Is There Room for Twitter in Church?
I wonder if this is similar to a question asked a long time ago: “Is there room for ‘musical instruments’ in church?”
We’ve integrated a live Twitter feed into our young adults service (foundryLA.org) beforehand, during meet & greet time, and sometimes afterwards. Live on the “Presbytron” and coordinated with the lighting design. People seem to have embraced it pretty well.
What Does it Do for Us?
Announcements – Obviously this is a great way for us to send out reminders to sign up for events & service projects. It’s also a great way for folks to post their prayer requests, roommate openings, and invitations to events, etc…
Connects New People – Being new in a group of several hundred people can be intimidating. This allows connections to be made. “Are you new? Text it up. We’d like to meet you…”
Real Time Interaction – Sometimes we’ll ask a question of the week. Or announce the “After Hours” location to hang out afterwards. Or get feedback on the evening’s topic before our speaker’s talk.
A Continuing Conversation – The service doesn’t end when everyone leaves. Folks are encourages to continue the connections online and throughout the week.
It’s becoming a great tool for folks to connect. The goal us that connecting online would lead to physical face to face interaction.
So What’s Next?
How can we better utilize this tool? Have anyone of you all executed or experienced anything similar? Would love to hear your feedback!
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