I have been a youth pastor for nearly 10 years now and a great advocate of utilizing IT to maximize ones effectiveness in ministry.

With the huge popularity of Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter it is most important that ministry practitioners familiarize themselves with the potentials and the dangers of social networking sites.  They can be powerful tools of communication but also powerful tools of distraction.  I have put together a list of suggestions & thoughts (in no particular order) for  using these resources which I hope will help you in your ministry:

1. Make them serve you, not the other way round. You can farm, comment on photos, check your personality, chat, private message, and much more, but is it worth it? Ask yourself this question, “Is this the best use of my time; can I be more productive elsewhere?”
2. Don’t comment on others unless you really need to. I know it sounds harsh, but it can really be a waste of time commenting on the status updates and wall posts that people make.  Use them thoughtfully and sparingly.
3. Don’t bother with Applications – It really is a time waster. There is nothing to gain from throwing a snowball, farming, or SUPER walling.  Some of the utility applications are good, but don’t waste your time with games.  I’ll post a recommended list of must have applications and utilities at another time for both facebook and your computer.
4. Use personal status updates with care. Don’t fall into the trap of sharing your deep personal life on facebook (especially if you minister regularly with youth).  I know a number of youth pastors who seem to forget that all their youth have added them as a friend and share about dumb things which only make them & their ministry look stupid.  It is most important to show that we are human, but keep the dirt to a minimum.  Share your life as well as the gospel.
5. Address facebook etiquette/behavior with your youth & young adults. Why is it that so many of our young people seem to live an alternative life online? THEY FORGET WE’RE WATCHING! You really start to see the true character or the character they WANT to be through their social networking comments and photos.  Use it to develop their character and deepen their discipleship.  That may well mean rebuke!
6. Bulk messages in Social Networking Sites – I generally try to use Nspire to bulk message my youth & young adults. Why? Because I can track the correspondence individually.  I will always post a link to the facebook page or our website.  If it’s really urgent, I SMS them.
7. Groups & Events- Probably the most utilised facebook tool by me.  Give them a connection point with a group and then make sure you have your upcoming events in there.  Always try and create an image for your group and event to spice up your page just a bit and cross link it to your group’s or church website with more details etc.
8. Use a third party tool for status updates – If you have multiple accounts then using a third party application to update your status saves a bucket load of time. I quite like the Yoono add-on for firefox which updates Twitter, Facebook, AIM, Messenger, and more.  It sits on the side of my browser and let’s me update my status in one place and feeds me my friend’s status updates.  On my iPhone I use StatusTIC to update Twitter and Facebook status’ quickly and with only a couple of keystrokes.
9. Don’t put all your eggs in the one basket – Try and utilise multiple connection mediums (email, social networking, SMS, webpage, personal contact, phone call, snail mail, etc).  A young person will need at least 3 contacts each week to maximize their discipleship (ie Small group + Email + Phone call, OR Small group + Facebook + Visit, etc).
10. Find someone else to champion your online presence – Let’s face it, we didn’t get into ministry to update websites.  We were created to dream, plan, develop, train, recruit, seed, and grow ministries for the gospel.  If we get caught up with maintaining a facebook page or a website, we are being distracted from what we have been called to do.  Always be looking for the champion to promote your ministry etc.  Guide them, grow them, and then let them do it while you keep the main thing the main thing.

What are your sucesses and insights into social networking and your online presence?

Dan

No related posts.