It's hard to escape the term "social networks" these days.
Many people have a perception of MySpace, Facebook, Twitter and other similar websites as being intrinsically bad.
Horror stories about predators using those sites abound, and few people think of social networks and ministry as being complementary.
However, it is past time to change that thinking.
Just consider the phrase "social networking.
" It is exactly what ministry is about.
Talking among friends, socially, and spreading the Word, or networking, is exactly the definition of ministry.
Technological innovation is often intimidating because it changes so easily.
Only a few years ago, social networking was all abuzz with teenagers and university students who wished to help keep up with one another.
Then an unusual matter happened - individuals students became today's entrepreneurs, company proprietors and leaders and all of a sudden faxed and paper resumes became a matter in the past.
These young leaders and ministers had been by using Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, LinkedIn and Technorati to network, advertise their businesses and identify jobs.
The important question that faces every single church group that decides to interact social media is, how will we engage? Cautious consideration needs to be created to find out the certain strengths of every type of social media (blogs, social networks, text messaging, and so on.
) plus the preferences of a ministry, parish, or group.
The strengths ought to match the demands.
As an example, a weblog publish may perhaps not be the best approach to remind college students of an occasion.
Still, a mass text message to all college students and their mothers and fathers telling them the retreat starts at 9 a.
m.
will probably be especially reliable.
Simply by creating and maintaining a presence on social networking sites, your ministry can begin to create a web of people with similar beliefs who can reach out and help others.
Social networking sites provide a ready-made platform to share your message.
By making your profiles public and allowing others to join your networking groups, you can easily attract those who NEED to hear your message.
If you begin participating in a social networking site with the core group of people involved in your ministry, and then each of those people invite two or three others who are not usually involved to participate, and they, in turn, invite a few of their friends...
well, the community can grow very quickly and become influential in the members' lives.
Your ministry can grow in ways you may not have imagined and your message can reach literally thousands of new people in an extremely short period of time.
Aside from connecting with members and potential members, using social networking allows you to reach others doing similar work that you may not have been aware of otherwise.
The power of combining your good work with that of other groups is unlimited.
You have the opportunity to learn what has worked for other groups and to share best practices for using the internet and websites to minister.
Rather than focusing on the negative aspects of social networks, it is time to use them to spread your good message and reach people you may not reach through other methods.
Creating and building online communities can be remarkably easy and costs nothing but time.
Once such a community exists, it can be a powerful vehicle for communicating your message.