Like you, we have pivoted to online only for our youth services and small groups. With students being home and not in school and having a lot more time during the day, we wanted to try to find ways to engage them daily. Just because we are isolated does not mean relationships can’t still happen.
A friend of mine, Jon, who works at Elevation Church Youth in South Carolina, said it best for this time right now. He said, “DIGITAL IS THE NEW PERSONAL,” and I thought that was right on. We need to find ways to keep the momentum rolling and engage daily online besides service and small groups.
So here is our weekly social media strategy to keep students engaged. Some things are fun and strictly for connection, and some go deeper. We wanted to try to have a good balance.
Sunday: Instagram Live Devotion – 10am
  • One of our youth leads goes live with a 5-10 minute message from home, and allows students to interact and have a Q & A afterward.
Monday: Live Twitch Stream – 3pm
  • Twitch is a live streaming service where people can log on and watch others play video games and chat. We have a Sandals Church Youth Twitch profile where one of our youth leads can go on and play and interact with students while they play some popular games.
Tuesday: Sandals Church Youth Worship Session – 4pm
  • Our youth worship leader leads a 15-20-minute set of worship songs and encourages students to join and worship together.
Wednesday: Sandals Church Youth Online Service – 6pm
  • This is where we go live on Sandals Church .tv putting on a youth service online and having small groups afterward digitally.
Thursday: YouTube Live Hang Outs – 3pm
  • This is similar to the IG Live, but on a different platform. I think this one could be more fun and interactive. It also can be a time for a devotional or recap of the message from the night before and allow for some funny bits.
Friday: Sandals Church Youth Worship Session – 4pm 
  • Our youth worship leader leads a 15-20-minute set of worship songs and encourages students to join and worship together.
Saturday: New Video Saturday
  • We release one of the new videos we will be making over the next few weeks.

It’s pretty simple, and I am sure we will make adjustments as we go, but I think this will accomplish the goal of reaching and engaging students while they are at home. The cool thing is that we have the opportunity to have students to invite friends by simply pressing a button. That is awesome. We are excited to really execute this week.

What are you doing? Comment below.