Looking for a Playbook for Digital Missionaries? Look No Further.
Most churches are still treating digital ministry like a bulletin board — post the sermon, boost the event, wonder why nothing happens. Meanwhile, organizations like He Gets Us and Alpha have cracked something the rest of us need to study. They’ve built actual missionary strategies for digital spaces. Not campaigns. Not funnels. Strategies.
This episode breaks down what they’re doing and why it works.
The Problem with Most Church Digital Strategy
Here’s the uncomfortable truth: most churches are online but not on mission online.
There’s a difference between having a Facebook page and being a digital missionary. One is presence. The other is purpose. He Gets Us and Alpha aren’t just present — they’re pursuing. They’re going where lost people already are, starting conversations that matter, and creating on-ramps toward Jesus that don’t require someone to already be spiritually curious.
That’s the playbook. And it’s reproducible.
What He Gets Us Gets Right
He Gets Us doesn’t lead with doctrine. It leads with empathy.
The campaign meets people in their skepticism, their exhaustion, their cultural resistance to Christianity — and it says, we see you, and so does Jesus. That’s not compromise. That’s contextualization. Paul did it in Athens. He Gets Us is doing it on Instagram and YouTube.
What churches can steal from this model:
- Start with the human, not the message. What is your city actually feeling right now? Lead with that.
- Don’t be afraid of questions. He Gets Us leans into doubt rather than paper-mâché-ing over it.
- Invest in reach. They spent real money getting in front of real people. Your church doesn’t need a Super Bowl ad, but you do need to put budget behind content that starts conversations.
If you haven’t already, grab 12 months of He Gets Us for free at thechurch.digital/hegetsus — it’s one of the most practical tools available right now for digital outreach.
What Alpha Gets Right
Alpha has been doing digital discipleship longer than most of us have been on social media. Their model is simple and transferable: create a safe space, ask good questions, let the Holy Spirit do the heavy lifting.
Online, that translates to:
- Community before content. Alpha courses online aren’t just watch parties. They’re relational containers. People process together.
- Low barrier entry. You don’t have to believe anything to start Alpha. That’s evangelism strategy, not theological weakness.
- Reproducible process. Any church, any size, can run Alpha. That’s the point.
The digital missionary takeaway? Stop trying to build something nobody else can replicate. Build something everyone can replicate.
The Framework Behind Both
Strip it back and both He Gets Us and Alpha are operating on the same missionary logic:
Attract → Engage → Disciple → Multiply.
This isn’t a new idea. It’s basically Acts 2 with Wi-Fi. But most churches stop at attract. They run the ad, get the click, and then drop the person into a website designed for people who already go to church.
The bridge between attract and disciple is the most neglected part of digital ministry. It requires:
- A conversation strategy — What happens when someone responds? Who responds to them? How fast?
- A community on-ramp — Where can a curious person belong before they believe?
- A next step that doesn’t feel like a sales pitch — One clear, low-pressure ask.
Practical Steps for Your Church Right Now
You don’t need He Gets Us’s budget or Alpha’s decades of infrastructure. You need to start smaller and smarter.
- Audit your digital presence. Is it missionary? Or is it maintenance?
- Identify one platform where lost people in your city actually spend time. Go there intentionally.
- Create one piece of content per week designed for someone who doesn’t follow Jesus yet. Not for your congregation. For the not-yet.
- Build a response system. Every comment, every DM, every reaction is a potential conversation. Assign someone to follow up.
- Run Alpha online. Seriously. It’s free, it works, and it gives seekers a place to process.
“How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news.” (Romans 10:15) — Digital missionaries, that’s you. Your feet are your fingers. Your mission field is the feed.
The Bottom Line
He Gets Us and Alpha aren’t doing magic. They’re doing mission — with clarity, consistency, and courage. The church has the same Gospel. We just need the same intentionality.
Digital ministry isn’t a side project. For the next generation of lost people, it might be the only front door they ever find.
Ready to build your own digital missionary strategy? Listen to the full episode on your favorite podcast platform — Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen — and then grab your free year of He Gets Us at thechurch.digital/hegetsus. Take one idea from this episode and deploy it this week. Not next quarter. This week.
