Social Media and the Church

     Social media is revolutionizing the way we communicate. For years people have questioned if it is here to stay. I think that question has been solidly answered "yes" for most.

    Scores of companies are adjusting the way the advertise and run their communications in order to reach the enormous mass of social media users. However, there is a group that has historically been reluctant to adopt technologies related with the Internet. The Church.

    Granted, the Internet provides a public and ubiquitous avenue for all manner of ideas and communication-good and evil. The Church has shied away from it partly due to the huge amount of evil it serves as a conduit to perpetuate. If the Church wants to reach the younger generation as effectively as possible, it needs to learn how to leverage the Internet and social media to reach people.

     The Gospel is told as a story. Social media is all about building relationships. Most relationships are built through storytelling. Add this basic nature of social media to its other positive aspects, and it is a great venue for the Church to use.

     Many of the terms we now use that are almost exclusively religious stemmed from secular Greek and Roman concepts. Jesus or others, gave them an entirely new meaning. Christians can take things that are considered secular and provide them with a new history. So should it do with social media.