This pandemic has turned the world upside down. That might be one of the biggest understatements for the last decade or so. Our world has forever changed. There is not one industry that it has not affected in some way. As ministers it has caused us to think outside the box very quickly. Overnight we went from ministering primarily in person to strictly online. Now, we are slowly talking about how to minister back online and in person. 

Everyday something new develops and changes that causes us to think through how we can do ministry more effectively in this world. But, before we get into how we are going to minister now, let’s take a look back on all the progress we made over the last few months.

Afterall, there have been some very huge gains. 

Digital Meet Ups

While people may be experiencing Zoom fatigue because of the overuse of Zoom early on, doing video meets ups was a huge gain during this pandemic. Why is it a gain? Simply because it was very rarely used before and now we know how to use it and do it very well.

So, whether it is connecting with students, parents, volunteers or staffers, video meet ups has proven to be a great new tool that you can use to connect with others. 

Digital Content

Producing digital content has been such a HUGE gain for student ministries during this pandemic. Now, while some ministries have already been producing great stuff on Instagram and YouTube before the pandemic hit, most were probably not.

That has changed!

Now, there are a ton more ministries made the plunge into TikTok, Instagram and YouTube in particular. And it is helping us all reach more students for Christ.

Creativity

We got really creative during the pandemic because we HAD to. While some ministries may have had some online content, no one was prepared for what happened in the outset. So we had to get creative and it is really cool to see all the different things people came up with.

Whether people did movie nights, Zoom games, creative graduation ideas or other ideas, student ministers from all over got very creative with how they ministered and connected with their students.  

Using New Technology

The pandemic definitely gave us all reason to experiment with new technology. Zoom, while not necessarily new, was something we all had to learn and experiment with since very few of us used it for ministry purposes. But there was other tech we had to learn as well. We had to learn what cameras were best to use for our videos, how to optimize our videos, what kind of graphics and images to add on to them as well as what digital experiences students respond best.

Technology is always changing and there was so much we used become more effective in our online strategy to reach students. So, trying out new tech was a really big gain during this pandemic.

Old School Ministry

The funny thing about this pandemic and all the new tech and online ministry tools we were discovering was that reminder that old school ministry still works and is very effective. Whether it is sending greeting cards or making phone calls, or even doing socially distanced house visits, old school ministry is still a very powerful way to connect with students. 

This pandemic really impacted the way we do ministry. And the great thing is that it impacted it in a very positive way. There are so many new ways for us to reach students for Christ now. But, it also reminded us that there are so many old ways that we may have forgotten about that are still very effective.

What was a huge gain for you and your ministry during this pandemic?