift from centralized to decentralized.

When people see church attendance is declining rapidly, that often just accounts for in-person attendance. There are many who are tuning in on weekdays to listen to a church message. Nieuwhof asked church leaders to reflect on if the people who attend online “count” at their church, or if they are treated as inactive parts of the church.

Ministry and gatherings are still happening, they may just not happen in the same central location, he said.

• On-demand access will surpass live events.

“When it’s online, people don’t care if it was put online four years ago, four minutes ago, or goes live next week. If it’s good, they want to listen,” Nieuwhof said.

As people continue to move around more post-pandemic, whether it is for work, vacation or just their lifestyle, an on-demand approach will help people listen to churches’ content when they need it. People do not care if the message is new; they care if the message is great, Nieuwhof explained.

• In-person events will become more personal.

There is an increasing push for people to want to be known in the spaces they are in. For the church, that means creating a community where people feel valued and connected instead of a number in the pew on a Sunday morning.

“The goal is not to have a church where everybody knows everybody. It’s a church where everyone is known,” Nieuwhof explained.

• In-person events will become more transcendent.

Now that more things are available online, people want to get something different out of their in-person experience. Nieuwhof compared it to listening to a live album versus being at the concert; it is the feeling of “you had to be there.”

Experiences that can be downloaded and accessed easily are the norm. In a culture of quick, unending content, people are looking for an alternative experience, not an echo of what it already has.

“We’re so saturated these days by all this media, and people come in [to church] and want to feel something,” Nieuwhof said.

Above all, Nieuwhof emphasized a Christ-centered, authentic church will draw people regardless of how “trendy” they are. Creating an online presence does not have to be about chasing what is cool or “in,” he said. It has to be about offering something that this world does not.

“Churches who deliver hope, not hype, online will have a bright future,” he said.