church social media

The Internet has had quite an impact on the Church. According to a Faith Communities Today survey, the number of congregations across America using email more than doubled between 2000 and 2010. Ninety percent of congregations had embraced this technology, while just 35 percent had done the same a decade earlier. On top of this, the number of congregations employing websites in their daily operations had jumped from 33 percent to 69 percent in the same space of time. As with many other groups and organizations, the Internet allows members of the Church to share their message and maintain contact at any time, any place.

Facebook is still one of the primary social networks that churches should utilize to reach people for Christ. Whether connecting with current attenders, sharing events, or reaching out to the community, Facebook offers some unique advantages:

I have a love-hate relationship with systems. I love when systems are in place to save time and help things run efficiently. I hate when systems get in the way and cause unnecessary complexity. When I began my role as communications director at West Ridge Church, one of the biggest mistakes I made during the first year was not investing the necessary time to bring clarity to essential systems that would help me, my team, and my church communicate effectively. It took months of living in survival mode for me to finally hit a breaking point and put systems in place. What I discovered is that creating margin for myself to create and implement sustainable systems was never going to be the most urgent thing on my to-do list; but it was the most important.

Bob Goff founded a law firm, wrote a New York Times best-selling book and serves as the honorary consul for the Republic of Uganda. The guy gets things done. But every Thursday he quits something. We could learn something from Bob. Maybe your church needs to quit: Quit that social media account with three followers. Quit locking up your Wi-Fi with a password. Quit pretending email isn’t important. Whatever your church is struggling with, give yourself permission to quit.

Over the last week, we've had fun reading through the survey results that were submitted for our first ever church technology reader survey. While only 58 church leaders responded, the sizes of churches range from 15 people to 15,000 giving us a really great bird's eye view of ministry at every level from small to mega. The range of job roles by responders also covers every aspect of ministry from attender, to volunteer, to support staff, to pastor giving us a pretty well-rounded view of churches. We've included some stats via graphics below to unpack what technology tools churches are using.

LinkedIn is a great way for you to connect with pastors and other church leaders. To use it effectively, there are a few things to keep in mind. The following infographic outlines strategies for...

One of the funnest articles I’ve read on the now famous pound symbol was called “Ode to the #Hashtag: A tribute to the most ubiquitous symbol of our digital times.” It was written back in 2013 by Andrew Miller on Medium, but is every bit as relevant today as it was back then. Especially this line: “People don’t know how to use you, But dump you everywhere just in case, Brands all rush to be your friend, To justify their journeys into cyberspace.” That is so true.

Determining the best times to post to social media can be a challenge. Every expert has their own opinions so when we found this research based infographic on the subject it seemed like a good fit.