Three years ago, the Social Media company, Mashable, created Social Media Day. In 514 cities, Social Media enthusiasts will gather (many in a bar) to put a real live face and warm handshake to the entities that drive the keyboards and hide behind little square avatars. It will happen again tomorrow, June 30.
Perhaps we will someday declare a Social Media Sunday, a time when Social Media Ministries physically welcome the people whose lives they touch from a distance.
It raises an interesting concept? What kind of program would a church’s SM Sunday promote?
There would be a temptation to do things the way the Church always does things.
They would hold a big worship service centered around a few people doing a few things in the chancel while everyone else sits or stands (as able) on demand. They would ask the strangers to break into ancient song at appropriate times, prompted by an overpowering organ. They would focus the newbie’s attention on the scriptures as interpreted by one person for fifteen, twenty, or thirty restless minutes. They would require that they shake everyone’s hand without really knowing a thing in the world about the hand they are shaking. They would bless them as they turn to walk out the door to be greeted warmly (perhaps) by a caring pastor and one or two others before returning to total anonymity.
That’s how a church service might seem to the uninitiated. Churches all over the country do this every Sunday, many with feeble results.
(And people say Social Media doesn’t create true community!)
The goal of Social Media is to engage others in a topic of mutual interest.
Social media is just beginning to be explored by churches. Judging from 2×2’s analytics, there is great interest. Much of it may come from lurkers just starting to remove their socks so they can dip their big toe in the water. We recommend diving in!
There is great potential for the church in the use of social media, but it requires engagement. Engagement requires time. More important, engagement requires sincerity and the careful exercise of the social graces.
Think of Facebook dialog as if you were at a party. How far would your conversation go if all you did was acknowledge someone else’s comment? If there is to be a flicker of life at this digital party, you must foster dialog. When you acknowledge a comment, leave the door open a crack to let your virtual guests come in — if and when they feel comfortable.
Here are some simple social graces to use in engaging with your readers.
Respond with a question. Glad you enjoyed our review of “We Have a Pope.” How did you like the ending?
Answer a question. Good question! Thanks for asking! Here’s our answer: . . . .
Add some additional information to the comment, even if it means sending them to another site. This is expected on the web and can be helpful to you, too. Glad you enjoyed our post on children’s sermons. You might also enjoy this web site (add link).
Make an invitation. If you are interested in movies, you might like to attend our movie night next Friday. We’re showing….
Acknowledge a commenter’s expertise. Thanks for pointing out our mistake in today’s post. We corrected it right away. Overall, did you like what we are trying to say? Please, if you disagree, let us know!
Invite participation. Thanks for your comment. You seem to know what you are talking about. Would you like to contribute a post to our site? Our readers would love to hear your point of view!
Ask for links.
Thanks for telling us about that youth project. Do you have a link we can share with our readers?
One caution: readers expect the owner of a Facebook page to be a real, live person. If they share serious concerns, you must be prepared to have the most qualified person in the church respond with true empathy and unselfish advice.
Your guests may choose to remain anonymous, but there should be real names attached to the responses from your congregation. Truth and transparency are vital.
Engaging in social media is work, but it is the easiest way for the church to reach the most people. It is well worth the effort.
If you don’t invest the appropriate time and resources and have an open attitude, your Facebook presence will be as effective as the generic caveat on every church bulletin board. “All welcome.”
Many churches run on fumes all summer. Pity! Summer is the time of year that people tend to make big changes in their lives. They wait for summer to move and change jobs. They may begin their search for a new church home, right when many churches are all but closed, except for Sunday worship.
Consider this when planning summer ministry. There is a lot to think about. The church web site or blog is a good place to prepare for summer ministry.
Review your site and make sure that any summer events or services that might attract visitors are well-publicized and that the events are truly welcoming to new people. Explain the events on your web site as if the reader knows nothing about your church. If you are doing a good job with your web site or blog, many readers will be learning about your church for the first time.
From Advent in late November and December, to Easter in March or April, followed by the Ascension and Pentecost, all church activities revolve around events in the life of Christ. This is followed by the long church season of ordinary time or in many traditions the season of or after Pentecost. This is the longest season of the liturgical year (June through most of November) or about half the calendar year.
The lectionary typically explores the everyday ministry of Jesus during this time. It is an opportunity for your congregation to be creative.
