Over the last five years, we launched, implemented, and refined a digital learning platform for immersing congregants in the teachings of the Bible.  Our purpose was to broaden the reach of Bible studies to include those too busy or far flung to meet in person regularly.  It proved even more effective than we had imagined, especially during the disruptions caused by COVID.

The challenges of digital learning are well known:

Our experience with over 1,200 participants mainly in Los Angeles at Pacific Crossroads Church, confirm these thoughts, and Jason’s warning - “one of the more damaging effects of technology is that it can become a substitute for in person relationships, where we think interacting online can make up for deepening relationships offline” - Pg 89

This paper describes our experiences, divided into  “Guiding Principles” that have proven true in all varieties of groups and learners; and “Observations” that have emerged during the years from a variety of settings.  Our observations are a “work in progress”.  We are learning more with each new ministry group about what actually connects people with each other, and more importantly with the Word and to our Lord.

Thacker noted “As we begin to evaluate technology through this broader lens…the questions we ask shift from how we can spend less time with/on technology to how we might use technology without letting it be the main forming presence….” Pg 34.  Jason summarizes these questions as…..Can we?  Should we?  How do we(use this)?

II Peter 1:3-8 calls us to “make every effort to supplement your faith with goodness, goodness with knowledge, knowledge with self-control, self-control with endurance, ……for if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being useless or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ”.

These verses capture the heart of our ministry at The Gospel Story.  We welcome any and all feedback on this content, and referral to any other sources that would enhance our objective of “bringing affordable digital courses to grow disciples by coming alongside ministries to support and co-ordinate in a customized way to the local Church of Christ.” 

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY            

Guiding Principles

1. Ease of access for all learners, 24/7 availability on a wide variety of portable devices (phones, iPads, laptops, etc.) and optimal personal learning times (AM, PM, kid’s nap times, drive times, work demands/fluctuations).

2. Mitigates the problem of  “missing content” from face to face meetings of a course(main reason people dropout).

3. Content can be replayed or rewatched multiple times to maximize their “learning outcome” for each individual.

4. Flexible content structure that can be customized for delivery either fully online or in variable hybrid methods, best fitting the style of the local church

5. World Class Teachers bringing a variety of learning styles applied on a single digital platform for seamless use…

Observations

6. Consistency of content delivered brings continuity of biblical development within the church, when “core” courses need to be used multiple times

7. Efficiency and effectiveness achieved without utilizing scarce time of pastors and elders leading the same studies, to build Biblical literacy. 

8. Effective outreach to all constituencies, from the younger learners who expect to “partner” learning with their digital Bibles….. to the older or impaired learners who are “shut ins” or have limited mobility, and everyone in between!

9. Provides leaders of studies with 100% accurate assessment as to who within the study group is actually doing the work, by providing a scorecard with weekly “targeted point totals” to assess progress. 

10. Worship and Praise songs that enhance the lessons by bringing “public worship pattern” into private study/worship times.

11. “Connectivity” with other learners in the group in on-line discussion forums overseen by experienced moderators, thus eliminating the “flying solo” experience of most online platforms

Detailed Analysis

Guiding Principles

1. Ease of access for all learners, 24/7 availability on a wide variety of portable devices (phones, iPads, laptops, etc.) and optimal personal learning times (AM, PM, kid’s nap times, drive times, work demands/fluctuations)

and

2. Mitigates the problem of  “missing content” from face to face meetings of a course(main reason people dropout).

These “ease of access” features were found to eliminate the largest reason for people dropping out of Bible studies.

Not having to be at a specific place at a specific time on a specific day has a profound impact on individual willingness to study the Bible.  During our signup times, the most common question has to do with which day or time of the week is the “lecture” which is a common structure used by universities and vocational schools for the traditional online learning systems (“streamed” but not saved to access if missed). 

We’ve observed learners getting 3 or 4 weeks behind, skipping ahead to current content, and then returning to study the lessons missed; OR doing 2 lessons/week, and being fully caught up in a few weeks.  People who commit to study the Word want to learn but life’s schedule can knock them off pace. 

