In Nashville at The Art of Leadership Live, Carey Nieuwhof shared insights from his research which are included in AI and the Future Church: Make Your Ministry Irreplaceable in a World of Artificial Everything.
MINISTRY SHIFTS FOR THE AGE OF AI
Shift One: Make Sundays Non-Downloadable
Church today is a random assembly of individuals.
The Great Scarcity Flip
Then – Content was scarce. Community was abundant.
Now – Content is abundant. Community is the new scarcity.
Move people from crowd to community.
The goal isn’t to create a church where everyone knows everyone, but to create a church where everyone is known.
How do we do this?
Some examples:
- The second largest church in the USA is Christ Church of the Valley in Arizona. In order to break down the barriers between people and create community, CCV serves hamburgers, pizza, and hot dogs at cost. It’s like their version of the Costco Hot Dog which has been $1.50 for decades now! They lose money on it, but people go to Costco! Costco sells more hot dogs in one year than all of the MLB stadiums combined!
- Red Church in Melbourne makes a latte for everyone who wants one.
- New to CrossPoint class is now a New to Nashville event.
- Way Church in Nashville has shifted the typical pathway = Relationship -> Gospel -> Church
Most churches follow this pathway = Church -> Gospel -> Relationship
Scale to your budget and size.
In person vs. church online?
God is both immanent and transcendent. Our services are usually one or the other.
Facilitate an encounter on Sunday mornings, don’t just give a presentation.
See digital church as your front door and your side door. People are watching online before they visit your church. People can watch the message when they are not in attendance.
If everything your church does in the future feels downloadable, all you’ll get is a lot of downloads.
