Lifetogether has partnered with over 500 of the largest and fastest growing churches across the nation. Emerging from our partnerships, we are launching a brand new model of curriculum and strategies for video-driven experiences in small groups. We’ve learned the irreplaceable value of community leveraging print and video curriculum in reaching people for Christ.

Thus, we are excited to introduce the Conversation Strategy, which catalyzes personal transformation and evangelism, all while incorporating the life, leadership and legacy of your church’s ministry and Senior pastor. This is guaranteed to transform how church is done in the future and to exponentially connect your small groups. Here, we outline the 10 features of the innovative Conversation Strategy. 

1.  CONVERSATION STARTER

Our recommendation is that your pastor produces single, video clips that are between 7 and 12 minutes long, serving as a great small group addition of their weekend sermon. Simply, write your weekend discussion questions based on this content and create a simple design template. You could shoot this in the back of the room with the worship center stage behind him, you could have him sit on a barstool on the stage, or shoot it outside near a grassy area in an outdoor setting. Your Senior pastor can simply sit center stage and interact over the weekend message. Even more so, our vision is to create video content that could be used in a secondary format, such as able to send out via social media or downloadable on your website.

 3.  CONVERSATION GROUPS

Conversation groups can be launched not just at the start of new semesters or new series but even launched 52 weeks a year. They’re aligned with the weekend service and allow for a more interactive setting. Ultimately, you are moving the inspiration from the weekend message to application to launching groups. If your pastor is willing to join you in a small group of people on a Thursday or Friday preceding the weekend service, you could create a “model” or “small group experience” hosted by none other than your senior pastor. This can be produced using Facebook Live, where people could watch it anytime and anywhere, and subsequently launch groups after the Sr. Pastor preaches the weekend service. This format is what we call the “Town Hall” and can be shot with any type of camera, GoPro, etc. or could be something far more professionally published. 

4.  CONVERSATION TEACHING

This next step is an incredible asset whose time has finally come. Ed Stetzer stated that 78% of people would be interested in having a spiritual conversation with someone they know and trust. The challenge is to empower and vision for your congregation in order to bring people, who may be at different stages of their spiritual walk, into community. We recommend producing teaching that is more experiential and engaging that complements the teachings you already have prepared. After all, millennials want a conversation, not just a sermon; they want to interact, not just be instructed. Again, conversational teaching is creative in interactive formats and settings, and can be filmed on your iPhone, GoPro, or even streamed on Facebook Live.

5.  CONVERSATION WORSHIP

Here, we’re not just talking about the guy standing on the platform and worshiping and singing songs. The obstacle in church worship most of the time is the “watching instead of worship”. But, with Conversation Worship you can turn any small venue, such as a living room, café, etc., into a place of worship for people to engage more and be able to sit in the middle of a jam session-like feel. In the majority of our partnerships, this format has proven to be highly effective and exponential. Take this a step further, you can even stream the session online and engage even more people, creating a platform that extends beyond corporate worship and is far more community oriented.

 6.  CONVERSATION SERVICE

This is an emerging, breakthrough idea that is not only launching groups 52 weeks a year, but will quickly become the next generation of weekend services. As we’ve mentioned before, the Conversation Service takes the best of a weekend service and the best of a small group to create arguably the most groundbreaking model of how to do church yet. This format is a little more complex in its production, but can be one of most powerful new ways to reach younger people and engage with people who are not as interested in the current form of weekend services. It is designed to be a more engaging, interactive church service, that launches groups not just locally, but regionally nationally, and globally. For more information, check out our webpage giving the full breakdown of Conversation Services.

 7. CONVERSATION FACEBOOK

Facebook Live and the use of digital media has revolutionized church engagement. This platform is easy to add to your existing productions and media formats. Now is the time to incorporate new ways of leveraging social media. We recommend having one or two representatives on the sidelines fielding and answering questions via social media comments. Other volunteers can help monitor the feed as well and invite others to view the stream. Conversation Facebook is an additional way to engage your audience and is great for multi-site campuses. We challenge you to do a pilot of Conversation Facebook on one of your weekday services or meetings, and we guarantee that the results will connect north of 75% of your adult attendance to small groups as well.

The Conversation Campaign takes the opportunity to first introduce the conversation format, then to flow into the full Conversation Strategy. One example of a great, proven campaign is utilizing our “Town Hall” production format. This unique approach brings out the best from the teachers, engages people more, and models the types of interactions your small groups can have during the study. By spending only 30 minutes to an hour on the curriculum and service, your ministry can get an exponential response that can further be shared on social media. This format allows for more interaction instead of simply a talking head on a stage.

 9.  CONVERSATION CAMPUS

Now that we’ve outlined producing Conversation Curriculum, which launches Conversation Groups, which in turn builds to Conversation Services…it’s time to launch a Conversation Campus. This is similar to a microsite or small venue multisite, but is more video-driven, and volunteer led, with an average congregation of 10 to 100 people (more than a small group but smaller than weekend campus). This is essentially a video venue where you can recruit people off the online experience. The Conversation Campus is the next generation of exponential church models.

10. CONVERSATION CHURCH

By launching Conversation Groups in small venues, your ministry could have the potential to launch a Conversation Church. By mobilizing the network, or “six degrees of separation”, of your congregation, you can revolutionize your ministry and expand your ministry from local to national. Our vision is to present the Gospel in a simple and transferable way, and we believe launching a Conversation Church is THE NEW weekend service format that will leverage your community to reach community for Christ.