I believe one of the major underlying reasons many congregations and pastors are reluctant to adopt social media for ministry is because historically we have had such low expectations when it comes to ministry leaders and technology.
Think about it.
Technological competence has never really been an expectation of the pastoral office. In most cases, there is a secretary or parish administrator to operate the technology — the phone, the fax machine, the keyboard, the copier — on behalf of the pastor.
That’s both because of the low expectations of the pastor’s technological competence and to “shield” the pastor from the technology, so the pastor can spend time on more “spiritual” work.
The problem with this paradigm is that social media is a different kind of technology.
Social media is not like an email that can be printed off, a phone message that can be relayed or a copy that needs to be made.
Social media is a place where people are gathering, connecting, conversing, living and sharing their faith.
Like a church building, a hospital, nursing home or a community center, social media like Facebook and Twitter are locations where pastoral presence is needed and ministry happens.
This is not primarily a technology issue. This is a ministry issue. And there are clear and high expectations that pastors will engage in building relationships, fostering community, sharing the Gospel and providing pastoral care — and that is what’s happening in social media.
Shift your expectations
Right now most people in the church are applying the wrong set of expectations to social media. We should be applying ministry expectations first and then technological ones.
At the same time, we need to be competent in the technology to do the ministry, and so the church must also quickly raise its expectations for pastors around the use of technology.
Congregations must give their pastors time and support — and pastors must take the time and initiative — to learn social media and cultivate a meaningful presence as an investment in their current and future ministry.
Make learning social media part of your continuing education for the coming year. Find a local workshop. Read a good book. Buddy up with a colleague or congregational members and learn it together.
Today pastors must not only be theologically informed, they must also be technologically competent. You can no longer have one without the other.
Keith Anderson is the pastor at the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer in Woburn, Mass., and co-author of the forthcoming book “Click2Save: The Digital Ministry Bible.” He blogs about social media, spirituality and church.
You might also want to read:
Social media sparks a new worshiping community
Campus ministry, social media and Chilean miners
Prep your preaching electronically
I manage two blogs, update the web site each week, remind people of what is going on in church through constant contact emails, texts and tweets and am pretty much known in the synod as the computer geek. And yet... compared to most 20 year olds, I am just an old geezer. Yes, congregations should work at keeping pastors and staff up to speed. Luther used the printing press well, in that legacy we too should be able to use modern communication well.
I just ran across an excellent article in the Economist on Luther and Social Media.
I am in my 50's and I work on the Internet. FaceBook, Twitter and other sites are invaluable as contacts for work and socializing. There are lots of good things that happen on the Internet. It is important that church gets involved with that. It is spiritual work and ministry. People share their joys, woes and life there. As you interact people have patterns and you notice when something is not right or life or someone is being unkind. Sharing quotes, video, links all help people. FaceBook just put a new program in where if you notice someone is especially depressed or suicidal you can not use this link to contact FaceBook and they will immediately send an email to that person with the U.S. Suicide Prevention Hotline that will allow a person to chat with a counselor about the comment and life for free and it is confidential as well. There are many more things like that on social media to help people. I write and there are several health professionals and a pastor in our writer group and they do much to comfort or link other writers to things they need. Our community and project managers watch us and cheer us up. It is a large part of social media even within the business company part. Also the idea of paying forward---someone is kind to you so in turn it is an expectation that you be kind to some one else. The spirit is in full action in social media all ready so why not join God in His amazing work there? Oh and that Luther article on Social Media popped up on one of my alerts as well. It was very good and made some good points that Luther used the social media of his day to spread the gospel :) Why stop now? And they do not care if you are old. They all teach me new things everyday in gentle ways. All you have to be is willing to learn. They like it when you ask questions :)
I had a new thought. Since most teenagers are experts at social media in urban areas why not have them sit down with the pastor and staff and teach them how to do it. They may even have some ideas on ways the church could use social media. Teenagers teaching us would be turning the world upside down. Now is that not what Luther was about? :)