The post-pandemic church

 Nobody really knew what to do when Covid began to spread like wildfire. Hospitals around the world were overflowing with patients. Morgues were set up in refrigerated trucks due to the many deaths attributed to the virus. First, we were told that masks were not helpful in stopping the spread of Covid; later they became mandatory to enter a public building. Businesses were shut down, and some never reopened. The CDC changed its recommendations so many times that many people quit listening to them. Nursing home residents died with no family present due to the strict restrictions in place that prohibited family visiting their loved ones. People were quarantined in their homes requiring family members to leave groceries near the front door so their loved ones could get them without exposing anyone to Covid. Not only were businesses forced to close their doors, so were churches and many other public institutions.

Because of Covid many pastors found themselves almost overnight becoming televangelists. Churches that had no media presence scrambled to create a Facebook page or a Youtube account so a worship service, or at least a sermon, could be viewed by the congregation. Some pastors hoped the crisis would soon be over, not only to spare more people the impact of Covid, but so the church could return to normal. Normal never happened, nor are we likely to ever return to a pre-Covid normal. What we must do is to adjust to a new normal.

Thom Ranier wrote a wonderful little book titled The Post-Quarantine Church that lists six challenges and opportunities for the church post-Covid. Among the helpful thoughts he presents is a discussion that churches are now dealing with three groups of people. He calls them the digital-only, the digitally transitioning and the dual citizens.

The digital-only are those folks that will never return to in-person worship services. Some are physically unable to do so; others remain fearful of Covid. I recently spoke to someone who remains concerned about Covid, especially since it seems to have re-introduced itself although in a milder form. I know people who continue to wear masks in public even though it is now admitted that the masks never did protect anyone from Covid. If churches desire to include these folks in their worship services, they will have to continue to provide an online presence.

The digitally-transitioning continue to connect to the church primarily through social media. They may be a part of a small group, but they typically do not attend in-person worship services. However, they are open to doing so in the future. It is necessary to keep them connected to the church until they decide it's safe to return to live services.

Dual-citizens are connected to the church both through the media and through attending live worship services. The church may find that these folks are not regular in attending in-person worship services, but they are faithful in viewing those services online. I served one church as their Transitional Pastor  that offered the service live online and later downloaded it to their FB page. One member was a truck driver who often found himself on the other side of the country on Sunday mornings. Every time that happened he watched the service on his smart phone and faithfully attended the service when he was home. He stayed connected to the church through social media.

The challenge for the church is how will it relate to each of these groups? If the church does not have a digital presence, it will be unable to relate to any of these groups. The reality is that some people will never return to in-person worship services but will be faithful in watching those services online. Will your church choose to ignore those persons?

Reaching a digital audience with the Gospel

 Back in the late 1970s I had a personal experience that helped bring me to the Lord. As I was struggling with some issues in my life at the time I frequently worked overtime, sometimes 6-7 days a week. One of the things I remember from that time was that on Sunday mornings as I would drive to the factory I would listen to a program on the radio called the Mull Singing Convention hosted by the Rev. J. Bazzel Mull and Mrs. Mull. Southern Gospel groups were regularly featured on their program. Even now I remember hearing The Old Ship of Zion sung by the Kingsmen with tears running down my face as I drove to work. The songs and the messages shared on that program helped me understand how badly I needed Christ in my life.

Years later I was working in the same factory on third shift. I was now a Christian and a bivocational pastor of a small, country church. I kept a radio near my work station where I was able to listen to another broadcast called Unshackled by the Pacific Garden Mission. These stories told how struggling people found hope in Jesus Christ, usually through a ministry of a Mission. These stories inspired and blessed me every night.

Yesterday I wrote about the importance of serving our digital congregations and the challenges churches will face in doing this. My radio experiences occurred long before social media was available, but I think they demonstrate the importance of reaching out to people where they are rather than insisting they walk into our buildings to be introduced to Christ. That old radio program was just one of the ways God was reaching out to me during that difficult time in my life, but it was an important part. Unshackled was one of the tools God used to disciple a young Christian and minister. Our digital ministries will also impact the lives of other young people who are dealing with difficult times in their lives. Who knows how many lives were impacted through these radio programs, and who knows how many lives can be transformed today through the social media tools we now possess.

The Mulls began on radio but began broadcasting on television in 1959. In the earliest years the music groups had to perform live in the station, but later the Mulls began using black and white film and later switched to color video tape. I share this history to remind us that we cannot be satisfied with doing what we had to do quickly when the pandemic closed our churches. Yes, we can celebrate that early success on social media, but we have to keep improving what we are doing if we want to effectively impact people's lives. What was good enough when we first started won't continue to be good enough later. 

God is giving the church some new tools to use in evangelism and discipleship, but it is up to us to maximize their effectiveness. Many of our churches rose to the challenge to be able to offer their services online. Now we are being challenged to raise the bar even higher and offer the best possible ministries online that we can.

The church isn't likely to ever return to "normal"

 In 2008 I was serving as a regional minister for our denomination. As the recession deepened and many people found themselves unemployed and losing their homes and retirement savings many churches experienced greatly reduced offerings. As a result, denominations saw giving to their various mission agencies reduced as well. Our region was no different. Some of us, including myself, believed giving would return to previous levels when the economy improved. Our Minister of Finance felt otherwise and said very clearly that he did not believe our giving level would return to what it was prior to 2008. He was proven correct. In fact, it continued to decline well after the economy recovered.

Many in our churches still believe that if we ever get Covid under control our churches will return to normal attendance and ministries. While Covid is still with us and impacting many areas of our society, it is not having the impact it did in the midst of the original pandemic, but few, if any, churches would claim they have returned to pre-Covid normal. Most church consultants and other leaders do not believe things will ever return to normal. 

