Social Media and Ministry : Sharing the Gospel in the Digital Age

By Rev. Dr. Kenneth Lillard

Social Media and Ministry: Sharing the Gospel in the Digtal Age is a practical guide for all (including pastors and church leaders) to social media. It is a handbook, a how-to-manual for ministries on how to use Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other social media platforms to grow and increase their influence. It is a Pastor's Guide to Social Media. This book is also for those, in general, who seek a better understanding of social networking, and how social media impacts our daily lives. Finally, it is about the information-based Digital Age and how we relate to it.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Apr 13, 2011
• ISBN: 9781257622214

Book preview

978-0-557-86352-5

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to the loving memory of my mother,

Rev. Dr. Rosetta Catherine Lillard

(July 29, 1927 – August 7, 2009)

A Mighty Woman of God

Preface

Social Media and Ministry is a book about sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ in today’s Digital Age, an era characterized by an explosion of information. The Digital Age is marked by the ability of ordinary people to instantaneously access, create and share information, 24/7, using new digital tools and technologies.

This book is about the intersection of the contemporary Christian church and the greatest communications revolution of our time, social media. Social media is sweeping the planet! It is represented by social networking sites like of Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. And it is spreading faster than demographers can keep track.

Social Media and Ministry is a handbook for all (including pastors and church leaders) who have a passion for social networking, digital technology, and growing today’s church community in our fast paced, rapidly changing world.

Its purpose is to:

Explore and understand the new social media landscape

Provide an effective social media strategy for church ministries to successfully navigate this new, digitallyconnected world

Offer essential tools for growing contemporary church communities through implementing smart social media strategies.

In Washington Irving’s classic tale, Rip Van Winkle famously slept through the American Revolution. Can today’s church afford to sleep through the greatest communications revolution of our time - digital social media?

A recent study, How Do People of Faith Use Social Media? surveyed churches across the country exploring their current levels of involvement in the social media explosion. The study revealed that while almost half of surveyed churches have some sort of social media presence, e.g., on Facebook, the vast majority use it poorly or are not committed to maximizing the effectiveness it offers the church.

Social media provides churches with incredible opportunities to communicate with their congregations, and promote the connectedness that people today are increasingly seeking through social networking platforms like Facebook and Twitter.

Consider the following statistics:

62% of churches have their sermons on a website or do a

podcast

28% of the churches surveyed post a blog by their pastor

32% use social media to get feedback from the membership

25% always use social media in the promotion of special

church events and activities.

The study also shows that the larger the church, the more likely it is to use social media to stay connected with its members.

The technological revolution introduced by Gutenberg’s moveable type printing press produced the Gutenberg Bible in the 1450’s. Most scholars agree this technological innovation helped Martin Luther and others usher in the Protestant Reformation. People were empowered by being able to read their own Bibles for the first time in their own languages. Technology had significantly impacted society, and especially the church.

YouVersion.com has introduced an online Bible accessible by mobile phone. It places a digital Bible (in 41 different translations and in 22 languages) in the palm of your hand. You can share it online. The digital Bible changes how we connect with our faith!

You can carry it around with you, and engage the Bible while at the airport, standing in line at the super market, or in the pew during Sunday morning church service. (BTW, you can download it free at http://www.youversion.com/mobile.)

Will the technology of digital social media, including Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, impact the contemporary church and society like Gutenberg’s printing press did in the 15th century?

Only time will tell if we are on the verge of a new Reformation. However, one thing is certain. The church, definitely, cannot afford to sleep on this game changing phenomenon known as social media.

This social media guide contains a number of posts from my blog, Faith Based Media 2.0 http://kennethelillard.wordpress.com/ where I explore ideas about faith, ministry, technology and digital social media. You are cordially invited to visit there for updates on many of the concepts expressed in this book.

After reading Social Media and Ministry, it is my sincere hope that you will be empowered to more confidently and effectively engage others in sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ in our digitallyconnected world.

Paradigm Shift

"Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?" Isaiah 43:19a

I was astonished when I first observed on YouTube that someone at Calvary Chapel Church, Kernersville, NC, had become a committed Christian on Twitter! Twitter? You got to be kidding me!

Then I learned there was a church, Northland, A Church Distributed, on Facebook which was streaming live worship services to users logged onto its Fan Page. What?

Not only that, Mars Hill Church in Seattle, Washington, has an iPhone app which allows iPhone users to listen to any Mars Hill sermon available on its website, watch any Mars Hill sermon video, stream Mars Hill music, email sermon links to friends, give to the mission of Mars Hill, stay informed and up to date through the Mars Hill’s blog, get service information, and campus locations and listings. All on a cell phone!

Bishop T.D. Jakes is all over YouTube teaching and preaching incredible sermons! And many of his videos have gone viral.

Some churches now feature recording studios, kiosks for etithing, and book publishing divisions.

A worship leader in England is tweeting a summary of the Bible, 140 characters at a time, one tweet per chapter, one chapter per day on Twitter! Ex2: Pharaoh’s daughter found a Hebrew baby by the river. She named him Moses. When he grew up Moses killed an Egyptian and fled to Midian. (See Twitter @biblesummary.)

Bing! A paradigm shift is taking place in the church, right before our very eyes. This is no longer church as our fathers and mothers knew it. Something new and exciting is happening in the church today. Whether we realize it or not, a major shift is taking place this very moment.

While this paradigm shift is occurring, the message of Jesus Christ, however, remains the same – redemption for mankind through His finished work on the cross. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Hebrews 13:8

The new way the gospel is being communicated is undergoing an amazing transformation. And one of the major ways this is being accomplished is via digital social media!

Part 1

INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL MEDIA

And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Matthew 28:16-20

Social Media and Christian Community

In an article entitled Using the Machine, Christian blogger Calvin Park relates a story that clearly illustrates some of the amazing ways that social media and Web 2.0 technologies are changing the way a