Different Types of Churches: The Digital Church
In our recap of the Exponential NEXT Podcast Series: Church Expressions, Carrie Williams and Bill Couchenour talk with Justin and Janae Klatt with Imagine Church Global. And they are talking all about the Digital Church. To be clear, this is not the same model as moving your traditional service online. It’s a whole new way of thinking.
That One Fateful Night
So, did the Klatts just decide one day to plant a Digital church? Absolutely not! Growing up as pastors’ kids, they’ve been in ministry their whole lives. They love the traditional church life. When they explored the idea of planting a church, they settled on Scottsdale, AZ, for their location. Pre-launch, they were having Sunday night Zoom gatherings, largely focused on vision, with the people who would be relocating to be a part of this new work. Then, one meeting, everything shifted.
As Janae shared the story, I imagined I was on that Zoom call with them. As she was sharing, the Holy Spirit prompted her to stop talking and ask a question. It was so strong, she listened! When she asked the question, she then had the people in their homes, with the people they were physically with, to stop and discuss that question. When they came back together, of course everyone shared their insights. But what stood out to her was the vastly different responses that were given (based on different geographical experiences) and how incredibly valuable these conversations were.
This pivotal night changed the trajectory for this new church.
Back to the Drawing Board
The following spring, Justin and Janae shut down what they thought they were starting and restarted with this new model. In eight years, they haven’t preached a sermon without discussion questions, calling this Community Discipleship.
Imagine Church is also not the traditional church with a live service once a week. They don’t have just one main service. They have the same service seven days a week, and each service includes a teaching and group questions for discussion. When they consider who might be in the mix of their congregation members, this includes flight attendants, pilots and others who must work on weekends and so on. It is also great for those who might have to travel for sporting schedules or are sick and homebound, unable to attend a traditional church service in person.
Why does this model work so well? First, they don’t deny that this was led by the Spirit. Of course, when we follow His guidance, it’s no doubt that we will feel at ease walking a new path. Second, because they had already experienced burnout, Justin noted they had already committed to ministry without striving for success. Justin noted that when one is in a posture of striving, operating creatively is much more challenging. By holding space and margin, we are more able to hear from the Lord. This model allowed for this margin.
The Challenge
When asked what’s challenging about this church model, there was really one response, and it’s what you might imagine. Meeting online means your congregation isn’t in the same physical space. This means interactions as simple as a hug are noticeably absent. And, while some of the local communities that meet together in homes for services have this in their groups, there are some who are only in online communities. For them, the Klatts’ heart feels even more for that in-person connection that they are missing.
Trusting God’s Guidance
I especially found their advice at the end inspiring. Justin reminds us to never stop. Janae encourages us to redefine what success looks like, which moves us out of the comparison game. When we let go of those expectations, we have the freedom to go for that really crazy thing, because the Holy Spirit has us!
If you found this article helpful, you may appreciate some of the resources below.