What we are finding is that many people have reinvested their lives in other activities on Sundays other than going to church. When churches were shut down some people found that they really didn't miss it that much. They found their lives had not changed much, if at all, by their not attending church services. Others found that watching online satisfied their spiritual needs. While some churches were closed, others were open, and some people who craved attending live services began attending those open churches and won't return to their former ones.

Most churches today need to define a "new normal." How will they minister in a post-pandemic world? We first need to recognize that digital ministry is here to stay. It was refreshing to find so many churches make the move to offering their worship services on social media. Many of those churches would have never made that change if they had not been forced to do so by the pandemic. But, this now presents these churches with four different congregations. As Thom Rainer points out in his book, The Post-Quarantine Church: Six Urgent Challenges and Opportunities That Will Determine the Future of Your Congregation, three of these congregations are the digital-only, who are unable to return to the worship service or remain afraid to do so due to Covid, the digital-transitioning, who are mostly connected to the digital worship service but will attend in person occasionally, and the dual citizens who relate to the church both in person and digitally. Add these three those who only attend in-person gatherings and you are now challenged with ministering to four different congregations. Rainer gives some tips on how a church might do that, but most of us are going to find it difficult to do it well.

The good news is that none of this caught God by surprise. This is not a time for church leaders to despair but to pray and seek God's guidance for moving forward. We are being presented with an opportunity to do ministry in new ways that may prove to be just what we needed as our world becomes even more digitally connected. No doubt we will make some mistakes along the way, but the biggest mistake we will make is if we wait for things to return to normal again.

Change in the digital world

I'm currently reading a very interesting business book that was published in 2009. That doesn't sound very long ago until you begin researching some of the things recommended in the book. The book focuses on doing business in the 21st century and the importance of having a web-based business. In one chapter the author suggests six free online tools that entrepreneurs should use. Two of the six have been discontinued since the book was published. Just as quickly as online tools are developed, they are replaced by something better and faster. It's kind of the like the new computer you buy with all the bells and whistles, and three months later it's outdated due to new technology having been developed.

Think about other changes that have occurred in the digital world. From 2005-2009 My Space was the largest social networking site in the world with over 100,000 users per month. However, it was then surpassed by Facebook, and today it is but a fraction of its former size. Now, Facebook faces challenges from newer social media sites such as MeWe, which is the currently the second most downloaded app on Google Play Store, Pinterest, WT Social and a host of others.

Another change that is coming in 2021 is that Microsoft 365 products will stop supporting Internet Explorer. In 2003 IE was the most widely used web browser, but its popularity has decreased steadily since Firefox and Google Chrome were introduced. In 2015 Microsoft announced that Microsoft Edge would replace IE on its Windows 10 devices.

Now, you may be like me and these changes do not affect you very much. Or you may be a person who is always on the lookout for the latest and greatest in technology. If you are in the latter group, good luck keeping up with all the changes occurring in the digital world. I suspect these changes will only increase in their rapidity. 

The real purpose of this post is to point out that changes are coming just as quickly in the church world as well. This year we saw the need for churches who had no online presence to quickly develop one. For many of these churches their online presence was an introductory one. The challenge now will be to understand how to build upon that. 

Many churches that began offering their worship services online found that their in-person attendance and the number of those who were watching the services online were more than previously attended their services. I mentioned in a previous post that we now have three congregations: those who attend in person, those who attend only online, and those who attend some services in person and other services online. How do we minister to these three different groups of people? How do we even identify the ones who only attend online? How do we do discipleship with each of the three groups? How do we help the ones online to feel connected to our churches? How do we provide pastoral care to our online congregation if we do not even know who they are? I'm sure you can add many more questions to this list, but this is enough to help us understand that we are facing an entirely new way of doing church that most of us have not considered in the past.

We can ignore these questions, but we do so at our peril. If we want to continue to be used by God to be a witness to this generation we must find answers to these questions, and many others as well. In my opinion, if you think 2020 has been challenging to the church, you ain't seen nothing yet!

The church will never return to "normal"

 Ever since the pandemic began I've heard people talking about their hope that everything can soon return back to normal so they can get on with their lives. Church leaders have been hopeful that their churches can soon get back to normal operations again. In some instances pastors were forced by the lay leadership to reopen their churches before the churches were ready in an effort to return to normal. In some cases, that did not end well.

What these individuals fail to realize is that the world will not get "back to normal" in this post-pandemic world. Just as 9/11 forever changed the world in which we live, so has the pandemic. It will likely take years before we realize the full ramifications of all the changes that will occur because of Covid, but we can be certain that things will never return back to what they were before the pandemic. We are forced to find a new normal if we are going to move forward into the future.

What all this means for the church is still uncertain. Certainly, it is going to require us to take a fresh look at how we do ministry in a post-pandemic world. Many churches began offering their worship services through social media outlets during the quarantine, some reluctantly, but then many of them found they had a lot more people tuning in to those services than they had previously had in their in-house services. The next surprise came when church leaders found that people were watching the broadcast services at various times of the week when it was more convenient for them to do so. If we do not want to lose touch with these individuals it will require us to continue broadcasting our services even when we are free to fully reopen our churches.

Of course, this presents the church with more challenges. How do we effectively minister to the needs of our digital congregation? How does this impact small-group ministry? How do we disciple those who connect with us through social media? In what ways can we offer community to those who only connect with us through social media? I'm sure you can identify other challenges in your context.

A different challenge for churches is that we do not become so enamored with our digital ministry that we try to do too many things. We can become so wrapped up in the opportunities presented by our media presence that we lose focus on ministering to people. Many people have become addicted to technology to the point that they struggle to function in the real world. The same danger exists for churches. We can get so caught up in doing ministry online that we forget the human touch in ministry. We must not allow that to happen.

Our world has once again changed forever, and the church must adapt to that change. We are not going to return to business as usual as it existed pre-Covid. The challenges before the church are real, but the good news is that God was not caught unaware of them. As we seek Him for guidance we will find He will guide us through this transition into a new world of exciting ministry opportunities.

Does anyone know your church exists?

