How to use special holidays to start Online Life Groups

In today’s world we have a tremendous opportunity to become Digital Missionaries to our communities and beyond. One tool to help digital missionaries over the past few years has been Online life groups and Bible studies. These are particularly popular these days, especially Facebook groups.

I have been doing Online Life Groups and Bible studies for a number of years now trying different techniques to engage people and encourage them. Online groups are great because we live in a very busy world and while people may want to get involved in a home group or Bible study that meets at a physical location, logistically they are just unable to. However, with an online group physical time and location are not a factor. Sure, there are some online groups that meet at x time, but most groups I have been involved with create and share content that is not dictated by time.

The online groups and Bible studies that I have had the most success with are the ones that center around holidays. They have had the biggest number of people involved and the most engagement. Why have I have had so much success around holiday centric groups? I believe it is because people are generally really excited during certain times of the year, they are shorter than other life groups and they want some encouragement over these particular times of year.

When you center online groups around a season or holiday it is something everyone is focused on during that time of year so there is naturally a lot of interest. Groups I’ve done that center around a specific topic, book of the Bible or discipleship book have limited reach potential. By that I mean not everyone wants to talk about a spiritual discipline or the book of Matthew at particular times. But with holidays, a lot of people are focused on it and they are interested in it.

So what can you do? What makes these holiday centric groups so effective? Here are two formats and a variety themes and topics you can discuss over the holidays.

Format: The two formats I have had the most success with are Facebook Groups and YouVersion Group Bible Study Apps (if you don’t know how to do a YouVersion Group Bible Study, here is a short tutorial). Facebook Groups are more effective because most people are on Facebook so it is easy for them to join or get invited. For YouVersion you have to download an app.

When I use Facebook Groups, I post a devotional and reflection daily and mix in worship songs and live videos from me offering encouragement. For YouVersion, I pick a Bible Study ranging from 7 to 40 days. They post a devotional and Bible passage for us all to read. I addition, they leave room for discussion as well.

Themes and Topics: Each season or holiday holds different themes and topics you can use. Here are a list of ones you use.

• Thanksgiving (being thankful)
• Christmas (real meaning of Christmas, focus on the Christmas story)
• Easter (lent themes, preparing for the death and resurrection of Christ)
• New Year (start off right)
• Valentine’s theme (love, God’s love)
• Independence day (freedom in Christ)

Holidays provide a particularly creative way throughout the year to engage people and encourage them in Christ. Not only do they catch the eye of people because people are naturally thinking about those holidays, but there is a lot of different content you can use. In addition, there are a variety of different formats you can you such as Facebook, YouVersion or other formats. They are easy to set up and maintain as you lead up to that particular holiday. Try one out today and see how God can use it to connect people to each other and Christ.

So, what do you think? What else can ministers learn from the comic industry?  Share them below or on social media using #ymsidekick when you share.

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