A session prepared for Methodist Ministers in the North-East.

1. C H U R C H A N D S O C I A L M E D I A

4. • What is it?
• Blogging
• Twitter
• Facebook
• YouTube
• LinkedIn
• Pinterest
• Google +

5. • Not just tech!
• Personality plays a huge part!
• Computer and Access to Internet
• Mobility – laptop and mobile broadband
• Smartphone (?) – Android, Windoze, Blackberry,
Apple
• Time to play
• Playful, searching, enquiring nature
• Patience

6. • What do you do?
• What are you familiar with?

7. C H U R C H A N D S O C I A L M E D I A

8. "If you want to build a presence in
the social media platform, then you
need to be present."
- @unmarketing

9. • Socmedia 1.0
Picture from: http://thefuturebuzz.com/2012/10/12/you-are-what-you-share/

10. • Socmedia 1.0
• Social media as display
• Social media as marketing tool
• Social media becomes digital version of print
artefacts – digital noticeboard, digital service
plans, digital hymnsheets, digital notices
• A cheaper (?) way of getting info across?
• We are what we share?
• We are what we post?
• Social Media 1.0 = self disclosure, self display
• Social Media 1.0 = one way traffic, broadcasting
• Non-social Media 1.0

11. • Socmedia 1.0
• Social media is about marketing a product
• my self, my activities, my meals, my angst
• my church, my events, my services
• my ministry, my gospel, my Jesus
• my cat
• Goals of social media 1.0
• numbers, reach, conversion rates
• likes, retweets, favourites, comments
• being the buzz…
• But NB Potempkin and Narcissistic Paranoia

12. • Socmedia 1.0
• Potempkin Numbers:
• http://thefuturebuzz.com/2012/06/12/social-
proofiness-spotting-digital-potemkin-numbers/
• Narcissitic Paranoia:
• http://theamericanreader.com/paranoid-narcissism-
what-dostoevsky-knew-about-the-internet
• Kaplan on self-disclosure in social media:
• http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S
0007681309001232#
• Schau/Gilly on “We are what we post”
• http://bit.ly/1dv3PaA

13. • Socmedia 2.0

14. Luke 6:45 (NIV)
A good man brings good things
out of the good stored up in his
heart, and an evil man brings evil
things out of the evil stored up in
his heart. For the mouth speaks
what the heart is full of.

15. Authenticity
Image Credits: The Worship Cloud/ @digitalfprint

16. “If an alien visited…”
… and all they
had to see was
your Facebook
page (or other
‘public’ profile)..
What would
their perception
of your life be?
Image Credit: RGB Stock

17. Carl Medearis
Relax, enjoy your friends. Enjoy their
company along with the company of
Jesus. Point him out, freely, without fear
or intimidation. You’re not responsible
to sell him to them. You’re simply
saying what you’ve seen. You're not the
judge. You’re the witness.
Spring Harvest 2013

19. Which offers more engagement?

21. Principles of Good Engagement
• Be interesting
• Be encouraging
• Be active
• Be helpful
• Be authentic
• Just BE…
Partial HT @vahva

22. https://audioboo.fm/boos/1577833-what-does-it-mean-to-be-a-digital-disciple-with-changingworship

23. • What do you think?
• Is all this a personality thing?
• Where’s the theology?

24. C H U R C H A N D S O C I A L M E D I A

25. • What might I need to look out for?

26. • What might I need to look out for?
• Safety – what are the boundaries?
• Privacy
• What’s on the net, stays on the net!
• Distraction – butterfly syndrome?
• Goal – broadcast or community or both?
• Texture Lite – just how much can we say in 140…
• Mobile Reality – we live in a truly mobile world
• Who are you speaking to?
• Epistemological Democracy – a right to say x or y
• Trolls/Flames/Embarrassment

27. OPPORTUNITIES ONLINE
Image Source: The Worship Cloud

28. Raising Children in a Digital Age
• With digital technology we
need to cultivate an attitude of
respect, rather than of risk-
avoidance. The digital is a part
of our everyday lives, and it’s
not going to go away. There are
huge opportunities available
for those who have learnt how
to be critical, constructive, and
confident inhabitants of the
digital environment.

