A survey on online church services in the post-pandemic era showed that online and in-person church services complement each other.
According to the survey conducted in early August, pastors, elders, preachers and full-time staff accounted for 40% of the participants. Ordinary believers accounted for 60%. It shows that church leaders were aware of the need for online ministry.
The survey found that the gender difference between male and female participants was relatively large. Men accounted for 27% whereas women accounted for 73%.
A pastor in northeastern China said that the proportion revealed that female believers exceeded males in online ministry, so the direction of the services should be adjusted accordingly. Since most women were interested in family and child education, lectures on marriage and family and children's education could be more preferable. As men were more interested in career development, so more studies on such issues from the Bible should be organised.
In the survey, 41 to 50-year-olds made up 26%, and 51 to 60-year-olds accounted for 28%. That indicated they could be the main body of attention because their time was more stable. Participants between 20 and 30 accounted for 11% and 31 – 40-year-olds 20%.
Regarding the education level of the participants, 39% were below junior school. 27% went to junior and high school. 34% were graduates with a bachelor's degree or above. During the survey, most participants with higher education levels were more willing to think about online ministry and services.
Ninety-seven percent of all participants responded that they regularly attended online worship and listened to sermons or accepted other forms of online services.
With regard to whether online services could meet their spiritual needs, 24% responded with “completely agree,” amounting to nearly a quarter of the participants. 47% responded with “not quite completely agree.” So, less than half of the participants held such an opinion. 16% replied with “sometimes agree,” 10% “not completely agree” and 0% “not at all agree.”
As to which online platforms are adopted during the outbreak, WeChat or WeChat groups accounted for 45%, WeChat public accounts 18%, ZOOM and Tencent Conference 10%, live broadcast platforms 14%, other platforms 7%, and no online ministry 3%.
Fourteen percent of the participants thought that online ministry could replace onsite church ministry, 78% did not agree and 7 % did not know.
After the outbreak, 67% would continue to receive online services, 17% would not and 16% were not sure.
It can be seen that many brothers and sisters have become accustomed to receiving pastoral care online. It does not only indicate that they benefited from it, but also means that leaders should re-adjust the ideas of their pastoral ministry to take into account the actual situation of the spiritual life of the congregations. Once again it illustrates the necessity to carry out online ministry.
45% of the participants believed that the development of online ministry was an inevitable trend, 28% did not think so and 26% were uncertain.
Pastors from Northeastern Theological Seminary concluded that from the survey results, it could be seen that it was imperative to carry out online ministry. At the same time, for every pastor, the development of a public platform account was equivalent to having their own Web world which could also help them deal with the uncertainty of future social development.
Moreover, it could be seen that the majority of believers are absolutely supportive of online ministry. This was not to deny the value of the existence of the physical church, but that the Church needed to consider what could be done to ensure that better care was given to more people during this time.
Actually, online and onsite ministries should complement each other. At least in the current situation, the two forms were indispensable. Because online ministry could not meet the long-term needs of learning theology systematically, but also make up for the shortcomings of offline ministry. Believers, especially young people, might feel relaxed and even feel more authentic than offline learning. Online pastoral care would pay more attention to personal privacy so individuals could be well protected concerning certain embarrassing issues. As to issues that werehard to discuss openly, they now could be raised online without having to worry about other people's views.
Therefore, the inevitable trend of the future Church was offline ministry as its main force with online ministry as its support.
- Translated by Charlie Li
后疫情时代教会网络牧养问卷调研：网络牧养与实体教会相辅相成 缺一不可
针对后疫情时代教会网络牧养问题问卷调研后，由东北神学院毕业的六位传道同工，以问卷调查为基础，结合实际情况共同研讨后疫情时代教会网络牧养的问题.
