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FaceBook for Pastors: It’s not just a waste of time!
By chris | September 10, 2007
One of the biggest objections pastoral leaders give for not being involved in social media is that it takes too much time. I understand the time demands of ministry leaders are great, but I also know that how time is used is the aspect that has changed the face of how communications are done in the new media. In times past, media could be developed that nearly automated the relationship between ministry leaders and the people they hope to reach. But now that the new 2.0 social media has emerged, the rules of communication are changing.
Audiences are no longer interested in just being targets for communication, and church members do not want to be treated as media channels that are used by their Pastors for church marketing communication. Church members and the general audience want real relationships and true conversations. A pastor can’t hold a conversation with everyone, but with the new social media ministry leaders can partner with their members and mobilize them as evangelists if they understand the potential of the new media.
Pastors have the opportunity now to become more personal in how they relate to the people they serve. That means making time for communication. Jesus spent a great deal of time with his disciples training them and sending them. Social media has the potential to do the same thing for the local church, but ministry leaders need to build it into the way they do their work.
Here are some good books for understanding the marketing potential of social media in marketing:
- Marketing to the Social Web by Larry Weber
- The New Rules of Marketing & PR by David Meerman Scott
- Naked Conversations by Robert Scoble and Shel Israel
- Blog Marketing by Jeremy Wright
A few observations I have gleaned from reading these books about the potential of social media for ministry:
Social Media is positioned to shape the online world for the near future. The church needs to leverage the best the Internet has to offer for the cause of the Great Commission. This includes actively developing emerging media advocacy and evangelism strategies.
Social media have transformed the discussion in the church about theology and ministry, it also will shape the way the church does evangelism and advocacy because the world is now far more interconnected than we realize. We soon will be in dialogue with the unreached people groups we want to reach. They will comment on our blogs, profile pages, etc. Will we be ready for that moment when it comes? It could be the biggest Great Commission evangelism opportunity coming right to your website.
Social media are rivaling all the big-name media and changing how even professional communicators work. There will always be professional writers, producers, etc. but they will be intermingled in many ways with the amateur communicators. The church should lead the way in New Media, just as we led the way in previous ages. Pastors should stop waiting for the religious publishers and denominational organizations to give you permission to write by giving publishing contracts, start writing about the Good News right now!
With all this potential in social media like FaceBook, you can see it’s not just a waste of time. Each time new media have been adopted, critics have labeled them a waste of time, or a passing fad. They said the same things they are saying about social media about the emergence of radio and television in their early days!
Topics: 2.0 Social Media, Facebook for Pastors |