29. Can social media be positive?
• Wide range of information
• Increased connectivity and collaboration
• Educational benefits
• Global nature of online
• New creative opportunities
• Learning criticality
• Increased accessibility for those with disabilities

30. Can social media be used positively?
• Post friend’s suicide, Teenager set up a Twitter account giving
compliments to others online:
http://mashable.com/2013/05/04/sweet-compliments-twitter
• After school Code Clubs are running:
http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-
manchester-news/talking-digital-teaching-manchesters-children-
4750001
• A child developed a high-capacity battery with fast recharge:
http://mashable.com/2013/05/22/super-capacitor-eesha-khare/
• Child produced cheap test for pancreatic cancer:
http://www.thinkingdigital.co.uk/speakers/2013/jack-andraka
• Pledge to use the Internet for good:
http://www.aplatformforgood.org/index.php/pledge/use-your-
power-for-good.
• Fun with technology: http://www.aplatformforgood.org/summer

31. Rev Prof David Wilkinson
God is a communicating
God: “In the beginning was
the word, and the word was
God…”.
God is extravagant in
communication – he is not a
silent God who has to be
tempted into
communicating with people.
Image Credit: Durham University

32. The Church Front Door?
• For many churchgoing is no longer the
‘cultural norm’. People don’t actively ignore
the church: they don’t even think about it.
Matthew 5:13-16 calls us to be salt and light
in the world, and for thousands in the
‘digital age’, that world includes social
networks such Twitter, Facebook, YouTube
and Pinterest. With literally billions in the
digital spaces, the online social spaces
presented by churches need to be
appealing, welcoming, and not look like
they are just an afterthought: they are now
effectively the ‘front door’ to your church
for digital users, and you ignore those
spaces at your peril.
http://www.churchgrowthrd.org.uk/blog/churchgrowth
/growing_churches_in_the_digital_age
Image Credit: Sxc.hu

33. http://www.youtube.com/user/la
nsdownebaptist/featured

34. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fpm
M02IE6oI

35. Connecting via The
Feedback Loop
• By posting my sermons online, I can get much more
feedback than I can after church on a Sunday
morning. People can leave comments on the sermon
blog itself (though, like most blogs, this is rare). I get
statistics about how many people read each post, so I
can tell what resonates. I also share my sermon on
both my Facebook profile and the church page. This is
where I get most of my feedback. The likes,
comments, and messages (or lack thereof) give me an
indication about how I’ve connected, or not.
• http://pastorkeithanderson.net/item/six-ways-social-
media-can-make-you-a-better-preacher

36. Facebook Groups

37. http://www.biblesummary.info

38. http://bigbible.tumblr.com

39. http://www.sayinggoodbye.org

40. • What’s your experience of social media?
• What really works?
• What would you recommend?

41. C H U R C H A N D S O C I A L M E D I A

42. • Soc Media Guidelines?
• Be credible. Be accurate, fair, thorough, transparent.
• Be consistent.
• Encourage constructive criticism and deliberation.
• Be cordial, honest and professional at all times.
• Be responsive. When you gain insight, share it where appropriate.
• Be integrated. Wherever possible, align online participation with other
communications.
• Be a good representative of the Methodist Church. Remember that you are an
ambassador for Christ, the Church and your part of it. Disclose your position as a
member or officer of the Church, making it clear when speaking personally.
• Let Galatians 5:22–26 guide your behaviour.
• Be respectful: respect confidentiality. Respect the views of others even where you
disagree.

43. What does this mean for us?
A Disciple is one who, by
following Jesus, grows in
their faith in Christ and in so
doing models and teaches
Christians the precepts of
the Bible, prayer, doctrine,
relationship, Christian living,
service, and worship, to
name the main ones.
(DiscipleshipTools.Org)
Image Credit: The Worship Cloud

44. Gary Collins (Christian Life Coach)
If you're a Christian,
seeking to walk in the
footsteps of Jesus, you'll
approach every aspect of
your life from this
perspective. Your
commitment to Christ will
impact your marriage,
parenting, lifestyle, values,
spending, time
management, vocation ...
Image Credit: Gary Collins website

45. #BIGBible #DIGIdisciple
• Whether as a Christian or a digital explorer, you’re a
newbie or an old hat, a rookie or a bishop (and in
the digital sphere, there will be some who fit in all
categories), we all have something to contribute to
the digital space. The concept of the digital as
‘space’ or a ‘culture’ is important as we come from a
perspective in which:
• As Christians we live 24/7 for God, in whatever
spaces we live in or engage with…
• There is no such thing as ‘virtual’ and ‘real’ worlds:
only online and offline space/cultures – the
connection between the two is different for each
individual.
• We need to take seriously our Christian presence
both online and offline. Are we the same person,
living by the same values in both ‘spaces’?
Image Credit: The Worship Cloud

46. • What could I offer?
• Digital Missionary? (…coming your way!)
• Digital Accompanist? (…on the journey with?)
• Digital Chaplaincy? (…from outside in?)
• Digital Discipleship?
• Digital Encouragement?
• Living biblically in a digital world

47. Ethical Behaviours
• http://bigbible.o
rg.uk/about/poli
cies/image-
policy
• http://search.cre
ativecommons.o
rg
Image Source: iStockPhoto

48. What does it mean to
share with grace?
Image Credit: The Worship Cloud

49. Q&A

50. C H U R C H A N D S O C I A L M E D I A