A number of years ago I was scheduled to meet with the pastor search committee of a small church. This was before GPS was available. The chair of the search team had given me directions to the church, but they weren't the best directions I've ever had. It was my first time to be at this church so I was very dependent on the directions to find the church. Once I got off the main highway I realized how poor the directions were. As I drove around the country roads trying to find the markers the church had given me it started to grow dark. I had no cell phone service so I stopped at two houses to ask for directions to the church, but the people at these houses had never heard of the church. It was now about 15 minutes after our meeting was scheduled. I decided to turn around at the next drive way and return home. The next driveway was into the church's parking lot. It was within a mile of the two houses where the people said they had never heard of the church!

It's very hard to grow a church or have an effective ministry if people within a mile of your church has never heard of you. Unfortunately, this is true of many churches. These churches may think their long history and the fact that they "are the friendliest church in the area," should make them well-known, but the reality is that people near them may not even know they exist.

Even larger churches can have this problem. Several people told me to let them know if I was scheduled to preach in their community so they could come to hear me. A larger church in their community did invite me to preach there a few weeks later so I let the folks know that. Even though this was one of the largest churches in their community, none of them knew where it was located. These folks lived within blocks of this large active church, but did not know where it was.

This was a problem for the church I pastored when I first went there. This small, rural church was nearing its 150th anniversary when I became its pastor, but many people had never heard of the church and many others did not know where it was. A few years after I went there we began to intentionally address that problem.

One of our men put up a sign at the highway with the name of the church and an arrow showing where to turn. At the end of that road he put up another sign with another directional arrow that would lead people to the church.

We bought a number of professionally prepared videos that promoted some aspect of ministry featuring our church's name and service times. These video ads were ran for free on our local cable company on select channels. We also purchased a quarterly newspaper that featured positive stories and insights into family living that included one-and-half pages highlighting information about our church that was sent to the homes in our county. Both the videos and the paper gave us an opportunity to minister to people and allowed us to get our church name out into the community.

Today, if I was pastor of a church, we would be active on social media. We would have a web site and a Facebook page promoting the church. Someone has said if your church isn't on social media it doesn't exist. I believe there is a lot of truth in that. A Facebook page is free, and web sites can be very inexpensive so both are possible for even the smallest churches.

When people are interested in knowing about a business the first thing most will do is to check out that business online. If they do not have a web page it's likely the person will be less interested in the business. The same is true when people are wanting information about churches. Not only does your church need to be on social media, your content must be fresh and current. When I'm looking at a web site or a FB site and I see that the last posting was two or three years ago I lose interest. Your social media pages should be updated at least weekly to keep them fresh and appealing to those who are looking at them.

So, do people know your church exists? Are you sure? Can you prove it? How will new people get information about your church? If people cannot get information about your church before they visit, why should they bother visiting? Tough questions, but they need to be asked and answered.

Turn off your social media in church

This past Sunday I visited a church I had only been to one other time. The worship was good, and the message was very solid. However, there was a major distraction. A husband and wife sat in the pew beside me, and their teen age daughter sat in front of them. The husband had his Bible on his phone, but kept switching from it to his calendar and to Facebook. Every once in a while he would show his wife something on FB. She sat there with an I-Pad and spent much of the sermon looking at some shopping site. The daughter spent the entire message on FB and texting. I had to wonder why they bothered to come to church

There is something seriously wrong with people who are so addicted to their social media and phones that they cannot shut them down for an hour or two to focus on God, worship, and His Word. Don't think the pastor cannot tell what you are doing while he's delivering the message. I've preached many times knowing that individuals were locked into their phones, and it wasn't to be reading the Scriptures. I can also tell you that it doesn't make the minister feel very good when that happens.

Most of the time when I am at any meeting at all I put my phone on vibrate. Unless I am expecting an important call or text I won't even look at it when it does go off if I am in a meeting. Sometimes I just leave the phone in the car. I'm not that important that people have to have contact with me 24/7. I doubt you are either.

Maybe I shouldn't have noticed this family on their phones during the service, but it was hard not to with them sitting beside and in front of me. I also can't help but wonder what an unsaved person would have thought if they had witnessed the same thing. Would they have been distracted from a message God wanted them to hear? Would they have wondered what is so wonderful about being a Christian and going to church if people are just going to be on their social media sites? You can do that at home on Sunday morning in your pajamas.

I also wondered about this family. They certainly showed a lack of respect for the pastor and the church. They showed a lack of respect for the Word of God being preached, and, even more importantly, they showed a lack of respect for God Himself. While I cannot judge their relationship with Christ, I can say with certainty that their lack of discipleship was obvious.

A friend of mine posted on FB yesterday about the decline of spirituality among Christians today. As I read that I immediately thought of this family.

If we are going to attend worship services let's give God the respect He deserves while we are there. Leave your phone in the car. If you are going to take it inside because your Bible is on it, at least avoid using it for social media and other activities until the service is over. It really shouldn't be that hard to do.

Watch what you say

Last week I posted an article on this site about Christians using social media in ways that bring damage to their testimony and the Christian faith. Specifically, I wrote about how Christians are as guilty of posting inaccurate information and slandering those who disagree with us as non-christians. Today I want to address another issue that concerns me about Christians and social media.

The next day I unfriended two Christians on Facebook because of vile language that was contained on a post they shared. This was not their writing, but it was a post they had seen somewhere and felt the need to share it with their friends. The post contained a word that has no place in Christian dialogue. This was not the first time these two individuals had shared questionable material, but this one went over the line of acceptability. I had been uncomfortable with some of their posts before, but this one was the final straw for me. I immediately unfriended them.

Some Christians have no problem with using profane language. I do. It's not that I am shocked by it. As a young man I cursed a lot before becoming a Christian. I've had unbelievers intentionally curse in front of me looking for a reaction. They never got one. But, when Christians are unable to express themselves without using profanity it does bother me. I also do not want it on my social media pages because I don't want anyone thinking that I condone it.

