Power of Multiplatform
Note: The slides were created by Heidi Green.
Strengthen and transform your UU community by creating a culture of inclusion where remote participants feel just as important, valued, and loved as in-person ones. Reach more people who need the lifesaving message of Unitarian Universalism. Discover how mastering inclusion in this context can jump-start other inclusion initiatives.
Watching the Video Will Enable You To
- Recognize what makes multiplatform ministry crucial to the future of our faith.
- Explain ways we signal othering or belonging, often unconsciously and completely unintentionally.
- Understand how to start or enhance your multiplatform ministry.
Key Points
Multiplatform ministry is the loving inclusion of remote participants in all church activities.
- Remote participants are precious. Our communities would be diminished without them. We don’t want them to leave, and we want to treat them lovingly. This is who we are.
- Caring for our remote participants is ministry. It’s inclusion, pastoral care, prophetic witness. Caring for some of our most vulnerable members. Reaching out to members of marginalized communities in our “zoom inclusive” zone.
- Multiplatform ministry allows more people to come to the table, enabling full participation for many who couldn’t before because of health, distance, or accessibility.
This is our way to meet the moment, a doorway to an expansive new vision of community, church, and Unitarian Universalism.
Contents with Timestamps
00:00 Introduction (2:06)
02:06 Multiplatform Ministry – What and Why (6:52)
08:58 Reflection by Dr. Melissa James (4:29)
13:27 Reflection by Rev. Makanah Morriss (3:38)
17:05 Key Facets of Multiplatform Ministry (5:05)
22:10 Facet 1: Being clear about the why (2:00)
24:10 Facet 2: Understanding micro-signaling (8:37)
32:47 Facet 3: Forming a team,
Facet 4: Making incremental changes, and
Facet 5: Working the long game (2:29)
37:16 Summary and Call to Action (3:47)
Discussion Questions for The Power of Multiplatform Ministry
Play the video
As you play the video, you can enable subtitles by clicking the gear icon in the lower right corner, selecting Subtitles/CC, then English (United States). The clicking “CC” left of the gear icon toggles the captions on and off.
You may want to pause the video after each section and explore the questions below. If you prefer that, we’ve suggested places to stop the video. Or your group may prefer to watch the entire video and then reflect on these questions.
[Optional: Stop the video at the start of the Reflection by Dr. Melissa James, 08:58]
Multiplatform Ministry — What and Why
How important is community to you and to your congregaation in these difficult times? What difference does it make to you?
Do you have friends at your congregation who need to regularly make use of multiplatform ministry options? Does this include you?
When you have made use of the multiplatform ministry option yourself, what caused you to choose it?
How does having this option make a difference to your congregation?
[Optional: Stop the video at the start of the Reflection by Rev. Makanah Morriss, 13:27]
Reflection by Dr. Melissa James
Have you seen multiplatform ministry offer ways to build community in new ways in your congregation?
How does multiplatform ministry expand and improve accessibility for your congregation?
What new doors of possibility for collaboration and new partnerships might be possible now for your congregation through multiplatform ministry?
[Optional: Stop the video at the start of Key Facets of Multiplatform Ministry, 17:05]
Reflections by Rev. Makanah Morriss
Are there folks in towns and communities just beyond your congregation’s regular catch area that might be interested in being part of a liberal religious community?
Do you have friends or family who live in such areas?
What might your congregation do to evolve its membership outreach and process to include those who live too far to attend in person but who are regular multiplatform participants?
How might your congregation let those living in communities beyond your regular driving radius know about your welcoming presence?
[Finish the video]
Key Facets of Multiplatform Ministry
Why do you believe it is important for your congregation to offer multiplatform ministry in these times?
How might an understanding of micro-signaling help your congregation be more welcoming and inclusive?
Can you think of a time when you experienced a positive micro-signal from someone in a group?
Can you bring to mind seeing or inadvertently giving a negative micro-signal?
Does your congregation have a Multiplatform Ministry team? If not, who might it be important to include on such a team?
How can you help your congregation appreciate and celebrate its small steps and incremental changes in improving your multiplatform ministry?