I just read an interesting article on cnet, Pope asks priests to become more Web savvy.
Basically, Pope Benedict XVI has called on church leaders to use the latest web technologies to spread the gospel and open the lines of communication with folks.
“Priests are thus challenged to proclaim the gospel by employing the latest generation of audiovisual resources (images, videos, animated features, blogs, Web sites) which, alongside traditional means, can open up broad new vistas for dialogue, evangelization, and catechesis.”
This aligns with several new online strategies I’ve seen the Catholic Church participating in recently.
Top 10 reasons for social media resistance
Out of the many pastors and churches embracing social media for the good of the Kingdom, why is there still resistance?
A while back, Bruce Reyes-Chow posted Top 10 reasons church and pastors resist social media. I think this list really hits the nail on the head.
- . . . we’ll leave people behind who don’t use it.
- . . . there is no measurable result or return.
- . . . its output is untrustworthy.
- . . . we don’t know how to do it;
- . . . our folks aren’t using it;
- . . . it’s all narcissistic;
- . . . it’s a fad;
- . . . it’s unproductive and not a good use of pastoral time;
- . . . we are uncomfortable with issues “transparency” and privacy;
- . . . it cannot replace face-to-face and personal relationships;
Are you still knocking on doors?
For the Catholic Church, a religious denomination that has been considered out-of-touch and irrelevant in recent years, this word from the Pope is a major step forward.
I’m upset with a number of denominational churches who consider themselves “evangelistic,” but have issues with embracing technology to reach others. They’re content with one outreach strategy: Knocking on doors.
Does your church utilize social media for the Kingdom? In what ways? What are the arguments your pastor or church leadership have against it?
Good job, the Pope!
This is one of those issues where sometimes the frustration isn’t worth the benefit. Most of the objections you listed are thoughtless. Objecting just to be objecting when the real issue that that older people don’t like it. I would be a lot more accepting if a pastor just said: I’m old and I don’t like technology. At least that’s honest.
I think this is one of the reasons that there is a huge drop off in church attendance among the 18 to 28 crowd. For so many reasons the church is not willing to accept them in any meaningful way.
Another issue that needs to be dealt with is how churches use social media. Sometimes they will decide to get on Facebook or something, but they think that just being online is enough. They don’t get the culture of the internet and assume that just showing up is enough. It will take people who are “native” to bring the church to the web.