Member participation is absolutely crucial for effective digital ministry, and yet there is very little guidance out there for people in our congregations. Most of the advice focuses on the role of professional ministry leaders.
Member engagement helps puts the “social” in social media by extending the community, amplifying the gospel message, and helping move away from a one-person one-message model of broadcast media.
Here are five ways members can participate in and extend the digital ministry of their congregations:
Be a graceful presence
You don’t need a Facebook account or smart phone to do this. We all belong to a range of social networks, both face-to-face and digital. Whatever social networks you belong to, seek to be a graceful presence. Celebrate milestones. Communicate blessing and prayerful support when appropriate. The language doesn’t always have to be overtly religious. A caring, compassionate presence goes a long way, and over time will point to the source of that grace — God.
Friend and follow fellow members
Help build a stronger congregational community by connecting with other members online. The more connections and interactions we have, the stronger our communities will become.
Social networking can give us insights into one another’s lives and interests that might not normally surface in church conversations or meetings, providing avenues for discovering commonality and deepening relationship. Engage with each other. All those small encounters have a cumulative effect and help build community.
Check in
One of the easiest and most effective ways to recommend your congregation is to check in — by which people share their location with friends by “checking in” through their smart phone or computer — when you come to church. This check-in automatically appears to your friends in Facebook — or, if you use Foursquare, to both your Facebook friends and Twitter followers. Without saying anything or sharing any particular content, you can let people know about your church. If the congregation has linked the location to its Facebook page, your friends can quickly discover more about your church. It’s best to include a picture when you check in to generate more interest.
Share content
Hopefully, your congregation is making available quality share-worthy content like videos, pictures, sermons, Web pages or links. Occasionally share this content within your social networks, either publicly or through direct messages to friends you think might benefit from the content. It might be sharing a link on Facebook or Twitter, or just sharing a prayer you heard at church. You can add a short comment on the content when you post, or you can just share it without any comment. People do both and both are effective.
Celebrate your congregation
There are so many negative messages about church today. Social media gives us a great platform to tell positive stories about the church and the difference it makes in our lives, community and the world. Share a picture and tell people about something fun or meaningful that happened. Share your joy about your church!
Question: What other ways do you as a parishioner participate — or, as a professional ministry leader, encourage involvement — in your congregation’s digital ministry?
Keith Anderson is the pastor at Lutheran Church of the Redeemer, an ELCA congregation in Woburn, Mass., and is co-author with Elizabeth Drescher of “Click2Save: The Digital Ministry Bible,” a hands-on guide to social media for ministry.
You might also want to read:
Digital ministry: It’s not brain surgery
Social media sparks a new worshiping community
Building a church for the 21st century
You talk a lot about members and member participation. I think we need to move beyond that thinking as we move more and more into the use of electronic media in the church. While I agree that member participation is important for building community, I also believe there is a place for media that does not give direct feedback as to participation. Our church has a facebook page where there is interaction and that is good. We also have a web radio that broadcast our worship services and foodstock concerts as well as music and commentary 24/7. The music and commentary is on a random loop and although it reaches people world wide, there is little opportunity for feedback. There are some in the congregation who use this media to stay in contact with the worship community when they are at their cabins or away on vacation. I have now started the practice of reminding listeners at the start of the service to ready the elements for communion and for their friends and family to join us during communion as an extension of our worship community. I have been blogging now for 6 years (www.coslcgrace.blogspot.com) and have reached over 100,000 hits in this ministry from around the world. Although there is a place for feedback, I find very little feedback actually happens. My son, a recent graduate from Luther Sem. has now started blogging on my site as well. It is a Lutheran voice out there in a sea of fundamentalism and agnosticism. I feel having our Grace voice fill the air is an important part of ministry. I also offer 10 minute audio worship services called 10W (www.10worship.blogspot.com) for people to start their day on the way to work. These are not limited to our congregation and are on the web site as well as people signing up to receive them via email. There is a worship service for each Sunday in the Revised Common Lectionary as well as the Narrative Lectionary and festival days in the Revised Common Lectionary. Though I do get feedback of appreciation for the 10w services, they are largely a one directional experience. It is my hope and prayer that these one directional experiences in meditations, worship and poetry and thought spark not only interest in our worship community but a deeper spiritual walk for those who sojourn at an other worship community. My objection to your article is that it promotes silo thinking in which we are to be about the enhancement of our particular worship community only. I believe that if we are to grow as a community of faith, we all need to enhance the growth and participation and evangelism within the Christian community in general first and our own particular faith communities second.
Facebook pages vs. groups
Most congregations seem to use Facebook pages which are dominated by the administrator(s) whereas groups give equal prominence to posts by members. If we want feedback and community this may be the better way to go.