It’s 2 p.m. on a Thursday, and several people are sharing words of encouragement during our church’s five-day challenge to raise funds for hunger relief.
A young professional asks, “Anyone feeling more satisfied and optimistic today?” A stay-at-home mom talks about her children’s “beans and rice” song. A high school student confesses he is “humbled,” and has a new perspective on materialism. It’s the kind of interaction that every pastor hopes for—a community that transcends age and stage, with the work of the gospel at the center.
And it’s all happening on Twitter.
The five-day challenge was Hope Church’s first “full-court press” experience using Facebook, Twitter and blogging to unite a diverse community throughout the week. And the impact on the congregation convinced senior leadership that the church’s relationship with social media must be taken seriously.
Many church leaders are waking up to the fact that social media is a force to be reckoned with. The numbers don’t lie: there are 500 million Facebook users—and 50 percent use it every day. Twitter, a micro blogging tool that allows users to post 140 character messages, also boasts millions of active users with thousands joining daily. With numbers like these, it’s only natural to wonder how you might use social media to help your ministry.
Let’s explore three significant ways to leverage social media to multiply a ministry’s effectiveness. We’ll weave in lessons we’ve learned experimenting with blogging, texting, Facebook, and Twitter in our own churches. We’ll also glean insights from the examples of other pastors and ministry leaders navigating these new media. We’ve chosen three specific ways social media multiplies the effectiveness of ministry: for information, innovation, and mobilization.
Inform
Nothing is more frustrating than devoting weeks or even months of planning to a church event only to have it fail because you didn’t get the word out. We can’t force people come to our events, but we can make sure they know about them. Using Facebook and Twitter is a quick way to reach people, with the added bonus of enabling people to easily pass along invites and information to family and friends.
Mark Montgomery, pastor of a small congregation in Texas, has seen the benefit of moving the church newsletter to an electronic format and posting it on the church’s Facebook page. On an average month, there are as many people accessing the church’s Facebook page as there are attending church. Although it took two years to make the change, Montgomery sees the addition of social media as “all positive.”
When transitioning to electronic communication, more work up front pays off in the end. For instance, when we started a blog to post announcements for our women’s ministry at Hope, we let women consent to receiving blog updates via e-mail on a pen-and-paper signup sheet. A volunteer then entered all the e-mails into the blog so that the women in the group could receive announcements quickly and easily.
Innovate
Last month I (Nicole) wrote a blog post asking readers to write a definition of idolatry. Using Facebook and Twitter, I asked for specific help from other student ministry leaders as well as college and high school students. The end result was a much richer definition of modern-day idolatry than what I would have found using only my circle of friends and commentaries. Dozens of responses helped me shape a lesson for high school students, one that wasn’t limited to my own experiences. Defining and exposing modern-day idols became a community effort. The blog post took me 30 minutes to write, but the resulting information highlights one of the strengths of social media: the ability to innovate in ministry.
Jesus was masterful at communicating spiritual truths in settings and with language that connected with listeners. Likewise, Paul strived to be fluent in the language of his culture (1 Cor. 9:22).When used wisely, social media is a powerful tool for church leaders serious about this rich legacy of contextualized communication.
Here are just a few examples of how social media can generate new ministry methods and ideas:
- Use Facebook/Twitter to ask questions or generate conversation around sermon topics.
- Connect with other leaders and get quick access to quality resources that they share through their own tweets, blog or Facebook.
- Use Twitter or text messages during the worship service to answer some (screened) questions at the end of the sermon. Mars Hill in Seattle, Washington was one of the first churches to utilize this approach to give people a chance to “interact” with the sermon.
Mobilize
One of the greatest strengths of social media is its instantaneous impact. When Cross Point Church in Nashville, Tennessee wanted to respond to the floods of May 2010, the leadership primarily used Twitter to communicate with its members.
Sunday, May 2, 2010, is a day etched in my (Jenni) memory. I’d never seen so much water in my life, and the downpour continued. My neighborhood and several of those around it were completely surrounded by water. Since going home was not an option, I found my way to a friend’s house and camped out in front of the TV, paralyzed by the continuous news footage. Soon I received word that three of my staff members’ homes were submerged. One of my staff members texted me a picture of her house. All you could see was then roof—everything else was under water.
