Social Media in Ministry

I'm 29 years old.  When I was a senior in high school, life was very different than today's typical student.  I remember we had one cell phone in our family.  It was only to be used in case of an emergency.  No one arbitrarily got the phone, but it was given to the person who was going the farthest away from home each day.  The phone was about the size of my fore arm and had an antenna that you raised manually.  It was like carrying around a brink in your pocket, but at the time, I thought I was "hot stuff" cause I had a cell phone!

Today, just about everyone has a phone starting at age 13; sometimes earlier.  They aren't just used for making phone calls.  In fact, I would argue that making calls is the least used function of their phone.  Students text message, use GPS, play video games, surf the internet, use a variety of apps, and even watch movies!  This technology has changed GREATLY in only the last 13 years.

Phones aren't the only thing that has changed.  Remember Xenga?  How about Myspace?  Millions of people were using these early forms of social media until Facebook became the center of our universe!  People update the world on everything from how there day was to what they ate for dinner.

Email?  That's a thing of the past.  Only adults still use email.  With students today, you might as well use a carrier pigeon.

Blogs?  A relatively new form of social media that gives people the platform to write about anything and everything.

Twitter?  That's only been around for a few years, but it connects people to news and celebrities at the touch of a button.

YouTube?  Now everyone can be a star and make their own videos.  Some are creative and have some great production value.  Others...just show people being stupid.  Most of YouTube is just guys getting hit in the junk or falling off a roof.  But, at the click of a button, you can be famous.  Look at Justin Beiber.  Say what you want to about the kid, but he has made millions just by playing the drums on YouTube.

I met with someone yesterday whose doing a case study on how churches use (or don't use) social media.  He wanted to pick my brain about how I used social media in my ministry.  I didn't realize how much it consumes my ministry until I started listing it.  My wife and I each have a facebook, as does our ministry, each team in our ministry has a page and each leader has a page.  A handful of leaders have twitter accounts as well as the ministry.  The ministry has a website and a YouTube page for posting original videos.  A handful of leaders have blogs as well as some students.  Social ministry isn't just part of ministry...it is ministry!

Gone are the days of handing out flyers about an event.  We hit up students on multiple fronts.  Text message, Facebook events, Facebook posts, blogs, websites, and even creative videos on YouTube are the new flyers.

In my search for a new church to partner with in ministry, I look at the church's web presence.  Say I get a phone call from a church that wants to talk with me about a possible job opportunity.  The FIRST thing I do is check their website.  I look for their web presence to see what they are doing.  It is painful to go to a church website that is drastically outdated.  There's nothing like seeing service information about Easter 2010 on the home page of a church in December of 2011.

How are churches using social media?  Well, according to the guy I met with yesterday...they aren't.  Even a lot of youth ministries that he has run into have waived the white flag when it comes to the topic. Millions of people are on Facebook.  So, why aren't churches?

Think of it this way: Millions of people are outside of our church walls, yet the church never leaves the brick and mortar of their property.  In the same way, millions of people are on Facebook and Twitter, yet the church stays away from that as well.

Social media can be a problem; believe me I know.  Our ministry gets on a soapbox at least once a year about students and their Facebook page posts and pictures.  But it can also be used for good.  it's an easy way to set up a group discussion or organize an event.  You can see how someone's day was without even asking them.  You don't have to read into their vocal tone once a week on Sunday, but rather get daily updates on a person.  It's also a quick way to get out need for prayer requests.

So many good things can come from social media, but why does the church shy away from it?  As my new friend gathers the information, I'll be sure to relay the information through this blog.

Feel free to leave a comment on how your church church is using or not using social media for ministry.