To gain a full understanding, though, it's critical that church leaders learn both the benefits and challenges of social media sites. Earlier this year, Monk Development set out to discover some answers to these questions through a "state of social media" research project, surveying hundreds of church leaders about the social media sites they're using, what features and functions their church members seek, and what benefits and challenges they face using open source solutions or "church-only" ones.
We first shared the results of this research in a webinar entitled, "Church, Christians, and Social Networking" (you can watch an archived recording of the webinar). I'm the founder of Monk Development, a web consulting firm, and I'm also co-founder and pastor of Kaleo Church in San Diego. Cynthia Ware, who has two decades of pastoral ministry experience and a master's degree in new media, helped me present. She helps Christian leaders use their online presence to enrich and expand their ministry reach, and she actively speaks and writes on the subject.
Our work provided insights on three areas where social networking intersects with social media: outreach, discipleship, and community. While we can't predict the future impact of social media, Cynthia quoted 1 Chronicles during our webinar, focusing on the passage where the "men of Issachar, who understood the times and knew what Israel should do." Hopefully this information helps your church in that process.
Source: Christianity Today | Your Church Blog | Drew Goodmanson
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