How Salt + Light is Using Tech to Build Engaged Church Communities

Digital transformation and AI are reshaping every aspect of life. In this era, the church faces a unique challenge: engaging community. How can we engage our communities without losing the essence of personal and meaningful connection?

My name is Amar Patel, my team and I have are called Salt + Light. We’re a company focused on developing technology that helps churches influence culture.

Meet Salt + Light:

We're a team of former pastors and ministry leaders. We've experienced the awesomeness of Jesus's love - and we're passionate about it. This drives our goal of leveraging technology to create spaces for people encounter Him.

As experienced ministry leaders, we’ve seen firsthand how difficult it is to sustain small groups. Meaningful prayer (in our increasingly busy and lonely world) seems rare! Wit the aid of Missional Labs (a Kingdom-first incubator for startups), we set out to create a solution for this.

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The Challenge: Leading and Maintaining Small Groups

Let’s face it—leading small groups is hard. Whether it’s juggling schedules or maintaining engagement, the challenges are endless. Platforms like GroupMe, WhatsApp, and group chats may be great for quick updates, but they often become one-way communication channels, lacking true interaction and engagement.

Does your church have small groups that meet weekly? If not, then likely there’s no consistent "digital third place" for people to stay connected. When your members are at diverse life stages—like parents, singles, or those with different availability—it’s even more complex.

What’s the solution? This was the compelling problem we set out to solve at Salt + Light: how do we maintain the richness of in-person relationships while embracing the realities of our digital lives?

Our platform enables groups to stay engaged between physical gatherings, taking a big bet on audio voice recordings for social prayer and conversation allowing members to express themselves with authenticity beyond plain text or emoji reactions.

A tool to evangelize: Extending the Invitation Beyond the Church Walls

One of the most exciting aspects of Salt + Light the app is how it opens the door for inviting people outside the church into meaningful conversation.

Imagine inviting your coworkers, neighbors, extended family, or friends who wouldn’t normally attend church to join a space where real, intentional conversations are happening with you. Our theory is that if they can experience the vulnerability of a believer they are more open to diving into a deeper relationship where you can share your testimony, minister to them, or do life on life.

We’ve seen stay-at-home moms, pastors, and those hesitant to engage in traditional church environments experiment with our app. It’s been incredible to witness how God is using this tool and the different ways some people have used it beyond the normal small group framework and instead for prayer.

The Importance Of Prayer Follow-Up: Lessons From Echo Church

A breakthrough moment came during an experiment with Echo Church in San Jose, CA, where Lead Pastor Filipe Santos encouraged his congregation to engage in 30 days of communal prayer through Salt + Light around their upcoming Fall season.

From a ministry perspective, it revealed something deeper to us as a team: 

Prayer follow-up and culture matters.

In many churches, prayer requests submitted through cards or digital forms can easily fall through the cracks.

Imagine a first-time guest who is vulnerable enough to request prayer and hears nothing back; this could leave them feeling overlooked at a crucial moment.

To address this, we built a solution: Seedling.so. This tool helps churches track and follow up on prayer requests efficiently, ensuring that every request is seen and responded to. Since its launch earlier this month, several churches have begun using Seedling.so and we are expectant to see how this will provide care and attention.

Guests simply scan a QR code and text their prayer requests to a private dashboard the staff and prayer team can review. With a few button taps you can follow-up and let guests know you’ve prayed for them.

Why This Matters For Church Leaders

So why should church leaders care about platforms like Salt + Light or Seedling.so? Here’s what’s in it for you:

1. Enhanced Engagement: With Salt + Light, your group leaders can create a more intimate and personal group experience, even when life keeps people apart. Audio-based messaging offers a method to bring warmth and presence.
2. Improved Prayer Follow-Up: Seedling.so helps you ensure that no prayer request is lost or forgotten. Every person who reaches out is followed up with, reinforcing a culture of care and hospitality in your church.
3. Reaching the Unreached: Our app is designed to break down the barriers that often keep people from engaging with the church. By creating a welcoming digital space, you can reach those who might be hesitant to walk through your physical doors.

We’d love to connect! Shoot an email to team [at] saltandlight.community  and we'll chat about how your local church can influence your community.