As you blog this summer, begin with the church lectionary for ideas. Try to tie them into ministry. For example, if the gospel is about healing miracles, explore your congregation’s or denomination’s ministry to those dealing with illness.
Summer is often a time when the favorite hymns are sung. Explore the hymns of Pentecost. Look up the history of a hymn and share it. Run a poll on favorite hymns.
Look at the congregation’s calendar. Will you have a Vacation Bible School? Publicize it. Read the curriculum and share ideas from it. (Give proper credit!) You may not be able to get older children or adults involved during your VBS, but many VBS curriculums publish material for older kids and adults. Get a copy and write posts on the topics presented. Make sure every parent gets the link, so they can learn along with their children.
Scan the church calendar for picnics, service projects and church camp events. Publicize them beforehand. Follow up with photos and testimonials from participants.
In late summer, start to write about back-to-school events. Let people know that activities will soon resume. Work at attracting support for them.
Plan a Rally Day and start to publicize it.
Make sure that any reader who happens across your summer web site is introduced to your church at its most vibrant.
2×2 has discussed this issue before, but yesterday we heard a social media expert say the same things we were saying from a marketing perspective.
Brian Solis, a leading market analyst, uses the terms qualitative measurement as compared to quantitative measurements.
He discussed how the quantitative statistics of the past mean less in the world that is evolving.
How many members you have on your congregational roster means little compared to the engagement you can measure among both members and nonmembers. There are new possibilities for building relationships with the community that do not fit the old church model. The borders of your community are expanding. (2×2 is just a little church, but we get ministry questions from all over the world.)
This will affect church institutions as well. Supporting Lutheran Social Ministry agencies was a popular option for churches in decades past. Often a representative would attend a service to give a Temple Talk and report on their agency’s good work. Today many churches get involved in local humanitarian efforts through their associations in the community and work. They hear their frequent messages outside of church, are attracted to their causes, and sense they can help. The church’s social agencies (which do a great job!) will get short shrift —unless they too learn to engage with the community in new ways. Secular Social Service agencies are very good at this and will get church members’ attention.
Engagement is a new emphasis. It’s always been important to ministry. Before the advent of Social Media there was no way to measure it. You never know how many people read your fliers and newspaper ads. You can only guess how many people might have listened to your radio spot. Pastors had no idea if their sermons had any lasting effect whatsoever. We shaped our ministries on tradition and guesswork.
Engagement can now be measured. You know how many people visit your web site. You know what topics led them to you. You know which pages they visit and how long they spend on each page. You can engage your visitors with comments, polls and forms long before you meet them.
In some ways it is good that the Church tends to lag behind. We can be beneficiaries of other people’s trailblazing.
But the Church cannot afford to lag too far behind. All churches compete against an overwhelming amount of secular competition.
When our Ambassadors plan a visit, we visit a congregation’s web site first. You can bet that other potential visitors are doing the same thing. We are surprised at how many churches still have NO web site. Many who have web sites have not updated them in years. We clicked on a link for “latest newsletter” and read news from 2009. Even the best SEPA congregational web site we visited was just beginning to get on board with its web potential. They were paying a firm to curate secular feature-type news, a good thing, but still missing the interactive potential of Social Media.
We can’t say it too often or too loud. All congregations must get involved in Social Media if they are to be taken seriously in coming years.
A good denominational goal would be to help every congregation get started and learn to keep up with this vital but fast-changing communication/evangelism medium. You will have to hold a lot of hands in this venture, but it is necessary and worth it. This is concrete help that congregations need and denominations are best positioned to supply.
Church happens on Sunday, right? Sunday is only one seventh of the church week. But old habits are hard to break. Even the deepest theological thinkers tend to concentrate on Sunday church activities.
If your message goes out to only Sunday morning Christians,
you have a very narrow audience.
Social Media hands church leaders all the tools needed to extend the church week.
In the past, communicating with people who are not in church on Sunday was a challenge.
Newsletters are cumbersome to put together and circulate. They are expensive, too.
Phone chains serve a purpose for critical news of death or serious misfortune requiring community prayer.
Knocking on doors — it’s just not done anymore!
Advertising is expensive and requires planning ahead.