As Christians we are to reflect the person of Jesus Christ in all we say and do. I realize that we all fail to do this as we should. I am certainly not pretending to be perfect in this endeavor either. But, it seems that it should be a simple thing to control the words that come out of our mouths or the ones we write for all the world to see.

Non-christians judge the gospel we proclaim based in large part on the lives of those who claim to believe it. They are quick to point out any inconsistencies they think they find. It may not always be fair, but it is a fact. It should be noted that this is not only true for Christians but for anyone in the public eye. In recent weeks there have been numerous social media posts made by entertainers and politicians that have been removed but not before someone got a screen shot. Critics of these entertainers and politicians used these posts to attack them and their views. Non-christians do the same with the things we post, and just because we remove the post doesn't mean that it goes away. There's always a chance that someone has taken a screen shot of something we post before we can remove it.

Is it really that difficult for Christians to communicate without using profane language? The answer is no, if we care what others think about the things we say and write. I encourage you to think about who will read what you post on social media and what they will think about you after they read it. If you still want to use profane language I guess you're free to do so. Just don't send it to me. If you do I'll feel the same freedom to not receive anything else from you.

Christians and social media posts

Once again the media jumped to conclusions based on inaccurate information when they began reporting on a group of high school students who supposedly disrespected a native American in Washington DC. The media was quick to attack these Catholic high school kids wearing MAGA caps, but as if often the case, they based their stories on incomplete information. When the longer video clips appeared the story was quite different, It's sad that our major news sources seem to have lost their journalistic integrity and want to report news before they actually investigate if it is true.

As might be expected, many in the entertainment industry jumped on the bandwagon joining in attacking these students. So did some in Congress. Even after the story had been debunked by the facts one recently elected member to the House of Representatives continued to attack these young people. Apparently, facts do not matter to people with an agenda. Such people are infected with an ailment known as confirmation bias. They seek anything that would confirm what they already believe regardless of whether it is true or not.

Unfortunately, in the times in which we live we can expect more of this in the future. As one member of Congress has recently said, moral truth is more important than factual truth. Attack, attack, attack until people believe what you're saying is true.

It is even more unfortunate that Christians are not immune from confirmation bias. I read a lot of social media posts from Christian people that make me shudder. We are as guilty of reporting fake news as anyone. Christians post articles that were long ago proven false giving the critics of Christianity more ammunition to use against the Gospel. We share articles written by others without verifying the truthfulness of the articles because they confirm what we believe. We share articles with profane language in the headline or in the article. Sometimes there is a disclaimer warning of profanity, but usually there is not. Regardless, why share it with such language? I have unfriended more than one person because they constantly were sharing articles with such language. I don't need that on my page.

Not only do we share information that isn't true, we are just as guilty of attacking our opponents as the media does. We vilify those with whom we disagree. We characterize them in an attempt to discredit their views. Rather than debate the issues we portray them as evil people thinking somehow this will win the discussion for our side. This doesn't win arguments; it just makes us look petty and ill-equipped to engage in a serious discussion of the issues.

Many people today view Christians as mean-spirited people who believe they are better than others and have all the answers. From some of the social media posts I read it's not hard to see where they get that idea. It's time to tone down the rhetoric, validate the facts before we post something, and stop attacking those with whom we disagree. If we can't do that then perhaps we should limit our social media to posting pictures of our cats.

Flee not fight temptation

By now you've probably seen the viral video of the Weather Channel reporter fighting the winds and water while giving his report while two teenagers are seen calmly walking behind him. It's a wonderful example of how the news, including the weather, is presented in a way that is not necessarily accurate. The Weather Channel has claimed that their reporter was trying to maintain his footing on wet grass while the teens are walking on concrete. So, was the reporter not smart enough to leave the wet grass for the solid footing the concrete obviously provided? It's a hilarious clip that won't soon be forgotten.

But, it does offer insight into a much bigger issue. How many of us are fighting temptations that threaten to overwhelm us rather than fleeing from them? Numerous times in Scripture the apostle Paul tells us to flee from temptations. Fighting temptations can result in our losing the battle, and many of us often experience those losses. Fleeing from them gives us a much better chance of being victorious over them.

An alcoholic should not go into a bar but should avoid places where he will be tempted to drink. Recovering drug addicts need to find new friends and avoid the old ones who will provide fresh temptations. Many marriages have been destroyed in recent years due to old flames reconnecting on social media. Just because someone gives you a friend request doesn't mean you have to accept it. There are people you don't need to have contact with on social media.

Speaking of social media, it seems many Christians are unable to resist commenting on posts with which they disagree. It does the Kingdom of God no good for Christians to engage in battles with unbelievers and other Christians on social media. A few times I've wanted to challenge something I read but refrained because I knew it would only result in an online argument that would accomplish nothing. For those of you who don't know, it's OK to read something online with which you disagree and not comment on it.

Fighting temptations is often like trying to walk on wet, slick grass in 90 MPH winds. Life is much easier if you just walk away to the more solid footing of the concrete.

Ministers on social media

I enjoy social media. I have accounts on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIN, and Google Plus. I use Messenger and IM more than the several e-mail accounts I have to send information to people. In addition I have two blogs and write on two other Facebook accounts. Social media is a great way to communicate to a wide range of people and an excellent way to share information with groups of people. During this Advent season the church I'm serving will send out a daily devotional to our church family on social media.

Of course, social media can present problems. It can easily consume too much of a person's time if we don't control our usage of social media. Persons who check their FB accounts and e-mails every few minutes will not accomplish very much.

While social media can enhance relationships if used wisely it can also disrupt relationships. I've read that social media has been the cause of numerous divorces as people have reconnected with old flames. People have lost their jobs due to posting something critical of their employer on social media. Bullying has become a major problem on social media, especially among young people and has even led to some taking their lives.

