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How do you create a church that unchurched young people would love to engage with?
Chris Podlich and the team at Beyond Church in Queensland sought to answer that question with the support of a $12,500 LLL Mission Outreach Grant in 2022.
"The LLL Grant helped us create online resources to engage with the next generation where they're at," Chris said.
"We asked, 'Where are young people?' Well, they're on their phones, so how do we engage with them where they are?
"Rather than do a sermon that they don't necessarily want to listen to, we've looked at how we engage them to answer questions that they have.
"For us it's less about a sermon and more about how we engage with them where they're at … it's almost like a pre-sermon because they're not ready to hear a sermon."
Chris, who is in the final stages of becoming a Specific Ministry Pastor, consulted with online church experts and studied engagement strategies used by tech giants such as Amazon and Netflix as he researched the obstacles young people face on their faith journey.
He then investigated ways to help make the Word of God more accessible.
The result is a hybrid church model which incorporates in-person worship and online engagement that aims to make it easier for young people to explore their spirituality.
The online part of that hybrid model can be found in the form of extensive video content on a range of topics on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and Tik Tok, as well as the Beyond Church website, with Chris' most popular video attracting nearly 20,000 views.
Beyond Church also runs seasonal events like Jingle Jam, attended by more than 350 people last year, and holds two 'Sunday Experiences' each week at Griffin State School in Brisbane's northern suburbs.
Those meetings are recorded and uploaded as podcasts that provide another pathway for young people in their faith journey.
"People will listen to a podcast and check us out online now, often for months, until they feel comfortable enough to come to a meeting," Chris said.
"It's been a very insightful and very helpful exercise that has led us to completely change our strategy."
Connect with Beyond Church: beyondchurch.com.au
Photo: Beyond Church spreads the Good News of Jesus in person and online.