Out of sight Monday through Saturday tends to be out of mind. This has influenced our expectations of ministry.
Social Media changes this. You can and should be communicating daily with church members in a conversation anyone can join.
There are many Social Media tools to consider. Let’s concentrate on three —Facebook, Blogging and Google+.
Facebook
Your members are likely to be spending more than an hour every day checking their Facebook accounts. Statistics show most people spend 20 minutes at a time on Facebook, but they check their account several times a day. The Facebook demographics are growing in every age category. Even the elderly are finding they can connect with distant children and grandchildren.
Develop a strategy that will be welcome to followers, not intrusive.
Churches can share their Sunday morning world in many ways. They can:
Post pictures
Post video
Highlight sermon summaries
Tell about activities
Pose thought-provoking questions
Excerpt a Bible study
Feature a meaningful quote
Post a teaser question from an upcoming sermon
Ask for help on a project
Promote an upcoming event
Remember to engage, engage, engage.
Blogs
Blogs are effective, too. Used properly, they will attract an audience of people you do not see on Sunday morning. They are not limited in length and can have a longer “shelf life.”
Blogs are most effective when they address topics of broad interest — not just parish news. Your focus must be outward. If you limit your topics to current church activities, you will burn out. Results will be poor.
We recommend using both a blog and Facebook.
Google+
This is the new kid on the Social Media block and it is up against a well-established giant (Facebook). Nevertheless, it is gaining ground and has definite potential advantages.
Google “owns” the search engine world! Activity on their Social Media platform will help you find traffic.
Google also owns YouTube, which is growing incredibly fast.
Google has pledged to keep their Social Media platform advertising free. (Facebook is all about advertising).
Social Media is going to change the Church—whether or not the Church participates.
The Church is slow to embrace the power of this influence in our lives. It goes against the way the Church has worked for a very long time.
Trust and obey. Foundational words of faith. It means to trust and obey God, by the way.
Somehow the God part gets forgotten. Keeping Christians in line becomes an emphasis of anyone feeling empowered. The lines drawn by church leaders can be moving targets. Ideas change from century to century, decade to decade, and nowadays, year to year.
No one dares to quote the Bible to justify slavery anymore, but it worked for nearly 2000 years.
It worked when slaves had no voice.
Centuries of habit are going to be hard to break, but the time has come to trust the people of God. If we do something egregiously heretical, there are any number of forums for redress. There is no longer a need to monitor the thinking and voice of individual Christians.
We have always believed in this. It’s just been hard to practice.
We teach every three-year-old — Let your light shine.
Then we start to add the “buts” until their little lights are snuffed out.
The Church has never had more potential power. It can motivate and move EVERY member. You don’t have to roster us. You don’t have to qualify us. You don’t have to sort us out by race, age, status, or genitalia. We’ve been structuring our faith around such nonsense for a long time. Someday we are either going to laugh at our historical efforts to limit or exclude (thereby protecting power) — or hang our heads in shame.
This potential power of social media should spur our efforts to effectively share our faith outside the church. We are going to have to be part of the dialog outside our walls — because that’s where the conversations are taking place.
We have to be educators in many forums. We have to mix with the rest of the human race.
During a recent panel discussion, a reporter explained the process of ferreting out the news. She described the many story pitches that come to her every week from enthusiastic, community-minded groups that are doing “worthy” things — but not “newsworthy” things.
Your walk for charity is not “news.” Lots of people are doing this — every weekend.
She went on to say that when an interested party calls, she begins to engage the caller in conversation about the upcoming event. The caller, with great passion begins to talk about the people, and suddenly, the reporter senses there is something newsworthy in telling the story about the people involved — not the event itself.
Church communicators can learn from this. Our story is often best told through our people. When we tell our church story we should focus on our people and their faith stories. If church makes a difference in their lives, it may make a difference in someone else’s life. You don’t have to use names (although it’s nice when you can). Tell the story of your people on their faith journey and you will be teaching the Gospel.
Facebook is a good place to tell the people side of your story.
One Maryland church applauded a 12-year-old member who made and served the congregation lunch after church one Sunday. It’s Facebook page encourages the readers to press the “Like” button on the story to show the young man how much his work is appreciated. (It’s in the scroll bar on the left of the linked page.) Just that one short note on their web page tells any reader that their church values and encourages the contributions of their young people. It is likely to be far more effective than any newsletter or bulletin kudo.
