Churches that once asked their visitors to turn off their phones before commencing services are now urging their congregations to tweet, text and post comments on Facebook as the inspiration hits them.
“If the public Wi-Fi is down for some reason, we’ll hear about it,” said Wayne Bennett, communications director of Grace Community Church.
Since the digital world has witnessed a boom over the last few years, Grace Community Church believes that it should maximize on the electronic opportunities that are already available to spread the word of new evangelism. Surprisingly, the move has actually lured very many curious people to the doors of this particular church. According to local religious leaders, what people in the pews tweet and text often serve as the best invitation for those who are yet to join the church.
Reverend Ann Marie Alderman, the minister at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Greensboro said, “We tell them to put their cellphones or iPads in worship mode and to feel free to text or tweet — to send messages to whoever it is who is following them to share what they hear or are experiencing. Their friends may know them as pretty cool people and may not think of them as being in church, and when they tweet a message while sitting there ... we hope that's having the impact of people not being afraid to come and experience it for themselves.”
Similarly, World Victory International Christian Center has recently welcomed visitors who said that they had seen interesting posts about the house of worship on the church’s website or some social networking site. Stephanie Morehead, head of the church’s social media ministry, has ensured that their presence is felt on not only Twitter or Facebook but also on Instagram.
“We did not have a presence at all on social media, and then in the last year, we kind of tested the waters a little bit to see the effect it would have, and it has been a powerful tool. So many more people know about us,” Morehead said.
World Victory International as well as Summit Church in Kernersville religiously post their sermons online in the form of webcasts, First Presbyterian has installed a webcam so members can watch online everything that is taking place within the church and Evangel Fellowship Church of God in Christ texts links to videos of their pastors’ preaching on a daily basis.
Technology is not only helping people connect with the physical church, but it is also popularizing an entire support industry. For instance, now, there is a whole range of apps that allow deaf and mute believers follow sermons with the help of sign language, interact with God on a one-on-one basis, et al. In fact, webcasting has taken church activities to a whole new level, so much so that some people do not even go to church as they know that they can use one of the many free apps to catch up on whatever they might have missed out in person.
“Whether they come or not, our goal is not necessarily to draw them to World Victory International Christian Church, it’s to draw them to Christ,” Morehead said.
However, some churches still hope that those who associate themselves with a church’s online ministry will eventually make it to the pews.
Photo Credits: Wikimedia
