Discipleship and Digital Ministry
If you are in a digital ministry setting, you know it can be difficult to decide how to differentiate between digital engagements and digital Scripture Engagement. We can get caught up in how many “impressions” we obtain, but forget that our end goal is to make disciples. The video below gives you a taste of how we at FCBH have been working to make disciples and engage with people digitally during this pandemic season.
FCBH put together a Digital Engagement Team to help people engage with scripture in a digital format. We started virtual listening and watching groups, began advertising Bible.is and Global Bible Apps, and putting an organized effort into running Digital campaigns by using a collaboration platform (Monday.com) to house ongoing initiatives and resources (See our resource page). Our campaigns received many impressions and had impressive engagement, but we quickly realized that great numbers did not reflect a true engagement with scripture. The below terms reflect how we have tried to put emphasis on meaningful engagements as a measure of Discipleship, while not disregarding the effectiveness of the digital campaign itself.
FCBH’s Digital Terminology
As in Matthew 13:1-9, we scatter seed to encourage seekers to engage on deepening levels with scripture.
Digital Engagement: any form of scripture watching or listening groups delivered or facilitated electronically without the added use of a physical SD card, FCBH or other media ministry device.
Scripture Exposure: Depending on what data is easily available on a platform, this is the number of people reached or number of impressions. If both are available on a platform, we ask coordinators to use the smallest number.
∙ Reach: NOT the estimated number of people a campaign will reach, as listed on an ad or boosted post. Once a post/video/campaign has run, reach is the number of unique individuals who have been exposed to the ads.
∙ Impressions: The number of times an ad or page has been seen.
Initial Engagement: We take the average of 3 different metrics our coordinators provide as an initial engagement measurement. We ask for the metrics that are most representative of the campaign. For example, if their goal is not to engage in conversations, we don’t want them to use this metric.
∙ Reactions (Likes, Loves, Hates, Etc.)
∙ Comments (all comments, both good and bad)
∙ Shares
∙ Link Clicks
∙ Ad Clicks
∙ Number of Video Views (Defined as user intentionally watches a video, or views 30 seconds of the video playing in-stream) *Required if video campaign
∙ Facebook Videos: number of 25% video views
∙ Conversations
∙ Other (to use if you have a specific metric that is representative of engagement, but not listed)
Scripture Engagement: We ask coordinators for as many of these metrics as is available. These are usually the smallest numbers, but hold the most weight in terms of engaging with scripture.
∙ 75% + Video Views
∙ Number of member of group or community
∙ Number of downloaded app
∙ Number of Interactive Conversations
Discipled: A person connected to an actual discipleship group (listening/watching) or who completed a program is considered discipled. Digital campaigns at large are geared towards promoting awareness and consideration in a seeker’s heart rather than deeper relational discipleship. So, we ask that reports, photos, and testimonies be included if discipleship occurs. While we encourage all coordinators to create campaign models that have a call to discipleship, this is not required and not always a realistic option in some settings.
See how we implement our vision, terms, and tools through this informational video from a Facebook Page Coordinator.
Excerpt from the EMDC Online Session – Digital Ministry During Social Distancing (Monday, December 14, 2020)