You can use the same technique in focusing on your members’ faith stories.
Tell your story . . and make it personal!
“I love to tell the story, for those who know it best, seem hungering and thirsting to hear it like the rest.”
Many people get involved in internet dialogue with hesitation. Typically, they lurk for a while, reading but not daring to comment. It is daunting to press that first submit key. It gets easier with practice.
Marketers and other self-interested web users can be tempted to use online forums for self-promotion. Congregations can be tempted, too. Beware! Your readers can spot self-serving comments with 5G rapidity. It can harm your reputation more than it can help. Enter the conversation carefully and keep the readers of the online community in mind. Remember, no one likes to be sold!
Pinterest entered the scene with its image sharing social media platform. It was received as a breath of fresh air. Marketers quickly saw a new advertising tool. Now there is talk about how marketers have ruined the fun. It remains to be seen if marketers will curb their own behavior or if Pinterest will revise community rules.
2×2 encourages online dialog. Here are a few basic guidelines.
Remember to share with a purpose. Be helpful. Be informative. Be clear. Be entertaining.
Use your real name. No one takes hidden identities seriously and being honest about your identity is fundamental to building trust.
Don’t pretend to be an authority if you are not. Consistent participation in forums is a way of creating authority, but don’t jump the gun. Build your reputation through conscientious commenting.
Participate in dialogue but don’t try to sell your stuff at someone else’s fleamarket. There is NO delicate way to do this. You always come off looking crass and self-serving. It’s a real turn-off and others might report you to the moderator as inappropriate. Limit your self-promotion to adding your title, position, company or church name to your signature. That gives readers a choice. If they want to know more, they’ll find you.
Share good things about others. If you know a good source that will further the dialog provide a link. It helps to build their reputation — and yours.
Acknowledge sources of ideas you are sharing.
Don’t bad talk your competition. Showcase your strengths, not other’s weaknesses. Leave the bad-talking to politicians.
Keep your comments on point. Reread the thread to make sure you are adding to the conversation, not just repeating what others have said.
Write with appropriate detail. If the forum tends to feature three-sentence thoughts, don’t write four paragraphs. On the other hand, if you are offering detailed help, use whatever length is appropriate to be truly helpful.
Use standard English and complete sentences. Without the nuances of a physical presence, it is easy to get wrong impressions. Take the time to be as clear as possible. Using jargon and allowing typos impedes conversation. Communication is the goal. Remember, the internet is worldwide. Not all readers will understand colloquial shortcuts.
Do not use vulgarity — ever.
Proofread your comment at least three times. Reading it aloud is very helpful.
Avoid direct criticism of individuals. Public figures are an exception.
Correct your mistakes as quickly as possible.
Be compassionate and forgiving for online gaffes. We all know how easy it is to click a button by mistake and send something with no way to call it back. If you notice an error, be gracious. Ignore it if it is innocuous. Notify the commenter privately if it is particularly embarrassing.
Don’t use other people’s mistakes, once they are admitted, to stoke the fire under your own cause. Sometimes passionate threads result from misunderstanding. Reaction is appropriate right up until the originator of the thread admits an error. To continue online ranting after an apology has been made is taking advantage of another person’s mistakes and is hurtful.
Be a voice of reason. Try to keep conversations on track and keep peace.
Respect others privacy. Don’t share personal information without permission.
If someone is abusing the forum, report it to the moderator. If you have a serious beef, handle it as privately as possible with a direct message.
Today, SEPA (Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) Communications Director Bob Fisher sent a plea to SEPA congregations for interaction on a web site the synod created for congregations to share ministry ideas. The site was launched in November and had an initial outpouring of about 100 submissions. Then it fizzled. Involvment on the web site has been flat ever since.
There is little reason to post a time deadline on a web site like this. But Fisher’s request for submissions asks for responses by April 26 — one week before Synod Assembly. You want good statistics for Synod Assembly!