Our platform allows the Moderator to see each week’s progress against specific targeted progress goals, across the list of all learners and then be able to reach out with encouragement to those on pace as well as those behind and work with them to “catch up” to the group.

We started The Gospel Story ministry at PCC to solve just this issue.  PCC had tried nearly every variation of classes (4 week short courses, 1 daylong workshop/class, as well as the traditional weekly study).  Unless it was all in one setting, dropout rate was in the 50-70% range, dependent upon the length of the course, and the desire/ability to repeat the same course again was not attractive to Christian education leaders.  There was always the press to move on to the next course, and in many cases, the first course was not repeated until future years, if at all.

One church, with vibrant and extensive Bible classes has an exceptional Bible Institute comprised of great courses taught over the years.  But they didn’t “capture” the content when it was presented, and therefore it was lost to anyone new wanting or needing to study that particular topic.  We have discussed capturing all future courses, and then building out those into courses to be available digitally.

We see this technology largely benefiting the Church through the access 24/7 to local churches’ sermons from last week, or last year, or churches around the world whose gifted teaching pastors can teach believers at any time and in any place.  When I first became a Christian, RC Sproul and Ligonier Ministries were beginning their audio taped content in packaged courses with small study guides.  That grew to DVD’s/CD’s, and now their online platform of over 100+ courses at Ligonier Connect.  The same is true of Truth for Life ministries with Pastor Alistair Begg and their digital products and online library of over 3,000 messages, with just a few series including a study guide like Ligonier.

Because I was involved early on with them as a learner, and a lay leader in various churches teaching Sunday mornings using their packaged courses, I learned how people learned from these digital offerings.  But, I also learned that if they missed a week, I’d need to transport an audio tape, or DVD to them to “catch up” . 

Further, if someone came a few months later, they would have to wait for the sequence of courses to repeat in order to gain that particular content in the local church.  Thankfully, some could embark on a self-study program by purchasing the series from Ligonier or Truth for Life, etc.   But, then they were on a solo mission of learning without any interaction on discussions, etc. 

3. Content can be replayed or rewatched multiple times by each individual so as to maximize their “learning outcome”.

We can be very attentive during a sermon but miss the bible reference, or the full end of a phrase, etc.  Good preachers often return to those key points, but if an individual wants to hear it again, they will have to find it on the website at a later date and time, hopefully motivated to stay with it to finish their learning.

The same repeats itself in small group studies held at any time or place during the week.  In these small groups, it’s easy to be distracted by others coming and going, as well as multiple conversations or questions arising nearly at the same time.

Our content can even be divided up into “smaller bites” so that a 40 minute sermon by Alistair can be listened to as an audio file while driving to work, and then watched later at home, or while exercising, or pet walking, etc.

RC Sproul, who was an exceptional teacher, covers very dense and difficult areas. So, replaying his teachings, even though they are only 25 minutes long, can be very helpful to make some of these difficult subjects easily “digestible”.

We also provide a one page “Guideline” as the first step for each lesson.  It lays out how many learning “steps” there are in this lesson, and how long each should take.

This shows the entire lesson of 90+ minutes normally broken out into individual steps of X many minutes for each learning activity in the lesson.  Typically,  it involves a bible passage to read, or a blog for mediation, one or two teachings, a short five question “content” quiz which are multiple choice (with ability to correct wrong answers), Discussion and Reflection questions, and Praise Song with lyrics that reflect content of that lesson.  We also provide other BONUS materials to allow each individual learner to go deeper in the lesson. 

ALL of this is geared to fully enhance the content of the Word preached or taught in the lesson, and to also reach the various learning styles that are likely in the church.  But, more than anything, the prime focus is to allow the best chance for each individual to fully understand the primary teaching of the Word.

4. Flexible content structure that can be customized for delivery either fully online or in variable hybrid methods, best fitting the style of the local church

We started five years ago at PCC using only a fully online schedule, with face to face meetings once a month, to provide a community and personal mix to a course.  At the monthly gathering, many times people would seek out individual participants whose postings resonated with them during the online discussions, and now could see them face to face and build personal (not virtual) depth to the relationship.   Many of those early course physical connections carried us through the years of Zoom meetings during COVID.  Some still carry us through what are now miles of separation due to relocations, etc. 

