Facebook – Mark of Faith

It is so important that your ministry has an online presence if your are serious about connecting with people. Not only does it help you connect with the people in your ministry but it also helps you reach new people. Some researchers, such as Richard Riesling, say that people check out at least 10 churches online before they even step foot inside a church. What does your online presence say about you and your ministry?

It is still possible to spend over $20,000 on a church website, but who has that kind of money? The most important part of your online presence is that it is online and up to date. Nobody trusts a website that is advertising Easter Services just before Christmas. Whilst your online presence doesn’t have to look impressive, it is important that it has all the information that people need. I have seen some great looking websites that have almost no value as you can’t find their location or service times. But I would warn you that the graphic style can be so bad that people choose another church over yours so be careful.

So here are three options for the website in your ministry if you have a really low budget:

Update your current website – whilst many church websites are average at best, at least they have one to work with; it just needs updating. There are some good quality templates online for only $50-100. A new template and up to date information might be all you need to improve your online presence. If you are a ministry within your church, such as the youth ministry, then make sure people can find your ministry page from the Church website home page. People should be able to get to the information they need in under 5 click. If you want advice on a layout for multi-department websites then look at a University or School website for ideas.
Start a WordPress Blog – many organisations and churches are using WordPress blogs as their website. It allows you to begin for free or buy a domain name within WordPress for only $20. The advantage of this style is that you can have a website directly for your ministry. Each ministry can have a fresh online presence they can control without being buried 10 levels down on an out of date Church website. If you want to see a church using a WordPress blog for their website check out www.libertychurchnyc.com Please note that there are other blog websites available, such as eBlogger, which offer free blog style websites. Here is how to set up a blog style website for free:
1. You will need to register your blog/website name when you sign up so think of this before you start.
2. Go to www.wordpress.com and find the section “sign up free”.
3. Follow the process to register your blog. You will get a free web address as blogname.wordpress.com or for a small fee you can buy blogname.com (which is a much better offer and WordPress still host your blog for free).
4. You will need to pick a theme, which is the design and layout of your page. My suggestion is to use the “Twenty Twelve” theme as this is designed for websites using the WordPress format.
5. Start adding pages to your blog as these pages act as sections to your website. Perhaps you need “Service info”, “events” and a really good “about” page.
6. Remember that a blog posts are listed in the order that you post, which will help you display up to date information. The downside is that if you post four or five events at once the most recent post will appear first.
7. Have fun connecting with people.
Facebook Page – almost everyone is on Facebook and perhaps your ministry needs the social networking that Facebook provides as your online presence. The other positive about Facebook is that it is free to use and everybody knows how to interact with the format. Instead of it being about your profile, go to the effort of creating a proper Facebook Page for your ministry. Facebook Pages give you the ability to create events which will help you get RSVP’s and attendance. Another positive is that people in your ministry can easily share events and information about your ministry with their friends. If your set it up correctly you will have a web address that you can use in promotional material such as http://www.facebook.com/yourministrynamehere

Most of us don’t have much money to spend on fancy websites so remember that the most important thing is that you have an online presence. If you start a website after reading this please leave a link in the comment section below so all my readers can see how it is done.

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If you have ever heard someone comment about how many friends they have on Facebook, almost straight away someone else will say “but none of them are real friends”. There is an assumption from many people that Facebook is not a “real” way to maintain a friendship. Whilst this might be true for an older generation, the reality is that most young people do see their relationships on Facebook as real friendship. Usually it is the people who are not on Facebook that under play the important role that social networking plays in maintaining friendships.

So consider for a minute what it might take to maintain a “real” friendship. Would you consider these situations to be real friendships?

Pen Pals: for centuries there has been great prestige in being pen friends. In many cases the people never meet face to face. Whilst your grandmother may consider her pen friend more of a real friend than your 500 Facebook friends does it make it true? Can you develop a real friendship without ever meeting face to face?
Long distance friends: people often move interstate and catch up with their friends when ever they are back in town. Some people think these are real friends compared to Facebook friends even though they don’t see them regularly. Can you maintain a real friendship seeing someone face to face only once or twice a year?
Life long friends: some people who are cynical about the role of Facebook in maintaining a friendship reference their life long friend as the bench mark of real friendship. Whilst they may have built the friendship over decades they maintain this friendship with as little as one or two events a year. One of my colleagues lives in the same city as his friend but only sees him once a year at Christmas, another colleague sees her life long friend once a year because they are both so busy with their new lives. Is real friendship based on longevity or how often you communicate?
Family: all of us know that blood is thicker than water and yet we all have family members who we only see at Christmas, Weddings or Funerals. Sometimes we don’t see our family as much as we should. Is a real friendship based on an established connection?

Think about the young person who is on Facebook every day catching up with what is happening in the lives of their 500 friends. They know what is happening every day or two with their close friends, workmates, classmates, long distance friends, life long friends and family. Compare this to the “real” friendships that Facebook objectors are maintaining through as little as one or two face to face meetings per year. Before you think that I really think all Facebook friends are real friends I don’t, but my point is that many teenagers that we work within youth ministry do. It is not appropriate to dismiss Facebook as a valid way that young people maintain friendships.

So here are four ways to use Facebook to maintain friendships with people in your ministry:

Watch and listen – people will say and type things on Facebook that they don’t share in person. If you want to know what a person thinks about then study what they do and say on Facebook. In ministry you have to be careful not to raise Facebook activity in public forums but you can raise things in conversations with the person face to face. For example, “I saw that you visited ……. For a holiday, what was it like to be there?”
Comment – it can be seen as Facebook stalking if you read everything but never comment on posts. Whilst we are tempted just to click “like” make the extra effort to write a comment. Write something extra to show that you are not just gathering information but that you are developing the relationship. In the last year or so people are engaging less and less in comments so try harder to make a comment or two.
Groups – the benefit of creating groups is that you can start to link people who may have a similar interest but never meet face to face. Be clear about what a group is about and don’t get offended if people don’t join your group. You don’t want lots of group members, you want group members who engage in the conversation.
Birthdays – it used to be so hard to maintain a birthday list, hours of asking each individual, now Facebook reminds you every day who’s birthday it is. So there is no excuse for not making a comment on a person’s page for their birthday. Yes it is not as good as a face to face present but it is better than hearing nothing for your youth minister.

So whilst we might not think Facebook friendships are the real deal, in youth ministry don’t dismiss the fact that young people see it as the real deal. In fact if you start to use social networking more effectively in your ministry you might find it easier than ever to be influential in the lives of the people you’re trying to minster to.

If you disagree with this concept or you have a warning about using Facebook in ministry please add a comment below. I understand that this post isn’t the definitive guide to using Facebook in ministry but I hope it helps you in some way.

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