While social media can be a great tool for someone in the ministry it must be used wisely. I've known pastors who held strong political viewpoints and shared those on social media. Ministers must be careful here as some within their congregations will not share those same viewpoints. While I am more than willing to share my political views in private conversations I avoid doing so on social media. It's too easy to be misunderstood when discussing things on social media. There's no sense in getting people upset due to my lack of clarity on some political issue.

Social media is also not the place to lash out at people with whom you have disagreements. I wish our current president would learn that. Disagreements are best handled privately. Public outbursts seldom accomplish anything except to make the one being attacked become defensive which only makes the problem worse. It also makes the one who wrote the post appear immature. It helps to remember that once you put something out there, it's there forever for everyone to see. Remembering that has helped me stop before I posted something I thought I might regret later.

It's also not the place to argue. I am stunned to see how some Christians attack one another on social media over political or theological issues. We need to remember that many non-Christian people may be reading the comments we are making. It sends a very negative message to them about Christianity when they read our posts attacking one another personally because we happen to disagree. I may share my perspective once, and if someone begins to argue that I just back off and refuse to respond. (It might surprise some people to learn that if they read something on social media they don't agree with that it's OK to not respond to it.)

Social media can be a great tool to help you grow your church, but it can also create problems within the church. Use it wisely to build and not to tear down.

Losing friends on social media

I just unfriended another individual on Facebook. Typically, there are only two reasons I do that. They either use vulgar language or have a number of friends who do, or they continually post political articles that go over the top. I don't need the vulgarity on my social media, and if people cannot communicate without being vulgar I really have no interest in talking with them. The political articles have just gotten out of hand since this election cycle. Most of them are inflammatory and add nothing to any worthwhile discussion. Others are articles from fake news sites that people want to promote. This last individual posted numerous such articles, and I just got tired of seeing them on my page.

I am an equal opportunity unfriender in that I've unfriended persons on both sides of the political spectrum. The election is over, and if all a person wants to do is whine and pout about it they don't need to post their articles on my FB page. I also have no use for persons who keep fanning the flames with fake news stories intended only to make people mad.

What makes this frustrating is that most of my social media friends are probably Christians. I say probably because I do not personally know all of them. I accepted them as a friend because they were friends of some of my friends who I trust or they are involved in ministry in some capacity.

Christians need to be especially wary of what they post on social media. We've all heard that we might be the only Gospel some people ever see, and what we post on social media is helping some people form opinions about God and Christianity that are not good. Even if someone posts articles that end up on your page that are filled with vulgarity, rude comments, and lies, that will reflect on you and ultimately on your faith. That may not be fair, but it is the reality in today's world.

It's fine to express your opinions. Otherwise, all we'll have on social media is pictures of cats. But express your opinion well, and remember that you don't have to respond to everything you disagree with on social media. Contrary to what some people believe, it is permissible on social media to read something with which you disagree and walk away without saying anything. Believe it or not, not everyone deserves your opinion.

Social media is a great communication tool and a good way to stay connected with people you may not often see. It can also be a positive tool for Christian outreach. But, social media can also create major problems if not used wisely. I hate losing friends, but if that is what I have to do to keep my social media positive and relevant then I will continue to weed out the negative people. So should you.

Fake news, spam and sermons

There is a lot of useless information out there. Fake news sites have been blamed by some, including President Obama, for the defeat of Hillary Clinton in our recent election. These sites publish fake stories and place them on social media where many of them quickly go viral. Because they confirm what people on both political sides want to be true, they share them with others, and these stories take on a life of their own. Many of these fake stories are spread through Facebook which has promised to clamp down on them.

It's a shame that many of these fake stories are spread by Christian people. In the recent election my Facebook was filled with such stories being shared by Christians on both side of the political spectrum. While some of these stories sounded plausible, many of them were so far out there that one would think no discerning person would spread them without confirming whether or not they were true. I'm concerned that some of these stories are written just to see if gullible Christians will believe them.

And then there is spam. Every day my computer is filled with spam emails. I've been able to block many of these on my computer, but because Apple doesn't care about spam these emails still make it to my I-Phone and I-Pad. Every evening I have to spend several minutes deleting all the spam messages on these two devices. I see many complaints on the Internet about Apple's refusal to correct this issue. Since they've not addressed it I can only assume they don't care about the inconvenience. It's about time to get a new phone so this will be one of my considerations when I start looking.

This post isn't really a rant about fake news sites and spam. It is meant to be a caution to those of us who speak to our congregations each week. People are inundated everyday with false and misleading information. When they come to church they need to hear a message that is filled with truth and hope. After listening to bad news all week from the various news channels they want to hear something positive, something that will inspire them and fill them with hope in something eternal.

Yes, sometimes we have to speak on difficult subjects. Sometimes we are going to step on toes, but even these messages do not have to be negative or delivered in a mean-spirited manner.

Several years ago I realized that my sermons had become rather negative in recent months. As I reviewed my sermons during that time I was convicted about my negativity. The next Sunday I apologized to the congregation for this and promised that I would be diligent in making sure that did not happen again. Even when I need to speak on difficult subjects I can do so in a positive way and not come across as beating up the people.

We also need to ensure that we use reliable resources as we prepare our messages. It's very easy in this time of social media to grab information from one of these fake news sites to use in an illustration. If we do that it will eventually undermine our credibility, and people will begin to question everything we say.

If God has entrusted you to preach to His people He has given you a tremendous privilege and an even greater responsibility. Those who teach are under greater judgment. This is not a call that should be taken lightly. Speak the truth in love. Do so with authority and only after careful study and much prayer.

Christian, politics, and social media

A FB friend of mine, and a Christian denominational leader, recently posted a caution about how Christians use social media to make political comments. Some agreed with his warning while other accused him of hiding behind his own political agenda while refusing to stand up for the good of American families.

While I cannot speak for my friend about the motive behind his words I can respond to how I interpreted them. I did not see him saying that Christians cannot hold political views or express them. I read into his comments that we need to be cautious about how we express them. The way some people responded to his post is a good example of this.

