and “immigrants” who inhabit online communities and networks, as this matters in the context of ministry.1
Whether or not we choose to bring our ministries actively into the world shaped by social media, citizens of that world always have the opportunity to bring us into it by sharing commentary, images, and other content about us and our churches or organizations.
What Chapter 1 should make clear, then, is that, as it has been reshaped by new social media, the world is a very different place than it was even five or ten years ago. Certainly, it’s very, very different from the 1950s and ’60s worlds with which many mainline churchgoers still identify and which, therefore, continue to have a strong influence on church practice. Back then, in the last great growth period for mainline Christianity in America and globally, people got their religion from the local church and their news from Walter Cronkite, and the two zones for the most part maintained a polite, respectful disengagement. Sure, the local paper probably had a religion section, but that mostly covered service times and socials at neighborhood churches, setting aside any potentially divisive theological debate. The idea was to reinforce religious participation as a civic virtue, not to sow religious disagreement. The proliferation of traditional news media outlets as well the ability for anyone to self-publish through blogs, YouTube, and other social media sites, has led to an increasingly rich, sometimes overwhelming, sometimes contentious, but certainly changed religious world.
The map of the world before social media—the world defined by the practices of the Industrial and Broadcast Ages—showed a world defined by distinction, separation, clear boundaries between this land and that, this community and the others, our church and theirs. As we’ll see, the new world shaped by social networking is mapped relationally. It’s defined by the flow of ideas across all kinds of boundaries. Navigating in this new world calls on a nuanced understanding of the terrain and the customs of the locals. We’ll begin to mark the major byways, landmarks, and populations across the socially networked globe in Chapter 1.
CHAPTER 2: THE REAL PRESENCE
Once you’ve got a handle on the differences among people using social media and the range of social media locales in which they interact—especially as these differ from your face-to-face ministry context—developing a clearer sense of how you and your church want to be present in social media contexts is critical. Chapter 2 focuses on how to communicate an authentic representation of self and ministry that humanizes both individuals and communities. After all, before anyone walks through the door of your church or community service site or pub ministry, odds are that they’ve already taken a look at your website and moseyed over to your Facebook page. They know something of you and your community, and you want that “something” to be real and meaningful—far beyond the “just the facts, ma’am” tone of all too many church websites and Facebook pages.
The good news is that achieving “real presence” in social media spaces is far less theologically fraught for mainline churches than sorting out the mysteries of the Eucharist has been over the centuries. Drawing on Keith’s pastoral experience and that of colleagues in ministry, Chapter 2 will guide you through the basics of establishing an authentic voice and taking up practices of relational communication that ground an effective strategy for social media ministry.
We are ministers, not marketers, so our presence in digital spaces must be very clearly defined in terms of authentic ministry—authentic connection with others from whom we have nothing personally or institutionally to gain and to whom we have much to offer.
CHAPTER 3: I LOVE TO TELL THE STORY
Once you have a sense of how best to be authentically present in social media spaces generally, it’s important to nuance that presence for a specific social media locale. The idea here is to focus on the features of a particular platform that can best help you to tell your story and that of your faith community. In Click 2 Save, we highlight what we see as the major social media platforms based on numbers of active participants, our best guess at durability in the rapidly changing digital landscape, and compatibility with traditional and emerging mainline ministry practice. The platforms we discuss in Chapter 3 include:
Facebook—www.facebook.com
Twitter—www.twitter.com
LinkedIn—www.linkedin.com
Blogs—e.g., www.wordpress.com; www.blogger.com; www.posterous.com; www.tumblr.com
YouTube—www.youtube.com
Foursquare—www.foursquare.com
This chapter will help you to decide which combination of social media platforms will be most effective for you by providing a range of criteria for decision making, such as congregational style and strengths, intended conversation partners (i.e., age groups, location, members, potential members), congregational goals, level of skill, and available time.
One way to think about your approach to various platforms is to consider how you present yourself, your ministry, and your faith community in different local settings. If you’re a spiritual director, for instance, you’re unlikely to dole out morsels of spiritual wisdom online at the local coffee house. But you probably are inclined to express a general attentiveness to those you encounter—perhaps a certain warmth toward the latte-slinger behind the counter—that reflects something true about your spiritual values. This is much the sort of presence you’ll want to cultivate on platforms like Twitter, while in spaces that allow for more extended exchange, like Facebook or, more still, blogs, you’ll tell the story of your faith, your ministry, and your community somewhat differently. Chapter 3 will acquaint you with each of the major platforms, highlighting those features that will best open your story to others and introducing tools and tips to help as you continue to develop your social media strategy.
Please note: Our approach to these platforms is through the lens of digital ministry practice. So, our exploration of social media platforms in Chapter 3 is meant to serve as a guide to ministry, not a manual on the technical features of each platform per se. While our discussions of various platforms will refer to key features and characteristics, and we will provide some basic definitions, we assume that readers have visited the social networking sites we discuss, and that they have a basic familiarity with how they work. If you have not done so already, it will be helpful as we move ahead together if you have set up basic Facebook and Twitter profiles. You can add accounts for other platforms as they make sense within your digital ministry strategy.
CHAPTER 4: PRACTICING THE ARTS OF DIGITAL MINISTRY
Given a good idea of who’s where and what’s what in the digital domain, a clearly articulated sense of presence, and an understanding of how and when to use various social media platforms, the art of networked, relational ministry in social media communities begins. We approach the art of digital ministry through a mode of digital participation that Elizabeth introduced in Tweet If You ♥ Jesus. There, she described life in the Digital Reformation—a revitalization of the church driven largely by the ad hoc spiritualities of ordinary believers
