Thanks to everyone who weighed in on our recent polls! Your answers sketch a revealing picture of where digital ministry leaders stand today—full of energy, but also wrestling with capacity, strategy, and sustainability.
1. Fired Up, But Figuring It Out
Most of us are excited or cautiously curious. But then there are some feeling overloaded and burnt out.
👉 Leaders believe in digital ministry’s potential, but there’s hesitation: how do we do this well without burning out? How do we do this well… at all?
2. Engagement is the Pain Point
Over half of those polled were frustrated with sparking real engagement online. In a digital age where we are all vying for attention all of the time, how else could we possibly feel? This is an important insight.
3. Platforms: Spread Wide or Go Deep?
Our most varied poll was likely the disarray of platforms, and which is right for us. However, there is an acknowledgement that — once we find the right platform — it can still be a struggle to iterate on strategy there.
4. Advertising: Risky but Tempting
Nearly all of those polled were at least open to advertising online, but a chunk found the results unhelpful.
This was a random one I threw in out of curiosity. With the pay-to-play model becoming more and more popular, I was interested to see who had done the experiments.
5. The Looming Question: AI In Ministry
Nearly everyone finds artifical intelligence useful, but also agrees that guard-rails are needed.
I was anxious about this one and would likely have worded it differently in hindsight. More on this coming soon.
6. Where should we be online?
The most surprising results for me — half of those polled still hold strong for the power of the live-stream.
It doesn’t take long on this Substack to find my leaning towards Discord primarily, but this was helpful to know for future writing.
7. A Tie, But No Metaverse
Close to a three-way tie between outreach, collaboration, and seeking out funding — with no focus on discipleship in game worlds.
At a minimum, it appears my target audience here has shifted, and I’m reaching fewer and fewer gaming-centered ministries. But digital ministers all seem to be sharing focus on these topics.
8. Volunteers: Moldable and Skilled
We are looking for volunteers who are savvy and capable of being trained.
Another random poll here. I was mostly curious given the tension of non-local volunteers being necessary for digital spaces.
I really encourage you to sound off in the comments below. What about these results surprised you? What stood out? What did you learn from taking this poll for yourself? FYI, it’s still live for like 115 years, so go take the polls anytime! Maybe we’ll revisit them at another time in the future.