Ministry Implications from the Oct 2022 Global State of Digital Report

As mentioned above, there were a variety of insights that can be very useful for ministers. Here are 5 insights that have direct ministry implications that can help you and your online ministry. 

95.8%. That is the percentage of 16-64 year olds who own a smartphone. That is a significant number of people that your Church can reach with a digital and online strategy. It doesn't have to be fully immersive, but you should have a digital strategy for your Church, utilizing online tools so that you can reach the great number of people who are using smartphones and are online regularly. 

1 hour and 13 minutes. That is the amount of time people spend playing video games a day. That works out to be over 8 hours a week. That is 8 hours a student minister, volunteer or online minister could have to reach various people playing video games. It may seem childish but the average age of a gamer is 35. Gamers are everyone, male and female, young and old. They play games to escape and make friends. It isn't always easy for everyone to make friends in real life. But, through video games, people have a common connection and that is the start to a friendship. Mobilize gamers in our Church to be digital missionaries for Christ on video game platforms. 

21.3%. This is the percentage of people listening to podcasts. Podcasts are a different form of content Churches can be sharing on. Whether it is devotionals, sermons or a fun show hosted by your Church, there are lots of opportunities to reach and minster to people from an audio format. See how Anchor.fm can help you host your podcast.  

2 of the Top 5 most-visited sites are porn sites. It is not certain what people why people look at these sites, but stats show that people are searching for an escape, love and intimacy when they look at porn. They are also bored or need a stress reduction. What can your Church offer that can meet the needs of people looking at pornography on the web? How can you minister to them before they decide to go visit a site they will regret?

35.4%. This percentage is of users who spend time on social media "filling spare time". People are looking on social media just randomly. If there is no other reason to put content (i.e. devotionals, worship songs, sermon clips) on social media it is that there is a chance that people will see your spiritual encouragement while simply scrolling, filling up their spare time. What can your Church do to encourage others in the space today?

  Conclusion

There remains lots of opportunities for Churches to minister to people online. Here are five stats chosen out of hundreds from the Global State of Digital Report. And, of those five, the metaverse wasn't even mentioned. That, by itself, presents lots of opportunities as well. Take some time to pray, then review the report and see what God reveals to you about what action steps you need to take in your digital and online ministry so that more and more people can come to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior. 

What do you think? What are your thoughts about these stats? What are the ministry implications here?  Share your ideas below or on social media.

Through the Digital Church Network we are helping physical and digital churches better understand the discipleship process, and helping churches and church planters understand this and other decentralized mindset shifts. Joining the DCN is free and be encouraged!