Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Facebook, The Borg's Best Friend (Part II)
...or Facebook, Great for Assimilation!
A couple months ago my ministry started to have a sudden in flux of visitors and we had no plan to connect them to the church or track their attendance. I'm too busy and have too few volunteers to keep an intricate database of visitors. So instead I decided to start a Facebook fan page and create guest cards where students could list which social networking sites they're on.
What started as merely a plan to track names turned into a great way to connect with visitors. Where as before I could only briefly meet visitors, Facebook made it possible to have conversations with each visitor.
Likewise, I post multiple videos and pictures from each week on our Facebook page which provides a way for them to connect with the community all week long.
Here is my process:
1) Students are given a card when they come in
2) Students are given a t-shirt for turning in the card
3) Immediately after getting home from our youth group I friend all our visitors on Facebok
4) Invite them to our fan page
5) Post something (ideally personalized) on their wall and invite them to come back
6) Invite them to come back the following week
Of course, there are a few student who aren't on any social networking sites so this strategy doesn't work for them. However, any assimilation strategy will have weaknesses.
A couple months ago my ministry started to have a sudden in flux of visitors and we had no plan to connect them to the church or track their attendance. I'm too busy and have too few volunteers to keep an intricate database of visitors. So instead I decided to start a Facebook fan page and create guest cards where students could list which social networking sites they're on.
What started as merely a plan to track names turned into a great way to connect with visitors. Where as before I could only briefly meet visitors, Facebook made it possible to have conversations with each visitor.
Likewise, I post multiple videos and pictures from each week on our Facebook page which provides a way for them to connect with the community all week long.
Here is my process:
1) Students are given a card when they come in
2) Students are given a t-shirt for turning in the card
3) Immediately after getting home from our youth group I friend all our visitors on Facebok
4) Invite them to our fan page
5) Post something (ideally personalized) on their wall and invite them to come back
6) Invite them to come back the following week
Of course, there are a few student who aren't on any social networking sites so this strategy doesn't work for them. However, any assimilation strategy will have weaknesses.
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Facebook, a Pastor's Best Friend (Part 1 of 4)
Facebook (and MySpace and Blogs and Twitter and...) have huge implications for ministry. More and more I'm finding Facebook (I'm sure it will be something different in a couple of years) is becoming a central party of ministry. This week I'm looking at several of the many uses of Facebook for those in ministry.
Facebook, a Pastor's Best Friend
One of the biggest challenges of ministry is time. Assuming someone attends every Sunday and is involved in some additional ministry, you have roughly 100 hours each year with your people. If you have some retreats, then that number may jump up to 150. Best case scenario, you have 200 hours each year with your people.
That's only about 4 hours per week. The average work week is 40 hours per week. Grade school takes up roughly 40 hours each week. Those 4 hours at church are usually stacked on only one or two days per week. It doesn't take much thought to figure out that we're fighting an uphill battle.
That's where Facebook (or MySpace or whatever) comes in.
Facebook provides the opportunity to have daily contact with your people. Facebook can keep you informed of much of what is happening in your student's lives. In response, you can send them messages, write on their wall or comment on...well everything.
It also provides an opportunity for your people to see a glimpse of your life. You can use it as another avenue of promoting Christ.
Uses of Facebook:
Facebook, a Pastor's Best Friend
One of the biggest challenges of ministry is time. Assuming someone attends every Sunday and is involved in some additional ministry, you have roughly 100 hours each year with your people. If you have some retreats, then that number may jump up to 150. Best case scenario, you have 200 hours each year with your people.
That's only about 4 hours per week. The average work week is 40 hours per week. Grade school takes up roughly 40 hours each week. Those 4 hours at church are usually stacked on only one or two days per week. It doesn't take much thought to figure out that we're fighting an uphill battle.
That's where Facebook (or MySpace or whatever) comes in.
Facebook provides the opportunity to have daily contact with your people. Facebook can keep you informed of much of what is happening in your student's lives. In response, you can send them messages, write on their wall or comment on...well everything.
It also provides an opportunity for your people to see a glimpse of your life. You can use it as another avenue of promoting Christ.
Uses of Facebook:
- Keep in constant contact with your people
- A way to encourage your people
- Constant update on the lives of your people
- A place to connect your people during the week
- A place to discuss and remember recent events
- A new front door for your ministry
- An additional means by which to promote Christ
- A place to be an example for Christ for your people daily
Thursday, July 2, 2009
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