church social

Instagram has become the ‘place to be’ for social sharing of images and videos for individuals, businesses, and organizations like churches. With nearly a billion users, it also seems to be the place for fun. Ask any millennial and they will say Instagram is where they spend their time following and catching up on the news of the day and with their own social circles.

If you want to extend your church’s reach, you need to go where people are. In this day and age, that means getting comfortable with the world of social media. Adults spend an average of five-and-a-half hours per week engaging on social media. That number has jumped by 36% since 2015.

Twitter search is a virtually unknown tool by many with the Church. If your desire is to connect organically via social media to know what's going on in your community, or to reach out to seekers right under your nose, using Twitter search can help point your church social media efforts in the right direction. 

Instagram has proven it's one of the top social networks in the world and it isn't going anywhere. Whether your church uses Instagram in its social media messaging and communication plans largely depends on your audience; churches with older members tend not to utilize Instagram as much as churches that serve younger people. That said, it is good to know what networks are out there and why they are popular. What are their positive qualities and how can they be used to further your church's message as well as the Gospel?

If you're overwhelmed by the number of social media services and tools to manage said social media services, you're not alone. It seems like new solutions crop up almost daily. It's a changing landscape for sure. While we've blogged about many social media tools for church communicators, it's great to share this infographic published originally by Kenny Jahng and team to give you a sense of what social media tools communications within the church are using.

Being a pastor today is no easy task. Living, working and existing where you have to have a reasonable grasp of social media alongside copious degrees and ministry certifications, off-the-hook skills with people of every age range, speaking skills, shepherding abilities, and non-stop energy to deal with difficult people and relationships.

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.

Over the past 20 years my wife and I have been part of a number of small groups. In hindsight they were quite eclectic. Young families, youth leaders, 40 years seperating the oldest and youngest. We've done book studies, bible studies, free for all discussions and more. Despite the craziness there are several things that each group somehow embodied. These make or break items often made the difference between groups that lasted and ones we killed (sometimes long after we should have).