The one person who accused him of hiding behind his own political agenda wasn't responding to the post as much as attacking the person who made it. Perhaps he felt he was responding to the FB post, but in reality he attacked the motives behind it, and by doing so was making a personal attack on the person who wrote it.

I've written earlier about how this political season is bringing out the worst in Christians, especially on social media. It's easy to hide behind social media and say things we would dare not say to a person's face. I once responded in agreement to something a FB friend posted and was attacked by another friend of his, not a mutual friend. She questioned my intelligence and informed me that she was a highly educated person and therefore knew more than I did about the matter. It turned out I actually had more education than she did, but that was beside the point. Rather than discuss the issue, she immediately went into full attack mode on my character and intelligence. My only response to her was to inform her that I did not engage in debates on social media and would not be responding.

We can hold political views, and we are free to express them, but it is important that we do so wisely. Attacking the character of those who disagree with us must be avoided. Calling candidates, and those who support them, vile names is hardly Christian. Let's support those candidates who most hold our values and beliefs, but let's do so in a manner that is fitting of the name Christian.

Make use of social media

Periodically, I return to this theme of the importance to churches of social media. The reason I keep returning to the subject is that many churches, especially smaller churches, still do not take advantage of the opportunities social media provides.

In the mid-1990s our church began to send out a quarterly newspaper. We continued that until I resigned from the church in 2001. The paper was well done with timely articles about the Christian faith, family life, and other items of interest to most people. The church got the top half of the front page and one page on the inside of the paper to promote our church. The company printed all the articles and mailed the paper to everyone in our zip code for a reasonable fee.

It is largely recognized today that such direct mail isn't very effective, and it's not inexpensive either. Fewer and fewer people take their local newspaper any more so buying ads there often isn't productive either. Door-to-door visitation has long since ceased being an effective outreach strategy. So how can a church promote its ministry and reach out to the community?

Social media is very inexpensive (usually free) so it's affordable for any size church. It can be used to inform both your congregation and the community about activities occurring in your church. It's not difficult to learn, and you don't have to worry about deadlines. You can publish your material any time you want. It is a great way to promote a new sermon series, a special event, or anything you need to market to the community.

I have people following me on this blog. In addition, people can follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and LinkedIn. I also have another blog at dennisbickers.com where I write business and leadership articles. Almost every week, Monday through Friday, I publish links to about 20 articles that I believe my readers will find interesting or helpful. These articles come from blogs that I scan each day. They are scheduled on Hootsuite to be published throughout the day on my Twitter account (@DennisBickers). Of course, anything that I put on Twitter automatically shows up on my Facebook account. Every day there are dozens of opportunities to connect with people all around the world. All of that is possible just by spending a few hours each week at my desk writing articles and scheduling the posts.

Social media is becoming a principle way I market my auctions as well. With newspaper ads I have to remember to get my ads in by a certain date. That's not a problem with social media. I'm on Buy-Sell-Trade sites for my Facebook account in several surrounding communities. I can post a brief ad on these sites in a matter of minutes. These also show up on my main FB site so in a few minutes there are potentially 20,000+ local people seeing my ad at zero cost. It would cost me hundreds of dollars to advertise in all the local papers to reach these same people. I have people come to every auction as a result of seeing the ads on Facebook. Social media works.

For a busy pastor, a bivocational pastor, or anyone in ministry using social media to connect with people is a tremendous time saver and gives you the opportunity to connect with far more people than you could in a face-to-face setting. If you don't feel comfortable using these tools, ask any Junior High school student in your church to teach you how. It won't take them more than a few minutes to show you the basics. As you remain consistent in posting information you will begin to build a following, and you will see results.

Be smart on social media

There are so many positive things a minister or church can do with social media that it is hard for me to understand why some avoid it with a passion. I think every pastor and church should use social media to connect with the congregation and the community they serve. However, we also need to recognize that there are dangers when using social media that we need to avoid.

I recently read of a senior executive in a large corporation who recorded himself berating an employee of a fast food chain. This chain had taken a position on a moral issue with which this individual disagreed. He then downloaded the video on YouTube. By the time he returned to his office a receptionist informed him his video had already gone viral. He was called into his boss' office and terminated that same day.

He soon found work with another organization, but when they learned of the video they terminated him as well. The story closed with him and his family living on government assistance.

I have no way of knowing if this particular story is true or not, but we frequently read of persons who have been terminated because of something they've written in a blog, posted on Facebook, or downloaded to YouTube. We read of other individuals who are turned down for a position when something improper shows up on their social media posts.

Pastors and other church leaders must be very cautious about what they post on social media. Once it goes online it's there forever and can easily be discovered by anyone willing to search for it.

What are some things that should be avoided? I had friended a pastor on Facebook but soon noticed that he was not averse to using profanity in his posts. I unfriended him very quickly. I know some Christians curse, but to do so on social media doesn't seem wise to me.

Arguing on social media is another no-no. I am often amazed at the number of arguments I see going on between Christians on Facebook. I can't help but wonder what image that projects to non-Christians who might read some of these discussions, especially when such arguments turn nasty and personal.

Last year I responded in agreement to something a FB friend wrote, and another one of his friends soon disagreed with us. I responded with some reasons why I felt our position was correct, and much of her response to that was to attack me personally. I answered her attack by stating that I had no intention to get into an argument on FB on this or any other issue so I would withdraw from the discussion and not respond to anything else she might say. I'm willing to discuss things on social media, but I am not willing to argue about them.

Such personal attacks are another thing church leaders must avoid on social media. Why do pastors and church leaders feel they must attack other Christian leaders when they fall or take a position with which we disagree? It's one thing to disagree with a position; it's something else to launch personal attacks on the one who holds that position. The same is true of political leaders with whom we may disagree.

