Churches turn to Facebook, Twitter to help tell Gospel story

God used angels more than 2,000 years ago to announce the birth of Jesus.

Today, churches are using Facebook, Twitter and other modern technology to help spread the Gospel message.

Though the message is the same ? God loves everyone so much he sent his only son to save them ? the way that message is delivered has changed over the centuries.

?We definitely see social media as one of the languages of the culture (now),? said Josh Isenhardt, 30, social media pastor at NorthRidge Church in Plymouth Township. This generation considers Facebook a modern-day town square. ?Why wouldn't we have a presence there??

NorthRidge, Bell Creek Community Church in Livonia and Grace Chapel in Farmington Hills are among the local churches that are implementing some of the latest technologies.

Virtual campus

NorthRidge added a virtual campus this year. It has a brick and mortar campus in Plymouth Township, and meets in schools in Saline and Howell.

In the virtual campus, members from around the country and world simultaneously visit the church's website (northridgechurch.com) at 7 p.m. Sunday to watch a rebroadcast of the weekend service and participate in a live-time chat room, even praying for each other.

?Church online is for those people who are not ready to step into the physical location,? Isenhardt said.

Bell Creek Community Church, which meets at Franklin High School in Livonia, used Twitter for the first time this year to remind people to pray during the week. The church tweeted the word ?pray? to those who had signed up to be reminded during a series the church held on prayer.

?We found that it was very effective, and it's something we're going to keep doing,? said pastor Fred Wright, 43. ?It was amazing how many of our folks signed up.?

Twitter a witnessing tool

Grace Chapel started using Twitter as a witnessing tool this summer during a mission trip to Kentucky, said Daniel Rose, 35, assistant pastor.

Members were tweeting on their personal accounts about their experiences renovating three homes and holding a literacy, math and science camp, he said. That sparked conversations with others about what they were doing and why.

Now the church will use Twitter to let people know about its Christmas Eve and Christmas Day services, blasting out tweets and then depending on members to re-tweet them to their followers.

?It's a very easy way to get a large number of eyes on a small bit of information,? Rose said.

Twitter has also helped build interest in CoffeeDoubt, a group for Christians, atheists, agnostics, theists and others that meets twice weekly in coffee shops to discuss spiritual issues, Rose said.

?We've seen a few people come join us because of conversations over Twitter,? he said.

Grace Chapel has Facebook pages for the church as a whole, the youth ministry and CoffeeDoubt.

Rose said Facebook links people who already know each other, while Twitter links people who don't know each other.

The church's website (graceepc.org), he said, connects people who don't know about the church to the church, often through Google or another search engine. The website includes podcasts of each week's sermon that people can listen to on their computer or download to their iPhone.

Spiritual formation

At NorthRidge, Facebook raises awareness of what God is doing through the church, builds community and gives people a place to share their burdens, Isenhardt said.

But, the next step is using it for spiritual formation. ?Ultimately, we want to see people grow to be more like Christ,? Isenhardt said.

To that end, the church posts two or three questions a week based on the weekend's message. ?We keep bringing it up to the forefront of their minds,? Isenhardt said. ?We want them to carry the truth from the weekend through the rest of the week.?

Wright said the church's website (bellcreek.org) is still its most effective technological tool because it connects people looking for a nondenominational church in the Livonia area to Bell Creek. He said the church has worked hard to make it easy for people to find and navigate the website, where they can learn about the church's beliefs, listen to a sermon and submit a prayer request. The next step, he said, is ramping up the content to include articles on topics like raising children as a single parent and strengthening marriage. ?The website is designed to deliver good content,? Wright said.

Website gets most results

Rose said Grace Chapel's website is better than Facebook and Twitter for getting people into the church on Sunday morning, but, he said, they are just scratching the surface with what technology can do. For example, the youth's Facebook page has an e-vite component so youth can easily invite their friends to church events. ?A lot of the high school students use Facebook almost as a planner,? he said.

The next step, he said, is using Facebook more interactively as an extension of the Sunday sermon or Sunday school.

Garden City Presbyterian (gardencitypresbyterian.org) is using Facebook to promote its monthly Christian concert series and other special events, said Herschel Ele, pastor/head of staff. It hasn't yet started using Twitter.

However, the church's new electronic sign on Middlebelt just south of Ford Road has been more effective than any other technology in getting people in the doors, he said. That's probably because people have to intentionally connect to Facebook or the church's website to get information about events instead of just happening to be driving by, he said.

?If people are intentionally connecting, they've probably already decided they're going to come to whatever is going on here anyway,? said Ele, 64.

Other ways area churches are using modern technology include e-giving, where people can have their tithes directly taken out of their bank accounts, and Google calendar, where people can easily add events to their iPhones or Smartphones.

Personal invites best of all

Yet with all the modern technology available to churches today, nothing will take the place of people personally talking to their family and friends about Jesus and inviting them to go to church with them, Rose said. ?At the end of the day there's one best way (to spread the Gospel message) and that's being involved in the life of your neighbors.?

Nor can people live the Christian life in isolation, Isenhardt said. They need to be in the physical presence of other believers, encouraging, praying with and hugging each other.

In those ways, the church hasn't changed since Christ's birth more than 2,000 years ago.

ksmith@hometownlife.com (313) 222-2098

Source: http://www.hometownlife.com/article/20111222/NEWS03/112220466/1001/rss01

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