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With the somewhat new trend of Twitter, micro blogging has soared as people try to figure out how they can use it to 1) communicate to a large group, 2) use it to gain information and, 3) how to converse in 140 characters or less. If you’re not exactly sure what Twitter is, you can read more about it on our blog: http://www.mediaoutreach.com/ While the technology world is racing to find the latest trend in social networking, the church should not lag behind. It’s about going into the world and meeting people where they are…even if it’s in a virtual community group. Jason Gordon (@jasonGordon), the minister of community life at Connexion Christian Ministries (@connexionlines) in Lafayette, Ind., is using Twitter to communicate to the community about what is going on with the church. “One neat thing that we’ve done with Twitter is post a link to our Sermon Connect site when we put a new message on there,” he says. “We’ve seen people hit up our Sermon Connect page to listen to the message.” Bill Reichart (@BillReichart), the area director of the Christian Medical and Dental Association in Atlanta and a Ministry Consultant who aims to help the church enter into the social media avenue, says that for Twitter to work with a church and to bring it value, the pastor must lead by example. “If a pastor takes ownership and shows his congregation that Twitter has value, then his congregation will probably be more likely to jump on board,” he says. Reichart also makes the point that a pastor should evaluate his congregation to see if they are ready to get on board with social mediums like Twitter. “When I was a pastor, I had to tailor my communication style based on the way my congregation preferred to be communicated with,” he says. Baby Boomers tended to prefer to be communicated with via telephone, while Gen X preferred email, Reichart said. He also said that the younger generations were more apt to using Facebook and texting as a means of communication than email or telephone. Daniel Mosley (@Dmosley), the young adult’s pastor at The Church on Chapel Hill (@chapelhill) in Douglasville, Ga., said that his ultimate goal in using Twitter with his church is to connect with people in the community on a personal level and to drive traffic to the website. “One thing Twitter does for us is reveal the human side of us to our congregation,” he says. “It allows people to see us and what we’re like beyond our ministry platform. While no one has all the answers to how to effectively use Twitter in a church, Mosley is ready to experiment with interactive church services and see how it goes. “We don’t want to just broadcast things about ourselves,” he says. “We don’t want to be so into ourselves that we’re not interacting with others. We want to be engaged with our congregation.” Gordon, Reichart and Mosley agree that even using Twitter to connect with other ministry leaders and churches has helped them learn things and share things that they wouldn’t have otherwise. “Twitter allows me to follow ministry leaders that I admire and see how they manage their lives,” Gordon says. “What else is amazing is the number of people who will pray when someone posts a prayer request.” Is your church or ministry staff using twitter? If so, we want to know how you’re using it and what you’ve learned from using it. Send us your feedback. Also, don’t forget to follow faithHighway on Twitter: @faithHighway |
