Workflow – Social Media Pastor

Bringing social media to the church is long overdue!

From what I have seen the faith based world is very much like the non profit world at large in that they are always behind the curve in technology. Not that they couldn’t do great thing and have great impact, but that its not their main focus an generally speaking pastors, evangelists, etc … Are on the older side so social media is not something they have grown up using.

I work with a lot of faith based groups. More and more they are seeing the power of social media.

One of the BIGGEST challenges that I have seen them face is ‘moderation’ of what they share, post, engage in, allow on their sites, etc …

Its a new world that brings new challenges that over time will lead to great breakthoughs and success, but it will take time for the conservative to adopt.

Chris – you are doing great work posting these ‘personas’ to make people think.

I’m still interested in how u do this day to day. I would love the opportunity to speak some time.

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http://twitter.com/franswaa

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The “seeker sensitive” church movement is the only current growth sector in Christianity today, I think. What we’re seeing with alot of these churches is the use of new technologies and new methods to grab the attention of users.

The church I attended when I lived in Northern Virginia has a cool website, several blogs, several facebook pages… and they’re really active in the community they serve. They have ESL classes, recovery classes and an array of services that anyone is invited to take advantage of. They also run several faith-based initiatives that are way cool. Each one has its own web site. Link to post on that church…

http://livepath.blogspot.com/2005/08/ice-cream-you-scream.html

Churches that approach ministry this way tell newcomers “This ‘aint your grandma’s church” and leads to the production of some pretty innovative ways to get the message across…

Here’s one example…

As a Christian, as long as the church is Bible-based and solid… as long as they are focused on the right message and on loving people, I’m a total proponent of this!

For using twitter as a church body, I’m going to give GroupTweet (http://grouptweet.com) a try. I’ve found a few people at my (small) church using twitter. I’d prefer to go with identi.ca, but will try more mainstream to start with. I gather that the majority of my church is already using facebook.

It’s networking, it’s broadcasting, it’s connecting. Just new tools for what people and the church have always done.

As the Bible teacher for the moms group at Sandals Church, I’ve seen the ways social media have forged us together. We post weekly homework, share prayer requests, announce practical needs and post crazy pictures of our kids for each other. Many of us blog after the kids are down and it helps us keep up on each others’ lives and know how to love each other better.

My core prayer team gets regular “Hay-elp!” txt msgs from me throughout the week when I need strength. I also tweet a running commentary of “God moments” when they happen. Social media is about connecting the highs and the lows.

I want my group to know I’m human during the week and just yelled at my kids (yet again) and need their prayers. I believe my church’s motto “Being real with ourselves, others and God” and communicating with the tools out there helps me align my life with these core values.

I love this stuff. Its just another way that God connects his body.

Love it. If I could have a conversation — rather than being preached and lectured at — I might actually consider religion again.

Another terrific thought experiment! I’m really enjoying this series. Applying social media to religious communities seems like such a no-brainer — which is why so many commenters are chiming in to inform us that many of these tools for communication and connection are already being used. Community is one of the foundations of any religious group; whether that community is centered around a church, a synagogue, a mosque, or a place in nature, it exists to bring people together. Many of these technologies allow people who are busy or aged or disabled or far away to maintain a connection to that community — and perhaps deepen that connection — even when they aren’t physically present.

Way to get our attention Chris! You’re evangelizing the Church for us. As St. Francis said “preach the gospel and if you must, use words”. Looks like the internet might be a useful tool for delivering hope after all.

http://twitter.com/cynthiaware

The power of social media and networking can certainly grow a church community. I’ve seen it work favorably with some churches around my neighborhood.

But, ultimately, the power of a church is the community coming together once a week. I have mixed feelings, but if done right the outreach should be positive.

Rosh
http://www.newmediaphotographer.com

Great post! I am an Internet Campus Pastor at Flamingo Road Church in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. Social media and the Internet have allowed us to reach people in so many different ways! We use every tool available to get the gospel out there…and believe that it is our responsibility to do so. I would never say that the digital church is out to replace what many consider a “real” experience…but I would say it does a great job partnering with brick-and-mortar churches to help make an impact in the world.

Awesome as always Chris! Cool that I was in your comments :)

Hi Chris, great post.

Interestingly, I think your post illustrates how the church and social media are facing many of the same challenges. Both are at the very beginning of finding their application in people’s lives. Social media can’t be viewed as a unique phenomenon unto itself, it needs to be used by people as a tool for connecting. Same thing applies to your faith – if you practice it only in church, on Sunday, then you’re not getting the real message and you are far from understanding the true promise of Christianity.

Thank you for this, and my best to you and Jon.

thanks Frank! Yeah Chris, I would love to talk about the amazing use of social media within those that consider themselves to be Christian and especially ministers. I personally see social media as a huge opportunity to grow and develop authentic community. Please feel free to contact me and let’s continue the discussion from the place of Twitter, podcasts, blogs, plurk, friend feed, etc… Blessings on ya!

Our Pastor has been doing a sermon series on the ‘church without walls’. This is an excellent demonstration of that – far-reaching beyond the walls of his own church building. Love it!

Chris:

I see more and more churches trying to reach out to the community in different ways like using social media. I think it’s a great idea – I sent this post to my pastor.

Social media is a great way to humanize big companies and monolithic organizations so people can find a way to finally connect with what they are doing and learn more about them.

When I put together a list of “monolithic, misunderstood and in need of serious public-relations outreach,” religions are on that list.

I hope Emilio’s work and tactics are encouraged and he’s able to continue.

To a large extent this is what I do, and there are many other people already utilizing the internet to spread the Gospel. Our head pastor is at the 5,000 friend limit on Facebook and has close to another 5,000 waiting for Facebook to upgrade. Social media is a great way to include a large number or people in the goings-ons of large churches.

We had a 9 part sermon series ( http://www.marshillchurch.org/media/religionsaves ) in which people asked questions online, and we opened up the questions to a vote. Then the preaching pastor spent over two months answering people’s questions on stage.

We also open up some weekend services for people to text message their questions, and have them answered that day.

We’re always looking for new ideas to communicate better-if any one has any ideas, let me know:)

Chris,

Thanks for this take on social media. I have been struggling recently to understand why I am in this internet thing. I am a believer and I now see how I have separated my faith and my work in ways that I had never really imagined. There is work to do and the more I am exposed to things like this the more I am inspired. Thanks, Chris and Jon. Peace.

Be great if you could do one of these for musicians, give us all some ideas :-)

What Emilio has done is give people a way to connect to someone they need in the way that works for them.

Jon does that for me. He surprised me when he managed it. Overcoming my resistance to something is a mean feat. And just because he calls it chocolate milk doesn’t make it any less meaningful or loving.

Just as the gift of hearing that family member Emilio might record in the hospital later on is just that a loving caring gift delivered in a different way.

Great post! I’m on staff at a church and have been the biggest supporter of using technologies like facebook and blogs to better reach the community. Very few people have agreed with me at first but, when they saw people responding, they started to “warm up” to the idea. I’ll keep pushing. Thanks for the encouragement.

-a

That’s right about the further exploitation of christianity and the confounding influence of a liberal, one-sided view of the church spread exponentially via these new media sources. There is no other way than for the church or those with faith to use the same resources. We are an age of information and inculcation into popular myths. People need God quick.