The more I read about Twitter and church, the more I come to see how I would like to see it used (both personally and corporately). There’s the obvious uses like event communication, driving traffic to blogs and websites and church for that matter, getting feedback, etc. I think it should be more than that.
Corporately, I think a lot of discussion could happen online and in small groups just by posing a simple question or two regarding the sermon. I also like the idea of congregants using a specified hashtag when making comments about the service or other aspect of church, making it easy for staff to find these comments and take action where needed. This doesn’t take the place of face to face conversation, but could bring about a wave of faster responses because there would be less paper “communicator cards” to go through. I even think a rolling twitter feed during a sermon could be useful if the sermon is aimed to be more conversational. In a large church it can be overwhelming to share out loud. This weekend we are doing something similar with text messages in response to a testimony.
On a personal level, twitter could actually help me retain a lot more of the sermon. I have found that when I have to sit still, I have a difficult time paying attention. Call it ADD or Kinetic learning if you want, but when I am doing something, I am hearing more. I’ve tried just taking notes, but I always lose them or leave them under the seat. With twitter I’m not only taking notes, but I won’t forget them under the seat in front of me. If there was a way to get the notes (AKA church bulletin) on my iPhone too I wouldn’t forget anything under the seat in front of me. Anyone make an app for that yet? You’d make the custodians a lot happier.
In case I lost you in that last paragraph, I did say that Twitter can help the ADD kid pay attention (even if it looks like he’s not).
If you are still not sure how you should personal engage twitter in regards to church, it might not be the right fit for you. Check out this post from Josh Harris if you are leaning towards not using it, and this post from John Voelz if you are thinking you want to give it a try. Both are insightful if you are debating whether to use it in corporate worship and/or how. They come from both sides of the issue, so I encourage you to read both posts. If you’re still not sure, I say go for it. Maybe God will move in ways you can’t imagine and/or you’ll learn something you can share with everyone else. For more practical advice on the subject check out churchtweets.com.
Just remember that eveyone is different and every congregation is different. Twitter might work in one church and bomb in the church next door. All this to say that there’s no right or wrong answer to “Should we tweet in church?” I personally lean towards yes.
Nice post Tony. I think it’s important there isn’t a knee-jerk reaction in any direction and that any decision is reached after doing some research and of course, praying about it.
Thanks Jay. Prayer should always be key. God’s Kingdom come, His will be done, here as it is in heaven. Paul says to the Corinthians “I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.” It’s all for the sake of the gospel so that the lost are found. It’s not about using new technologies to get attention from the media or become the cool church that isn’t behind the times. It’s about leveraging all possible means to bring people to Christ. With that in mind, there’s no need to argue about how certain congregations do it. It’s always nice to have healthy discussion about things like this with other Christians though because we all have different convictions.
BTW… churchtweets.com has been packed with great stuff. Keep up the good work.