Pastor Tracey L. Williams and her husband Pastor Charles Williams launched The River Church of Pennsylvania on Sunday 6 January 2019, with 35 founding members and a leadership team of six. The pandemic arrived almost immediately and in-person services stopped. Rather than wait it out, they moved the services onto Facebook Live and kept going. Within three years the church was reaching an audience of thousands worldwide, which is not the usual trajectory for a congregation that opened its doors a year before everything closed.
The idea that did it was a tag team prayer. Through Global United Ministry, established inside The River Church, they invited pastors and congregations in other countries and time zones to pick up a continuous prayer as theirs wrapped up. Churches in Africa, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic joined in, and it ran for about three months. Views climbed and strangers started arriving in the inbox asking for guidance. Alongside it, Tracey keeps three to five posts a week going across Facebook, Instagram, and the website, mixing service times with scripture quotes that start conversations. For members who are not online, the same graphics go out by text and email.
You can design for the same mix. Build service and event graphics from church templates, then Resize each one for every platform rather than remaking it, which is exactly the time saver Tracey names. Add movement with video templates, since she found animated posts drew the compliments and the shares, and send the same artwork to your non-digital members through an email campaign.