One of the problems with the written word is that it can be difficult to discern the attitude of the person who wrote it. When we don't have the context or the opportunity to see the facial expressions or body language of the person communicating it is easy to misinterpret what they are writing. We don't want to come across as rude, condescending, arrogant, or obnoxious on social media. We need to be very careful about how we express ourselves to limit the opportunities to be misunderstood.

This may sound like a lot of things to be concerned about, and you may be more determined to avoid using social media. That would be a mistake. There are so many good things you can do with social media, but it is important that we be wise in how we use it.

Do you work while on vacation?

I used to tell my co-workers that I would be checking e-mails while I was away on vacation, and I did, several times a day.  I would also work on this blog and post articles on Hootsuite to be put on Twitter at night after my wife went to sleep.  It didn't really bother me that much because it didn't take much time away from our vacation, and most of what I did was late at night when I was the only one up anyway.  Two years ago I finally stopped doing that, and I have the motel we often stay at when we're on vacation.

We used to go to Panama City Beach for vacation, and we often stayed at the same motel.  We had not been there for a few years until deciding to return two years ago.  Reservations were made at the same motel.  It wasn't until we were in our room that I realized that this place didn't offer free wi-fi.  I was not a happy camper!  They charged about $25.00 a week for a wi-fi connection.  I'm too cheap to pay for something that the vast majority of places offer for free so I had to go the entire week with no Internet connection.  By the end of the week I realized I enjoyed not being able to connect to the Internet.  I still had e-mail and texting capabilities on my I-Phone so we could stay in contact with our children, but I couldn't work.  The one time I wanted to check something on Google for our personal information, I simply went across the street and parked in McDonald's parking lot while I got the info we needed off their wi-fi.

For too many years as a young pastor I thought I had to be available to our congregation even when I was on vacation.  How arrogant is that?  None of us are that important.  Do we really think our churches can't get along without us?  I guess I did at one time, but I got over it when I realized the cemeteries are full of indispensable people.  If you think the world can't get along with you, just die and see if the world stops.  Along the same line, what crisis do you think will occur if you don't respond to an e-mail or check your Facebook account while you're on vacation?  Chances are...none.

On my Twitter feed today I have an article by Michael Hyatt on how he unplugs while he's on vacation.  You can read it here.  I like most of what he suggests.  The one thing I do differently is that I don't leave phone and e-mail messages telling people I'm away for a week or two nor do I publish that on Facebook or other social media.  I don't post pictures of the things I'm doing on vacation until I get back.  No sense in telling some people that your house is empty for a few days.  I do agree with his recommendations that we unplug while we're away so we can recharge and enjoy our time away.

I hope you are planning some time away this year for yourself and your family.  You need that time, and so do they.  Even more, my prayer is that when you go away you get away.  No work.  No Internet.  Just take time to breathe and enjoy life and your family.

The pastor and social media

On this site I frequently encourage small churches and their pastors to have an Internet presence.  Basic web sites that offer an overview of the church and the times of the worship services can be had for little or no money.  For less than a couple of hundred dollars a year a small church can have a nice site that would make their church visible to those who seek a church to visit on the web.

Some pastors may be afraid to tackle a web site although they are not difficult to set up and maintain.   With or without a church web site, there is no reason that a pastor not have a presence on social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and a blog. This provides the pastor with the opportunity to have a much larger ministry than his or her local parish.  This blog is read by people all over the world.  Blogs also make it possible to have good contact with members of the congregation.  Reminders can be sent about upcoming meetings.  A blog or web page can take the place of a mailed newsletter saving the church a significant amount of money each year.

At this point some will object and claim that many of their congregation doesn't use computers and is not on social media.  I hear this frequently, and while it remains true in some situations, it's probably time we quit using this excuse.  The fact is that more and more of our people are online and on social media.  Let's quit letting the handful in our churches who are not online keep us from joining the 21st century.

A couple of years ago I gave up my web page to focus more on this blog.  I found it difficult to keep both the web page and the blog fresh and current, and it is vital that the information on both are kept fresh.  I decided to concentrate on the blog.  I'm also on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+.  I use these sites to post articles I think will be interesting to my readers and to see what other people are talking about.

Like anything else we do in ministry, there are some cautions we need to know about when it comes to social media.  First, and most important, it is vitally important that we set boundaries on our use of social media.  It is reported that the number one cause of divorce in America today is Facebook as people get reconnected with people they used to know and develop inappropriate relationships with them.  Pastors and other in ministry positions must be cautious about who they "friend."  One must be careful about discussing one's personal life on a social media page intended for ministry purposes.  This can lead to a problem of dual-relationships and a host of other issues that should be avoided.

It is very easy to spend too much time on social media sites and not get the work done that we need to do.  Pastors can easily get caught in the trap of checking their Facebook page every 10-15 minutes to see what people are saying or spend hours each day sending and receiving texts.  You must set limits on how much time you'll spend on social media or a helpful tool will turn into a time-sucking monster.

We also must be careful about what we post.  As a pastor you represent your church 24/7/365.  You can argue that what you do on your personal page is your business and you can even add a disclaimer that your comments are your opinion and does not reflect your church, but many people will still associate your comments to your church.  It may not be fair, but it is reality.  Anything you post is online forever and can quickly go viral.  Numbers of people have lost their jobs because of things they posted on social media that reflected poorly upon their place of employment, and I would imagine that number would include some pastors.  Don't join their number.

A final caution I would make is that it is not becoming to Christians to engage in online battles with people with whom they disagree.  It amazes me to read some of the comments I see online made by Christian people when they are opposing something that has been posted.  I have been in a couple of discussions with people online when we have been in disagreement.  In both cases, we each kept the discussion civil, made our arguments, and avoided personal attacks.  After a couple of exchanges I responded that online was not the place for an extended discussion of our differences, and I withdrew.  At no time did either of us ever become nasty towards one another as I see happen so often in these types of discussions.  Don't do that.  It doesn't strengthen your position and it gives other readers a poor image of Christians.