Nashville was devastated and we needed to respond. That evening, Pete Wilson, lead pastor for Cross Point Church, and I brain-stormed ways our church might bring the love and hope of Christ to our flooded city. We had no idea what we could do, but we knew we needed to rally Cross Point volunteers and begin to help. Sunday evening Pete and I began tweeting our plans to our followers and Facebook friends, asking them to meet Monday morning to help with flood relief.
Pulling into our Bellevue Campus on Monday, we had no idea what to expect. We had put the word out, but who would show up? People from around the world had responded to our tweets with prayers and encouragement. But would enough volunteers come out to help?
At 10 a.m., people began to stream into the parking lot. They arrived ready to work with chainsaws, gloves, boats, and generators—all the supplies we had requested in our tweets. For nearly two weeks we sent teams out every day to do flood relief. They sorted peoples’ valuables, cleared out homes, pulled out drywall and flooring, prayed with people, cried with people, served and loved people.
More than 2,200 volunteers responded to our call for help—a call for help that began with some simple Twitter messages and grew to include a fully interactive website, updates on our personal blogs, and frequent e-mail blasts.
In the weeks that followed, our social media efforts helped avert the “out of sight, out of mind” syndrome that happened when national media attention waned and the city itself got back to business as usual. There were still thousands of families who needed to know they weren’t forgotten. Social media became the platform for us to keep the need alive and to rally volunteers as opportunities to serve continued to surface.
Additionally, we received tens of thousands of dollars in donations for flood relief from churches and individuals across the country that knew of the flood need only because of our social media efforts.
I’m convinced it was no accident that our pastors and staff had been active social media users for the last several years. I believe that God gave us influence in this area “for such a time as this” (Esther 4:14). The expedient and viral nature of social media allowed us to engage people for this specific moment.
The flood changed my perspective on just how powerful social media can be. I tweet and blog with more sensitivity now. I watch for needs and identify ways that I can pray for others. I look for opportunities to serve and for opportunities to encourage others to serve. I’m reminded that God will use whatever he needs to use to accomplish his purposes, and I pray I’ll always be receptive to how I can be a part of his plan.
Leader Objections
There is little argument anymore that social media has tremendous power. From charity organizations raising money for humanitarian aid to politicians campaigning for support, social media has become a powerhouse for getting attention and getting it fast.
But social media doesn’t come without its host of challenges, especially for leaders. The three main obstacles we’ve encountered from leaders in using social media involve concerns regarding privacy, time, and managing other leaders’ usage.
Challenge #1: “I don’t want my life on display.”
Ministry leaders already live very public lives. The idea of opening up another avenue, by which every move they make is exposed, can seem overwhelming.
But in today’s culture, choosing to ignore social media comes with its own risks. You’re choosing to close a potentially important line of communication between yourself and those you lead. And you might be sending the message that you’re not really interested in hearing from your followers. You could liken this to a leader who works in an office with an entire team but stays behind a closed door the majority of the time. You may be present, but you’re not accessible and engaged.
Using social media as a leader is a delicate balancing act. You want to be transparent and available while also protecting yourself and your family from over-exposure. And remember: you are still in control of what you share. You make the choice about personal information you put on Facebook, Twitter, or a blog.
When I (Jenni) first started blogging and tweeting, I made a choice to use these avenues to help our congregation get to know me better. Being part of a fast-growing church, I realized that people saw my face, knew that I was a leader, but really didn’t have many opportunities to get to know me and learn what I’m most passionate about. My blog became a vehicle for me to share the things on my mind and interesting happenings from my everyday life.
As the pastor of my (Nicole) church, David Dwight has found Twitter a great vehicle for providing snippets of thought that edify and build up believers. Like Jenni, David’s challenge became providing some personal thoughts as a way to have church members feel more connected to him as a person.
Challenge #2: “I don’t have time to add another thing that I have to keep up with.