这次八月初的调查，教会牧师、长老、传道人和全职同工占问卷调查人数的40%，教会普通信徒占问卷调查人数的60%。通过调查可以看到传道人已经意识到网络服侍的必要性。
调查中发现男女比例差距比较大。男性占27%，女性占73%，针对网络事工中姊妹多弟兄少的现象，意味着事工的发展方向也应作出相对应的调整。多数姊妹对家庭和孩子教育比较感兴趣，所以在网络事工中可以开展婚姻家庭和子女教育方面的讲座。弟兄更多的是对于职场方面比较感兴趣，所以针对弟兄可以开展圣经中关于职场方面的学习。
问卷中，41岁-50岁，占26%，51岁-60岁，占28%，说明他们成为了关注的主体，因为他们时间段比较稳定。20岁-30岁占11%，因工作原因，时间未必充足。31岁-40岁，占20%。
学历上，初中以下39%，中专和高中27%，大专，大学本科或以上34%。 在做网上调研时，一大部分学历高的信徒更愿意去思考关于网络事工和牧养的问题。
占97%的受访者回答说，在网上听道、赞美，或者接受其它方式的网络牧养。
就网上听道等牧养方式是否能满足灵里需要，完全可以的占24%，接上近四分之一的人相信网络牧养完全可以满足灵里需要。还可以占47%， 有不到一半的人觉得不能完全满足灵里需要。一般16%，不能的占10%。根本不能占0%。
疫情期间，就你所在教会开展哪些网络牧养形式，用微信或者微信群牧养的占45%，微信公众号平台牧养的占18%，用ZOOM、腾讯会议的占10%。各种直播平台的占14%，其它网络牧养方式的占7%，没有网络牧养的占3%。
受访者中认为网络事工可以取代传统教会牧养的占14%，不可以的占78%，不知道的占7%。
疫情过后继续接受网上牧养的会占67%，不会占17%，不知道占16%。
可见很多弟兄姊妹已经习惯在网上接受牧养，这不仅再次说明他们在网上聚会有所得着，更主要的是我们教会应该根据弟兄姊妹属灵生命的实际情况，来开展或调整我们的事工牧养思路，这也再次说明了开展网络事工的必要性。
45%的人认为开展教会网络牧养是是教会发展的必然趋势，不是占28%，不确定占26%。
从调查中可以看到，开展网络事工势在必行。同时对于每一位传道人来说，开展公众号就相当于有了自己禾场，这也可以帮助大家预备应付未来社会发展的种种不确定性。
从调查结果可以看到，大部分信徒对于开展网络事工还是绝对支持的。这不是否定实体教会存在的价值，而是现今的情况，让教会不得不思考如何做才能让更多人的人被更好的牧养。
其实，网络牧养与实体教会的牧养应当是相辅相成的两种牧养形式，起码就现在的现实情况看，二者缺一不可。因为网络牧养不但能满足信徒长时间系统性的学道需求，而且能补足实体教会在牧养方面的短板。比如在网络牧养上信徒（尤其是年轻人）会觉得放松，甚至会觉得线上比线下更加真实。网络牧养更会注重个人隐私，在一些尴尬的问题上可以很好的保护个人。并且关于一些当众难以启齿的问题，也可以很好的在网络上提出，而不必因为在意别人的看法将问题埋藏在心里。
所以，以实体教会为主，以网络牧养为辅将会成为未来教会发展的必然趋势。
A survey on online church services in the post-pandemic era showed that online and in-person church services complement each other.
According to the survey conducted in early August, pastors, elders, preachers and full-time staff accounted for 40% of the participants. Ordinary believers accounted for 60%. It shows that church leaders were aware of the need for online ministry.
The survey found that the gender difference between male and female participants was relatively large. Men accounted for 27% whereas women accounted for 73%.
A pastor in northeastern China said that the proportion revealed that female believers exceeded males in online ministry, so the direction of the services should be adjusted accordingly. Since most women were interested in family and child education, lectures on marriage and family and children's education could be more preferable. As men were more interested in career development, so more studies on such issues from the Bible should be organised.
In the survey, 41 to 50-year-olds made up 26%, and 51 to 60-year-olds accounted for 28%. That indicated they could be the main body of attention because their time was more stable. Participants between 20 and 30 accounted for 11% and 31 – 40-year-olds 20%.
Regarding the education level of the participants, 39% were below junior school. 27% went to junior and high school. 34% were graduates with a bachelor's degree or above. During the survey, most participants with higher education levels were more willing to think about online ministry and services.
Ninety-seven percent of all participants responded that they regularly attended online worship and listened to sermons or accepted other forms of online services.
With regard to whether online services could meet their spiritual needs, 24% responded with “completely agree,” amounting to nearly a quarter of the participants. 47% responded with “not quite completely agree.” So, less than half of the participants held such an opinion. 16% replied with “sometimes agree,” 10% “not completely agree” and 0% “not at all agree.”
As to which online platforms are adopted during the outbreak, WeChat or WeChat groups accounted for 45%, WeChat public accounts 18%, ZOOM and Tencent Conference 10%, live broadcast platforms 14%, other platforms 7%, and no online ministry 3%.
Fourteen percent of the participants thought that online ministry could replace onsite church ministry, 78% did not agree and 7 % did not know.
After the outbreak, 67% would continue to receive online services, 17% would not and 16% were not sure.
It can be seen that many brothers and sisters have become accustomed to receiving pastoral care online. It does not only indicate that they benefited from it, but also means that leaders should re-adjust the ideas of their pastoral ministry to take into account the actual situation of the spiritual life of the congregations. Once again it illustrates the necessity to carry out online ministry.
45% of the participants believed that the development of online ministry was an inevitable trend, 28% did not think so and 26% were uncertain.
Pastors from Northeastern Theological Seminary concluded that from the survey results, it could be seen that it was imperative to carry out online ministry. At the same time, for every pastor, the development of a public platform account was equivalent to having their own Web world which could also help them deal with the uncertainty of future social development.
Moreover, it could be seen that the majority of believers are absolutely supportive of online ministry. This was not to deny the value of the existence of the physical church, but that the Church needed to consider what could be done to ensure that better care was given to more people during this time.
Actually, online and onsite ministries should complement each other. At least in the current situation, the two forms were indispensable. Because online ministry could not meet the long-term needs of learning theology systematically, but also make up for the shortcomings of offline ministry. Believers, especially young people, might feel relaxed and even feel more authentic than offline learning. Online pastoral care would pay more attention to personal privacy so individuals could be well protected concerning certain embarrassing issues. As to issues that werehard to discuss openly, they now could be raised online without having to worry about other people's views.
Therefore, the inevitable trend of the future Church was offline ministry as its main force with online ministry as its support.
- Translated by Charlie Li
Survey: Online, In-person Church Services Complement Each Other