Meanwhile, during the same period, 2x2virtualchurch.com, sponsored by the SEPA-excommunicated members of Redeemer, has grown to more than 200 visits per week, with more than 80 followers and 30 new visitors daily. We’ve pioneered social media in church work and have been gaining respect around the world for our work — interdenominationally and among churches of every size. Look at 2×2’s statistics for roughly the same period (screen shot taken in midday/midweek for last bar):
The concept of SEPA’s web site is flawed. No one needs to submit ideas for review and verification by a central office any longer. There is nothing stopping any church from posting their successes and ideas on their own website. Synod should be encouraging community between congregations without a middle man. Don’t worry . . there’s plenty of work for communications middle managers.
This site is not likely to create dialog. It is rigid in a medium that operates best with freedom. It allows three categories of questions. It limits responses to 50 words. (Most of the questions had close to 50 words.) The message conveyed to a visitor to this site is that their ideas will be monitored, judged and verified — controlled. This thinking is foreign to internet users who are accustomed to the free flow of ideas on Facebook, Twitter and blogging platforms—all of which are community-building platforms.
Why invest time posting to a site that might reject you?
There are other ways to achieve sharing. Start developing content that is helpful to congregations so there is a reason to come to the site in the first place. Begin linking and commenting and taking part in the dialog. Recognize that there are no boundaries to good ideas. Why limit the submission of ideas to just 160 congregations when there is a world of mission out there? It’s the social media way. And it works.
Redeemer would submit its ministry ideas to www.godisdoingsomethingnew.com, but we doubt our ministry would be recognized. It hasn’t been for a long time!
No problem. We post our ideas daily on 2×2. Welcome!
(2×2 be glad to help any church get started in social media. Just contact us! We can have a web site up and running for you in a week, train members to use it and even help you develop content.)
Redeemer’s experimental congregational web site just tallied its 5000th first-time visitor.
Little Redeemer reaches more people every week than most large churches reach on Sunday morning.
Redeemer started 2x2virtualchurch.com in late February 2011.
The site was started as a mission vehicle when Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod (SEPA) of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America seized our property.
Redeemer knows that small churches are capable of big ministry. The internet seemed to be a perfect vehicle for a congregation with no church building.
By the end of summer 2011, 2×2 had only a few dozen visits. We were posting sporadically — a few times a month.
We began posting daily.
We focused on three strengths of the congregation: Social Media, Children in Worship and Multicultural Ministry. The site also includes commentary on issues facing many neighborhood congregations today.
We learned to create content with others in mind.
We write interdenominationally, but we don’t hide our Lutheran roots.
We link to other related sites and engage in conversation in other religious forums—all things encouraged in this new communications medium.
Statistics guide our content development.
At Easter we posted a short play, written and produced by Redeemer a year before our doors were locked. It was downloaded 150 times. We responded to this interest by posting a Pentecost resource for small churches.
Much of our traffic comes from our ongoing exploration of Social Media topics.
Our Multicultural series did not attract as much attention, but it was reblogged — linked from other sites—more often. This tells us that there is intense if not broad interest.
Several seminaries posted articles from our website for discussion. One of our recent posts was broadcast by a retweeting engine.
We now have more than 80 followers who subscribe daily via Facebook, Twitter or direct email feed. An additional 30-80 visitors per day represent every state in the Union and more than 70 countries with just shy of 1000 visitors a month. As that number continues to grow, we expect to have between 12,000 and 20,000 readers by the end of our second year.
Our highest international traffic comes from Canada, France, Great Britain, the Netherlands and Belgium, South Africa, and Australia. Traffic is growing in the mid-East and Africa.
There are interesting, inexplicable spikes in readership. One day we had 26 readers in the Bahamas! The very next day we had 16 readers from the Netherlands.
We hear regularly from small mission congregations in Pakistan and Kenya and support one another with ministry ideas and prayer.
We are encountering Christians from many denominations — some of them represent very large ministries. We learn of interesting projects and try to help by providing links. A college student in Texas, who has created a ministry recycling VBS materials, gets a few daily visitors from 2×2 links.
Redeemer may be one of the most active and growing congregations in Southeastern Pennsylvania—even if we are shunned by our own denomination. SEPA justifies its actions in East Falls with accusations of lack of mission focus. There is no lack of mission focus at Redeemer. We are just using a very wide-angle lens!
We will be glad to make a presentation to SEPA Synod Assembly on our growing experience in web ministry. Just contact us!
Redeemer is not closed; we are locked out of God’s House by SEPA Synod.
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