In the fall of 2022, a church in Pittsburgh, PA began using our course content for its’ Wednesday night Bible study, with the flock studying the “content” portion on their own as homework prior to gatherings on Wednesday.  This freed up the pastor from another weekly prep and having dramatically more time during the gathering to discuss, review, pray, sing, etc.  Please see Pastor Jeff at the bottom of the opening website page at www.gospelstory.org to listen to his four minute summary of how things went with their first study ending in Dec, 2022.

Also in 2022,  a small group in Los Angeles wanted to combine a bible study with more of an accountability structure for its’ gatherings.  The participants do the content for two lessons over a two week period of time, then gather biweekly for a meal, discussion, prayer, and singing, etc.  They also found it easy shift the schedule of the content, dwelling longer on some lessons.

In early 2023, a new church “adopter” started their Leaders Training for Deacons.  A customized course combined some Ligonier video content, the Westminster Confession of Faith(WCF), and its’ own content manual for the training of this first class of candidates.  We’ve come along side, providing all WCF and its’manual content as PDF’s online, so that it is all-in-one sign-in place for preparation during the weeks, and then biweekly meetings with the pastor to review and discuss more questions from each lesson.  This plans to repeated in Fall, 2023 with another group of candidates, with the assurance that the content will be 100% identical for that class and all future classes of candidates.

Other pastors are considering using these course outlines as the basis of their preaching series, for example,  the “I AM” Sayings of Jesus or “Face to Face Encounters with Jesus” .  The saying of I AM THE BREAD OF LIFE would be the basis of the sermon, which will loosely tie into the RC Sproul video of the same title.  Then the churches small groups could do the remaining steps of Quiz, Discussions, Praise Songs, etc. 

#5--World Class Teachers bringing a Variety of Learning Styles applied on a single digital platform for seamless use…

The invention of the printing press gave the masses access to the written Word of God in their own language, hearing from Moses, and Paul, and the Lord Jesus in their own words.  Exodus 31:1-11 introduces the Israelites to “gifted men” named Bezalel and Oholiab who were craftsmen to lead the construction of the Temple and the various instruments and decorations.  These unique gifts and the technology used by these men were given “in every craft to design and create things for God”s glory and for the good of the people.”-pg 17 Thacker….

Consider also the use by the Apostle Paul, of his many “general epistles” sent to churches where he had previously ministered.  His “content” was thus delivered with the identical content to each of the churches that “passed on” each of his particular letters.  The assurance of these apostolic truths were then guaranteed as “Paul was instructing the community of believers, but his wisdom was not confined to (just) the corporate gathering”-pg 84, Thacker.

The Gospel Story partners with and licenses content from Ligonier Ministries, Truth for Life, Lifeway Publishing, Gospel in Life, and a few others.  These partnerships allow us to bring selected content to our website, combining to make it available to our learners 24/7 without the need for multiple logins and different formats.  In many of our courses, each lesson in a particular course is the combination of selected teachings by RC Sproul, Alistair Begg, Tim Keller, Vaughn Roberts, Matt Chandler, John Piper and others along with writings of Martin Luther, Charles Spurgeon, etc. 

Our digital platform allows us to present a breadth of teachers with their various learning styles to reach hundred of users at a time. The quality of these teachings not only cross international boundaries, but also decades and centuries of when the content was first delivered.  Reaching into this “time capsule” to transport content to local churches is a “gift” of the technology we provide to everyone’s benefit.

Observations

6. Consistancy of content delivered brings continuity of biblical development within the church

At PCC we are in our fifth year of The Gospel Story courses.  Our Basics tract comprises Old Testament Survey, New Testament Survey, and Christian Doctrine.  A new cohort starts the Old Testament Survey every 4 months, beginning in January, May, and September.  When each cohort completes OT Survey,  they move to NT Survey the next term, and so forth.