“Ah, the precious commodity of time! You never have enough of it and you’re pretty sure you never will. We get it. The idea of adding another medium to your arsenal of communication tools is exhausting. There’s your home, work and cell phones (and messages), work and personal e-mail. Should you really add a blog, Twitter and Facebook to all of that?
Call us crazy, but we say, “Yes.” Our world is changing rapidly, arguably faster than at any point in history. Keeping up with changing technology is simply a part of our world. And if your leadership involves influencing a younger generation, you will have to embrace these new media. Not necessarily all of them, but the ones that have the most impact for the people you feel called to reach.
Make your decision on which media to use based on the demographics, geography, and lifestyle of your community. For example, one of Crosspoint’s campuses is in a smaller, more rural community. The large majority of our congregation at that campus doesn’t use Twitter. However the vast majority is on Facebook. As a leader in that community, Facebook makes sense.
For the Cross Point campus that reaches primarily college students, we have totally given up on any e-mail communication. They just don’t read e-mail. That seems crazy to us Gen-Xers who thought e-mail was revolutionary when it first invaded our lives, but e-mail is very ineffective for this demographic. With this group, we focus our communication efforts on texting and Twitter.
Time constraints are real, but often they arise because of ineffectiveness. This is especially true when it comes to using social media. It may be that adopting a new mode of communicating with your followers will save you time in the long run. By trading the time I used to spend in meetings or e-mail for time spend replying to Twitter responses or direct messages, I wasn’t spending more time and expending more energy, I was merely using both in more effective ways.
Challenge #3: “How do I manage a team that is using social media?”
There is no shortage of social media stories gone wrong. We put our feet in our mouths more often than we’d care to confess in the first place. With social media, the opportunity for mis-steps multiplies. That one mis-spoken word is quickly broadcast to hundreds and possibly thousands. The messages are immediate and unmediated. Instead of some minor damage control with one or two people, you now have an entire tribe of followers to whom you are accountable for what you say.
At the Catalyst conference in 2010, Bible teacher Beth Moore spoke to 11,000 young leaders, reminding them that they are “all authors.” Once you enter the world of social media, every word you say is “published.” But unfortunately, no one has a social media “editor” on their team. You must serve as your own filter.
There are other possible pitfalls as well. David Dwight cautions against the temptation social media provides to fabricate an attractive persona rather than seeking integrity in every aspect of our lives: “Jesus had strong words for people who manage their lives for appearances. Social media as an entity tempts us to do so,” he said. Mark Driscoll, after a Facebook comment that generated truckloads of criticism, addressed his gaffe by deciding that there are issues that are “too big, tough and far-reaching for things like Facebook and Twitter.”
While many churches and organizations will create social media guidelines for their staff, it is nearly impossible to write policy that heads off every conceivable problem that may arise. It may be the employee who shared an inappropriate picture on Facebook or a direct message that inadvertently went public. It could be an internal staff announcement that was mistakenly shared before the proper time. It could be any number of things that call for follow-up conversation. And having these conversations is the key.
We have found that some of the most honest, life-changing, relationship-deepening conversations come from social media moments gone wrong. As a leader, you can use these moments with your staff to speak into their lives and help them grow spiritually, personally and professionally. These conversations can be times for you to teach your teams to use greater discernment and wisdom.
The best thing we’ve learned from leading staff in the area of social media is not to be annoyed by the perceived problems that it may create, but to be motivated by the leadership development moments that can be birthed from it.
Leadership is messy and complicated without the addition of constantly changing methods and media, but the best thing we can do as leaders is to step into the mess and help direct the use of these culturally dominant tools for propelling forward the hope of the gospel.
Nicole Unice and Jenni Catron are contributing editors for Christianity Today’s GiftedforLeadership.com. Nicole is a student ministry leader at Hope Church in Richmond, Virginia, and Jenni serves as executive pastor of Cross Point Church, a multi-site ministry in Nashville, Tennessee.
Copyright © 2012 by the author or Christianity Today/Leadership Journal.Click here for reprint information on Leadership Journal.
