Text Appeal

How churches are integrating new communication tools into ministry.

If you haven’t heard, e-mail is so 2006. Text messages sent via cell phones are quickly becoming the communication method of choice, especially among young adults. And churches are now finding ways to integrate the medium into their ministries.

Earlier this year, Mark Driscoll, pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, fielded churchgoers’ questions sent through text messages during his “Religion Saves” sermon series. The approach offered anonymity (no one had to go up to an open mic) and broader participation (off-site viewers, including those watching streamed video online from home, could send in questions).

The ability to interact with the preaching via text messaging during the sermon was so well received that Mars Hill is planning to expand its use.

At Lake Pointe Church near Dallas, Mason Randall says his skateboarding outreach ministry has grown about 25 percent during the past year largely because of text messages sent through EZTexting.com.

Randall, the congregation’s student outreach pastor, pays EZTexting.com about 2.5 cents per message per student to blast out reminders of upcoming events or to communicate prayer requests. He strategically times his messages to reach nearly 350 students at opportune moments such as weekday mornings before school and during lunch hours. He figures he pays between $50 and $100 a month to do it.

“Most of the people I hang out with are glued to their cell phones,” Randall says. “Teenagers don’t do anything with e-mail.” Like Mars Hill, Skate Church also offers opportunities for students to text questions during Tuesday night sermons.

Randall expects to see text messaging grow beyond youth groups: “I see more and more adults becoming text-message savvy and doing more things on their cell phones than ever before.”

But don’t send too many texts, he warns: Not everyone has unlimited text-messaging plans with their cell phones, so some have to pay to receive messages.