The Hybrid Church - Day 2 (My Live Transcript of The Event)

 

The Hybrid Church - Day 2

Speaker 1 – Pst. Sola Fola-Alade:

Jesus always wants to lead us to where we can be more effective. Peter had toiled all night and caught nothing but Jesus told them to launch out into the deep for a great catch. They eventually caught a great multitude of fishes,

Luke 5:4-7. In John 21:6, Jesus said “And he said unto them, Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find. They cast therefore, and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes.”

We have to be strategic to be more effective.

“The best football goal scorers don’t run to where the ball is right now, but rather they run to where the ball would be kicked”

- Pst. Sola Fola-Alade

The percentage of people that attend church is actually very low. For example only 20% of the population of the US committedly go to church and in the UK it is only 4%.

Now take a look at what is happening in the digital space. Below is a list of instagram followership as compiled by Pst. Sola Fola-Alade:

Beyonce – 155million people

Davido – 17million people

Basket Mouth – 7.8million people

Key Pastors – 1.1milion people

Nathaniel Bassey – 1.9million people

 

Pst Sola Fola-Alade stated that a pastor’s competition is not against the pastor across the road but against online sites with massive followership where negative things are being given to people. 

In the 1800s, the world moved from the Agrarian age to the Industrial age, in the 1900s, the world moved from the Agrarian age to the Technology age and now in the 2000s, the world has moved from the Technology age to the Digital age.

So many things have changed. Even the way banking is being done now. Both customers in banking halls as well as the staff have reduced. In the future, there may not even be bankers at all.

We need to buckle our belts and get ready for the future. The world has changed......if we don't make the shift we will lose a lot. We need to shift from local to global.

Pst. Sola Fola-Alade spoke about an experience of a pastor who has the largest church in the US. The major way this pastor evangelizes is by giving people Bibles. Some time ago, he heard about the app technology and with the help of his son, the YouVersion Bible app was created or installed on their church app.

In a very short period of time, perhaps a week or so, about 80,000 people had downloaded the app. During the Covid-19 lockdown about 500 million people downloaded this YouVersion Bible from their church app.

God always has a way of taking advantage of difficult times on the earth to advance His will and purpose for the advancement of His kingdom and His children.

Job 22:29 says “When men are cast down, then thou shalt say, There is lifting up; and he shall save the humble person.”

In one of his slides, Pst. Sola Fola-Alade shared a picture that had this caption:

A WIND IS BLOWING – You can’t change the direction of the Wind, but you can change your sails.

Another slide had this caption:

God always uses the prevailing circumstances, significant events of the time and the emerging trends of the day and age to His advantage.

- WORLD MISSION

 

God was strategic about the day Jesus was to die. It was during the Passover feast and many people were going to be in Jerusalem. The outpouring of the Spirit also took place during the Pentecost feast and immediate after the outpouring of the Spirit, the Bible says “There were Jews living in Jerusalem, religious people who had come from every country in the world. When they heard this noise, a large crowd gathered. They were all excited, because all of them heard the believers talking in their own languages.” 

- Acts 2:5-6 (GNB).

The persecution of the church also led to the spread and growth of the church,

“And Saul was consenting unto his death. And at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judaea and Samaria, except the apostles.” 

- Acts 8:1

Pst. Sola Fola-Alade asked a very striking question:

Are you a “Peter Type Pastor” (Local, Rigid) or a “Paul Type Pastor” (Global, Flexible)?

He recounted the encounter of Peter’s hesitation when God wanted him to go and preach to the Gentiles in Acts 10. He contrasted this with Paul’s flexibility and willingness to do whatever needed to be done to preach the gospel to other nations and kinds of people. He also mentioned how Paul had a global passport and was well read.

In talking about how God takes advantage of adverse situations to advance His purpose, Pst. Sola Fola-Alade revealed how Paul’s persecutions provided him with free transport and accommodation (though most of it were prison cells) to get the gospel preached to various locations.

In being global and flexible, we must be ready to make use of current technology to spread the gospel like printing press, radio, tv, social media.

There was a time the television was called the devil’s box, but now the same people who described it this way are using it to preach the gospel.

Pst. Sola Fola-Alade stated that many reports describe the new world as one of co-existing with the virus. That is one where the virus may still be around just like the flu and some others.

If this happens then we must be ready to make some major changes.

In certain countries, churches are only allowed to make use of 20 – 25% of their building capacity.

In the midst of this, many churches like the Redeemed Christian Church of God as well as his own church – “The Liberty Church” experienced unprecedented viewership and participation of their events during the Covid-19 lockdown. In some instances, his church experienced 10 times the numbers they have ever had before.  

Pst. Sola Fola-Alade said “The Future of the Church is in building the Church of the Future The Future of the Church is not in a building.”

The World’s Engagement is now more Virtual than Physical.  

From business transactions, to sharing of pictures and videos, to friendships and dating are all done Online (Screen Time).

He then went on to share a quote by Trend Watcher - “THE FUTURE DOESN’T simply arrive fully formed overnight but emerges step by step. It first appears at seemingly random points around the fringe of society, never in the mainstream.”

Pst. Sola Fola-Alade stated that “with Covid-19, The Digital World has now moved from the fringes to the Centre Stage.”

The Nigerian Church should be Prophetic or at least Proactive – Ahead of the World (Curve) – DIGITAL SPACE.

Luke 5:37-39 – “And no man putteth new wine into old bottles; else the new wine will burst the bottles, and be spilled, and the bottles shall perish. But new wine must be put into new bottles; and both are preserved. No man also having drunk old wine straightway desireth new: for he saith, The old is better.”

The Playing Field has Changed from the Physical Economy to the Digital Economy (From Football to Basketball).

