In this Take 5 interview we talk with Ken McIntyre from Hope City Church in Edmonton about their online presence as a church, how it is helping the church grow and what are some of the things they are learning through this process.
In this Take 5 interview we talk with Ken McIntyre from Hope City Church in Edmonton about their online presence as a church, how it is helping the church grow and what are some of the things they are learning through this process.
Transcript of Podcast by Multiply Network
Created to champion church multiplication, provide learning and inspire new disciple-
making communities across Canada
2019 – Ken McIntyre
Paul Fraser: Welcome to Take 5. I’m here with Ken McIntyre. We have just finished a week of youth camp. We watched over twenty kids get baptized. But that’s not what we’re here to talk about. Ken is the associate pastor at Hope City Church, responsible for the online experience.
Why don’t you just tell us in a minute what it looks like, the vision behind, philosophy?
Ken McIntyre
A. Yes. Well, it started without much of any of that. We kind of just put it up online and we just saw so many people engaging with us online. So we’re seeing some of the numbers and we’re like this really seems to be something grabbing some attention. So then we kind of put a little strategy behind it. So now we stream, live-stream our three services on Sunday mornings and we see about six hundred fifty, on average, unique viewers every week. So we have been able to do some custom Google analytics to figure out that exact number because it is kind of important.
We’re still walking through what that looks like and what that means but that is kind of what is happening right now.
Q. Yes. So the heart behind it though because people are engaging, some people they come to church maybe once, twice a month, they are not there every Sunday, we make it accessible. But beyond that, what was the vision behind it?
A. Yes. The vision of Hope City Church is to see 1% of Edmonton call our church home. So obviously you need to connect with people visually.
Q. Yes.
A. And so it was just kind of an attempt at that. The ultimate vision is to see people be introduced to our church through online. We found that our people will easily invite people to church online and people are more likely to visit us online first before stepping into our facility because that can be scary.
Q. Yes.
A. So that was really the vision. It is to see people engage with us online and eventually take in one of our services. Some unintended things that we have learned is while people still want to engage with us, our regular people, when they’re on holidays and at camp or whatever it might be. So it has been really helpful that way as well.
Q. Yes.
A. But we’ve seen dozens and dozens of people make a decision for Jesus online.
Q. Wow.
A. And right now we’re able to get them into digital groups so they are meeting in digital groups right now and taking digital Alpha we’re moving them towards. So it’s an interesting thing to kind of work through.
Q. I know you guys don’t have it all figured out. There’s some people out there going but you need like flesh and bones, you need to be together, you need to be in the same room.
A. Yes.
Q. But what are you guys finding as you guys are creating these online communities?
A. We’re finding that oftentimes they do come to church, they do come. Because I do believe our ultimate goal is not to keep them online but to move them into physical communities.
Q. Great.
A. That’s not always possible because we meet with people who are in Turks and Caicos. We have people in Turks and Caicos. So we’re not really sure how to deal with that.
Q. Although ---
A. The new idea is to do ‘watch’ parties where our Turks and Caicos family are going to bring their community or they are going to try to reach out, maybe have people come to their house and have church there. So really the idea is to get them into flesh and blood communities. That’s our heart.
Q. Yes.
A. So we’re just navigating how to do that.
Q. So what would an encouragement be for you to those considering ---
Do you think that ---
It doesn’t matter the size of your church, you should have some sort of online presence with your service, or what do you think about that? Is that just for big churches or can small churches do this effectively as well?
A. Oh for sure, yes, they can. I don’t know if everyone should. That’s kind of a hard question to answer. But I think we need to be thinking of ways to connect with people who we’re not connecting with.
Q. Yes.
A. So if that means through You Tube, you know, there’s a lot of churches that are using You Tube to do that really well, you know, whether that’s streaming their services or seeing podcasts as a way. The thought that people are going to just come into your church, it seems hard to do that. It happens but it seems a little bit tricky. So giving people the opportunity to experience what church is like, to maybe hear a message, to understand really what church is.
You know I have a friend ---
I have this really tight community of friends, most of whom have never been to church. I invited them to our Christmas and Easter and they are blown away. I never thought church was like this. I thought you guys like sacrificed animals! (Laughter) And I’m like no, no, no. But they had no idea, right. So giving them a little taste online or digitally seems like a wise thing to do.
Q. Yes. So for the Next Gen, is this a big part of reaching the Next Gen, this online community? Fewer and fewer Millennials are going to church on a Sunday morning. Do you see this as a good way to do that?
A. Yes. I wouldn’t probably just say Next Gen but just people. We see a lot of fifty-plus getting on line as well.
Q. Yes, yes.
A. In fact, actually some of our most faithful online engagers are people who are shut-ins or people who have such social anxiety they just stay in and engage online. My mom, actually, too, from Calgary. She couldn’t make it out to church because of some health issues. She was part of our church in Edmonton, even though she lived in Calgary. Now she’s moved to Edmonton and she hasn’t skipped a beat.
Q. Yes.
A. Yes, I think it is definitely a part of reaching the culture where we’re at, not just Next Gen.
Q. Great. Thanks so much for jumping on our Take 5 today.
--- End of Recording.