Social Media and the Church

Social Media Stats – crazy.

If this is true and the way we communicate has fundamentally changed, then what does this mean to the church? The church has been notorious for being behind the curve when it comes to innovations – many are still doing the songs of the 50s and lamenting over the “good ‘ol days.”

Some church people are fearful of new technologies. (The news stories of those who abuse the technology doesn’t help.) Some even have “spiritual” reasons for not using it. (They’d rather spend their time “with Jesus.”) I may be wrong, but it seems to me that if these technologies have “fundamentally changed” the way we communicate, then the church needs to break in and use it to communicate the gospel – give Jesus a voice in these new social media communities by being an active incarnated presence.

I’d love to hear from you guys. What are the best (and worst) ways you guys see the church using technology and social media in particular?

4 Replies to “Social Media and the Church”

  1. Steve… our blog sites have so MANY similarities! Way to go on the creativity of topics… and the beautiful transparency! This post today speaks of things I’ve recently been speaking to my circle. Right now we do all our services LIVE and we archive them… my blog reaches more people EVERY morning than I reach from this region on Sunday mornings. While I balance my time and allocate certain blocks to social network ministry vs in person ministry… its nice to be making a difference all over the world! Thanks for posing the question! have a super day!

  2. I agree. Podcasting is such a ‘tell’ — the older the person the more they are impressed with adding the sermon audio to itunes. The younger — the more likely they are to listen. I have college kids, young adults who grew up and now live out of town, who are faithful podcast listeners, and then start thoughtful conversations with me via email.

    We are starting a social media team on Sunday to maximize our presence on facebook and twitter.

    Of course the bottom line — social media is just a tool. Like money, tvs, and the internet — the difference comes by way of who uses the tool and to what end. Thanks for the video Steve.

  3. Cool Peter. What specifically are you hoping your “social media team” will do? Are they planning on “tweeting” your services? Are there any ways they will use facebook outside the standard facebook group?

    Just curious what your vision is.

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