Become a Global Missionary in the new Global Mission Field. You need to be a Digital Missionary. The digital space is the new mission field 

Major Things You must be ready to do:

1. Develop your Message (Voice) and adapt your Methods (Vessels).

Do you have something to say or are you just saying something? With social media, now everyone has a pulpit.  

4. Observe Ministry Etiquettes & Protocols (Some people attended 3-5 Services).

5. Upgrade your metrics from A B C – Attendance, Buildings, Currency … to views, engagement, conversion, downloads, survey.

Acts 2:41 – “Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.”

“If the Church doesn’t apply long term thinking to the Fast Moving Digital world, we will be left behind and become obsolete.”

- Pst. Sola Fola-Alade 

 

 

 

 

Speaker 2 - Rev. Sam Adeyemi:

We have to change our mindset. 

In Matthew 10:27, Jesus said “What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light: and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops.” 

When you stand upon a housetop and shout there is a tendency for More people to see and hear you. Jesus was talking about leveraging from a position where we can reach more people.

Jesus Himself always position Himself in a way that He could reach more people as He ministered to them. He came to a mountain and climbed up so that the people could see him and hear him better.

Nobody puts new wine into old wine skin or they will lose both, Luke 5:37.

Changes will come and tech is one of such major changes. In trying to fit the new into the old you will lose both. God does not waste resources. 

IT or ICT is Information and Communication Technology. It is about communication. The gospel is about communication.  

Rev. Sam Adeyemi shared his experience with his church “Daystar Christian Centre” and how he had to change strategy when God told him to start functioning in the Apostolic. Unlike before when he spent at most two nights away whenever he travelled, now he had to spend weeks away on his ministry trips.

He had thought of preaching live from his location, but his wife made him realize how that will not be feasible especially because of the difference in time zones. He then had to resort to recording video messages in his empty church hall before he travelled and these messages were played during services.  

The Bible we are carrying about was recorded. He said God once asked him “if Jesus' messages were recorded, won't you play it?” 

This was even before the Covid-19 pandemic. What the church now does is to make the video of the entire service available on its website so that after the service people can still watch it.

He said right now during their services they have about 20,000 live viewers and then before the end of the week, that very service is usually view by another additional 60,000 people.

Rev. Sam Adeyemi said don't treat those physically there as the real church. The online audience is also real. 

Have an online church with a pastor and volunteers for the online church.

Let them welcome the viewers to the service and then invite the audience to join in the praise and worship and then they are hooked up to the live service.

During altar calls let those viewing online be invited to indicate if they want to respond also. During welcoming of first timers, let those viewing online who are joining for the first time be asked to indicate so they can be welcomed and reached out to also.  

There should be forms for those online to fill in their details also. Have details and links for people online to make their giving, for example through the church website. 

At the end, the person who started the service will close them out and also give them necessary information, etc. 

There are apps that can be used to make it easy for people to give.

We need to change our mindset. 

Stop seeing the challenges. Look at the positive side. The barriers are down now. More people in your city can join you now. More people are engaged with the gospel online right now.

People can now spend more time with us. People can watch a full service anytime they want.

The online space is different we can't have the same mindset. We need a model for the online or virtual church.

It is actually easier to start a church or ministry now. The future will look like this for a long time. You can have service on instagram, zoom, YouTube and connect them all and reach out to so many people. 

You can call some teenagers or young people in your church and ask them to help you in setting up and running these online things. All you then have to do is to preach.

Online is cheaper and more efficient. You may not need to spend so much on certain things.  

Nobody puts new wine into old wine skin, Luke 5:37. Except a corn of wheat falls to the ground and dies it remains the same.

We need to reinvent

Rev. Sam Adeyemi said in Daystar Christian Centre, every department of the church now does online the same thing they have been doing on ground before. There are a few differences in some cases though.

For example, their Foundation School now runs online fully.  

Don't beat yourself up. If you cannot do something you can learn, experiment and track the data. Check what is working and what is not working.

You don't really need something sophisticated to start it and you can also get professionals to help you out and you pay them something. 

It is the platform that has changed. The message and vision mission has not changed. It is just the means that has changed. Church has gone global it is phenomenal. Everything has gone global. 

As his session ended, Rev. Sam Adeyemi made some prayers and gave some prophetic words. He said in this season, prophecy will be achieved. The knowledge of the glory of God will cover the earth as the waters cover the seas. 

He said in the name of Jesus, the Spirit of God will give you a shift to the next level and you will not lose relevance.

Receive revelation and humility to learn. You will attract the kind of resources and people you have not attracted before.

We will allow people use their gifts and flourish. We will groom leaders and transform our world for good.

We shall experience multiplication of impact like never before.

God is not limited by space or time. The Spirit of God will move every time your ministry comes to the people.  

 

Closing Remarks

As the event came to an end, Pst. Poju Oyemade and Pst Sola Fola-Alade answered some questions from those present. Below are some of their recommendations:

*When doing online, focus on engagement not audience. Focus on how to transfer them into a form of community. Get them into departments.

*Study Organizations that excel in the digital space.  

*Know that many of your online audience will not come to your church because they can't. 

*Go to where people are. That is, the social media platforms.  

*Social media has rewired the way people act. The younger generation is more vocal like we can see with the end SARS movements and Black Lives Matter movements. They are not exactly rebellious, but asking for more answers. We must understand how to converse and interact with that generation. 

Right now you cannot silence people and suppress things easily. You either have the answer to questions but you cannot force things down people's throats. 

Pst Sola Fola-Alade said “we need to develop a thick skin and develop a skill for response.”

Asking “why” is not an insult or being rude in this generation.  

Compiled by:

Ifoghale Efeturi,

iefeturi@gmail.com

11^th October, 2020.