We’ve had 15 cohorts studying the identical content of OT Survey so far.  That has built a growing foundation of biblical literacy, and also has been a means of cohesiveness that allows us to refer back to the Gospel reaching Moses, Abraham, etc.

Our current Interim Pastor, Paul Hahn, served for over a decade as the Director of Mission to North America (PCA), in addition to serving as a church planter and pastor of a number of churches in his life.  Over the past two years with our church in Los Angeles he was able to observe, in detail, the level of development that had occurred with our recent group of new church officers.  His video comments are posted at the bottom of the opening website page as “Adopter video” at www.gospelstory.org Please listen to his two minute summary of his observations.

7. Efficiency and effectiveness achieved without utilizing scarce time of pastors and elders leading the same studies, to build Biblical literacy. 

As noted above, one church mentioned is utilizing our course for Deacon training, without the need for the content to be taught personally by the pastor leading each group.

Another church is considering recording portions of their next new membership course, and then making available that “online” to allow significantly more dialogue and discussion time in its’ in-person gatherings.

Another church will record their “Bible Institute” weekends when offered, and consider building those out into lessons with various pieces added to the lectures.

8. Effective outreach to all constituencies, from the younger learners who expect to “partner” learning with their digital Bibles….. to the older or impaired learners who are “shut ins” or have limited mobility, and everyone in between!

As to the younger demographic, they are very fluid in their movements among various digital devices, but expect/demand that it all be “seamless” or at least “split screen” capabilities for their ease of use.

As to the older or impaired demographic, ministries can now offer the exact same content that is being provided in a local setting, to those “shut in” or confined at many different locations.  The Pittsburgh, PA Wednesday Night study has expanded its’ reach to include some “shut-in” individuals.  This allows a local church to serve multiple communities without the requirement to be present at a particular location at a particular date and time.

9. Provides leaders of studies with 100% accurate assessment as to who within the study groups is actually doing the work, by providing a scorecard with weekly “targeted point totals” to assess progress. 

This assessment structure has a dual benefit…first, to see who in the group has completed the assignment(s), in particular, if part of content in a hybrid setting is to be completed prior to the group gathering.

Secondarily, those who are behind in the course, can be easily contacted and encouraged to “keep up” or “catch up” individually without any embarrassment.  Often, we’ve found some “life event” has disrupted them from study, providing an opportunity for prayer support, or visitation by the leader of the group.  The person who is behind feels “cared for” by being visible to the leader, as well as responsible for finding time to work to become current with the group.

10. Worship/Praise songs that enhance the lessons by bringing “public worship pattern” into private study/worship times.  This is done by both reading and singing lyrics.  Martin Luther would say it’s important that truths are “taught and caught” by singing the key points of sermon truths.  We use these steps to practice privately what we demonstrate in public worship with our local churches on Sundays.

11. “Connectivity” with other learners in the group in on-line discussion forums overseen by experienced moderators, thus eliminating the “flying solo” experience of most online platforms.   Connecting on our digital platform is easy because all of our Discussion and Reflection questions are posted and shared with all other participants in the study.  So, much like hearing from others in a classroom setting, we can see and read their comments AND respond to those in this digital classroom.

Also, by separating these questions to be used in a “hybrid” way, your group can assign just the content and quiz sections for preparation prior your physical gathering, and then follow with a regular discussion encounter when gathering. 

Further, the moderator of the group can use the “scorecard” shown in #10, to connect with those on pace to “celebrate” and those behind to “encourage” so each individual knows you are fully aware of their particular progress (or lack thereof).  This accountability has been found to be very well received by learners, as they first joined the study fearing the technology would keep them too isolated.  It does the opposite!

Bibliography

Jason Thacker, “Following Jesus in the Digital Age” @ 2022; Lifeway Publishing’ ISBN: 9-781087771809

Barna, “Six Questions About the Future of the Hybrid Church Experience”,  @2020; Published with Stadia; ISBN:  9-781945269905

Ligonier Ministries, “Ministry Report:  The State of Theology” @ 2020 and 2022;

Barna and The Navigators, “Growing Together:  A three part guide for following Jesus and bringing friends on the journey” @2022; Published by both; ISBN:  9-781956730005