Social media can be a very helpful tool for a small church leader.  Use it wisely, maintain good boundaries, and extend your ministry.

Smaller churches must take advantage of existing technology.

What do you do if you are a small church in a small community?  Do you accept the prevailing opinion that you are not going to be able to grow and that death is inevitable, or do you look for other ways to reach people?  Most churches in that situation are accepting the prevailing opinion that they will never grow.  They have been small for so long they really cannot see themselves ever growing or having any type of significant ministry.  If they are located in a small or rural community, they have probably watched as their communities have also dwindled in size as more and more people are moving to larger cities.  In fact, some denominations have decided their primary focus in the future will be on the cities, and they are willing to virtually write off their small community and rural churches in order to have more resources for their city churches.  It's very hard for a small church to not be discouraged and see little future for their ministries.

I recently completed reading Transforming Church in Rural America by Shannon O'Dell.  In 2003 the author accepted the call to pastor a small church averaging about 30 people in a town of 100.  Today, the church has about 2,000 people who worship in one of their several satellite church sites with an additional 1,500 registered attendees who join in the worship in one of their many iCampus sites.  They are able to satellite feed their services all over the world giving them outreach capability far beyond the few people who live in their community.

It's an exciting story, but it is not one without problems.  Early in his ministry at the church O'Dell challenged some of the sacred cows in the church and experienced tremendous push-back and eventually saw many in his congregation leave the church.  As painful as that was it did not stop O'Dell.  He was a man who believed he had a vision from God to lead that little church into a world-wide ministry, and he did it.

As you might imagine, he didn't take the church from 30 people to 3,500 overnight.  He began slowly to make use of social media technology to connect with people in his own church and community.  It is here that so many of our smaller churches get stuck.  Anytime someone suggests using social media for ministry people give many arguments why it won't work.  Their people don't use social media. (The fastest growing group on Facebook is over 60 years old so that argument doesn't really work any more.)  If your folks don't know how to use Facebook, teach them.  Many pastors will argue that they don't know how to use computers and other technology.  Sorry, but that argument just doesn't cut it any more.  Either learn how to use it or step aside for someone who will.  In today's culture for a leader to say he or she doesn't know how to use computers is really saying they are no longer a leader.  Leaders are expected to be learners, and there is really no valid reason to not be able to at least do basic things on a computer.

You may never have a vision like O'Dell's that would include using satellite technology to send your messages and services across the world, but through the use of common technology like Facebook and Twitter you can easily send messages to members of your church and community.  People are now willing to drive an hour to attend a church that offers meaningful worship and messages.  What if you could save them the trip by opening other sites in nearby communities where your messages and worship would go?  Would these folks be likely to invite their friends to those services if they were held closer to where they lived?  The answer is probably yes, and all of a sudden you have expanded the ministry of your church.

I've enjoyed reading O'Dell's book not just for the out-of-the-box thinking he does but because he shares my passion for the small church.  At a time when many have written off the smaller church, many of these churches are finding creative ways to do ministry.  While some smaller churches do close their doors each week, those who find new ways of ministering have a bright future.  For many of the latter churches, the use of technology will be a significant new way of ministry.  I believe every church needs to examine how technology and social media can make your ministry much more effective.
































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My computers are back!

Sunday afternoon when I returned home from church I tried to access the Internet on my computer.  Nothing happened.  Throughout the day I would try again thinking that perhaps the server was down.  I finally called my provider and was told there were no issues in our area.  I tried my laptop and was able to get online.  That convinced me that something was wrong with my desktop, and my fear was that I had contracted a virus.  That became more likely when I realized that my virus detector was shut down and nothing I did could open it back up.  Not wanting to bother my IT guy on a Sunday I began using my laptop when suddenly it went off-line and refused to get back online as well.

Monday morning I called my IT person who asked me to bring my laptop to his home.  About two hours later I left there with a system that would go online.  It had some minor issues but now it was working great.  I was given a couple of things to try with my desktop, but neither of them worked.  On Tuesday the desktop went in for repairs, and late Wednesday evening I received a call saying it was fixed.  A really bad spyware had got in that was difficult to detect and find but very destructive.  I wish I knew how it got in my computer, but the good news is that I'm back online.

What was so troubling is how dependent I realized I am on my computers.  I was receiving e-mails by phone, but phones are not conducive to long responses back to e-mail questions.  Virtually everything I started to do the past few days I was unable to do because I needed to go online to retrieve information or I needed to contact someone.  It was very frustrating.

More and more those of us in ministry are using computers to make our work easier.  There are great Bible study programs available that can make researching a message much easier.  I've often advocated on this site how important it is for ministers and churches, regardless of their size, to have a social media presence that allows for rapid communication with people.  Every week more ministers are taking tablets to the pulpit with them rather than their Bibles and notebooks.  There is no question that computers can be a valuable tool for ministers.  There is also no question that we can quickly become quite dependent on our computers, and if they go down we can find ourselves in trouble.

Another danger with this dependency is that we can begin to neglect the personal contact that leads to better ministry.  It is not enough for a pastor to sit at his or her desk and wear the keys out on the computer.  Pastoral ministry requires the pastor to go out and spend time with people.  He or she needs to be visible in the community as well as to the congregation.  The old adage about pastors is too often true:  Invisible six days a week and incomprehensible on the seventh.  When pastors spend time with people they are less likely to be incomprehensible because they have a better idea of how a message can speak to people.

Computers can also be a huge time waster.  Although we often talk about the time they can save us, they can also prevent us from making good use of our time.  If we have to stop and check our e-mail every time we receive another message or if we feel compelled to check Facebook every five minutes, we will find that we've lost a lot of time by the end of the day.

Most of us ministry will continue to be pretty dependent on our computers.  They do make ministry much more efficient, but let's not trade efficiency for the personal touch that ministry requires.  Let's also not give control of our lives over to our computers either.  They are just a tool that needs to be properly managed as a part of our lives and ministries.