We met our daily goal. We posted a blog about tweeting. We retweeted something we liked. We posted our Riddle Tweet and followed up with the answer an hour later (following the professional advice to not tweet more than once in an hour). In addition, we tweeted our worship plans for tomorrow.
Spent about a half hour writing today’s blog post and less than 10 minutes on Twitter.
Our post picked up one “Like” so far. (Thanks, Christian).
2×2 started with no followers yesterday. We have four followers today.
If you want to follow our month-long Twitter experiment, join Twitter and follow us at:
Several times in the last few years, I have listened to reports from various bishops and high-end church leaders concerning their visits to Africa. Some have visited Ethiopia, some Kenya, and some Tanzania.
They travel at their denomination’s expense. They return with inspiring reports of baptizing hundreds of babies and meeting church leaders.
They give these reports because they want us, here in the United States, to give offerings to these “approved” mission efforts in other parts of the world. They want us to sense that their denomination is actively engaged in the universal Christian mission to go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every nation.
This approach to mission work has decades of experience behind it. It also has decades of pre-social media traditions dimly lighting the way.
Is continuing this style of mission work effective for today’s world?
We serve an interconnected world. Sending official denominational representatives for on-site visits may once have been the only way for congregations to interact with mission efforts overseas.
Today, each individual has the power to connect. If the Church does not harness the power of the individual using social media tools for world mission, we are failing in our stewardship of possibilities.
Each congregation and its members have the power to communicate daily with Christians around the world. No intermediary is needed.
We can share ideas and first-hand accounts of our faith journeys. The exchange can be very personal — they with us and we with them.
A forward-thinking denomination would be working to create their own online mission communities. That would be providing a service many direct benefits. They don’t have to reinvent the wheel. They can simply harness the social media platform that suits them best.
The money spent on junkets might be better spent in building these social network circles.
It would bring new life into mission work.
2×2 is experimenting with this concept now. We correspond with several such mission ventures. We identify ourselves as Lutheran, but we’ve found no need to dwell on denominational distinctions.
As a result of our online outreach, we have first-hand reports of their work, almost daily — not just on mission Sunday. We get firsthand news! Our friends in Pakistan shared that a Lutheran Church in their city had burned as a result of recent violence. We prayed for them during the unrest. Two weeks ago they sent word that they were holding a prayer meeting for us as we faced Hurricane Sandy.
We know many in these fellowships by name. We exchange photos. We pray for one another and offer ideas and strategies. The exchange is truly two-way.
In case you are wondering, we have never sent money.
What will grow from this initiative remains to be seen, but we know this. There’s no holding us back.
God is doing something new in East Falls — and the world.
A year or so ago announcing your presence on Facebook was the latest craze. Many Church leaders tried this route as congregations and regional bodies added Facebook pages.
We visited the Facebook page of one prominent church leader. It started with a hesitant attempt to engage the flock. Within one year, the Facebook page had deteriorated to nothing but announcements of press releases. One young person had posted a deep concern on the “wall.” The answer received to that post was obviously written by a staff person, someone monitoring this prominent leader’s Facebook page — a digital age blow off.
That points to a real danger of church engagement on Facebook. People reaching out expect a caring person online waiting to hear them and willing to answer. They expect the Facebook owner to be reading what they write and they expect that person to respond when they’ve invited the inquiry. A digital blow-off from a third party, offered days later, has the power to devastate.
People will sense phoniness and turn to active forums that really ARE listening and engaging.
As proof . . . after one year this church leader had NO friends and few followers. So what was the point of the big Facebook announcement?
Facebook requires more daily attention and commitment — more time than most church leaders are able or willing to give.
We visited dozens of congregational Facebook pages . . . again . . . mostly press release type announcements with no real engagement. Most had very little activity.
This is why we recommend that congregations enter Social Media through blogging. You can develop your pace and control the content much more easily. People can engage just as they do on Facebook, but are likely to be more thoughtful about it and more willing to wait a day or so for a response.
There is some value to being on Facebook. You can feed your posts through the various Social Media outlets and get some traffic benefits. But it is hardly worth the fanfare of announcing it.
If you make a big announcement about your Facebook page and then doing nothing with it, it is like crying Wolf. Don’t say it if you don’t intend to play it!
Join Bishop Ruby Kinisa as she visits small churches "under cover" to learn what people would never share if they knew they were talking to their bishop.
Undercover Bishop will always be available in PDF form on 2x2virtualchurch.com for FREE.
Print or Kindle copies are available on Amazon.com.
For bulk copies, please contact 2x2: creation@dca.net.
Contact Info
You can reach
Judy Gotwald,
the moderator of 2x2,
at
creation@dca.net
or 215 605 8774
Redeemer’s Prayer
We were all once strangers, the weakest, the outcasts, until someone came to our defense, included us, empowered us, reconciled us (1 Cor. 2; Eph. 2).
2×2 Sections
Where in the World is 2×2?
On Isaiah 30:15b
Be calm. Wait. Wait. Commit your cause to God. He will make it succeed. Look for Him a little at a time. Wait. Wait. But since this waiting seems long to the flesh and appears like death, the flesh always wavers. But keep faith. Patience will overcome wickedness.
—Martin Luther
