“What Are You Doing?” Twitter for the Church Planter
Throughout the Bible we see that God cherishes relationships. Therefore, he stresses communication. Proverbs 18:21 tells us that the tongue has the power of life and death. Communication either strengthens or destroys relationships. Consequently, God often speaks about communication and its consequences on our relationships. Social media, such as Facebook and MySpace, have provided new communication platforms that, if used the right way, can strengthen your church and relationships.
Twitter (www.twitter.com) is a social media tool that has attracted tremendous attention in recent months from the media, celebrities, and the general public. So, what is this Twitter thing that has Larry King, Ashton Kutcher, and Oprah Winfrey buzzing? Simply put, it is a free social networking and microblogging service that allows users to send and read updates (called tweets) of 140 characters or less.
If you are new to this form of social networking, talk to 10 friends who are presently using Twitter and you’ll find that no two of them use it exactly alike. If you’re completely new to Twitter, it would be great to get started by reading a guide to give you some basics. Two resources that you may find helpful are Twitter Revolution: How Social Media and Mobile Marketing Is Changing the Way We Do Business and Market Online (by Deborah Micek and Warren Whitlock) and the e-book, The Reason Your Church Must Twitter (by Anthony Coppedge).
Once you understand how to use Twitter, it can become a very effective tool for you as a church planter.
A Tool for Branding
Twitter is a social media platform that you can use to construct your personal and ministry imprint for you and your church. Because it has the benefit of developing a casual persona, people are more apt to connect with you because you appear accessible and approachable. Just as a church planter understands the need for potential core group members to be drawn to one’s persona, the same is true that new users will be drawn toward well-established Twitter personas.
A Tool for Feedback
Often, it is useful as a church planter to hear from others. Using Twitter, it is simple to basically send a “tweet” asking for people’s opinion. This will result in more than sufficient replies from other users. Collective IQ and group collaboration are great ways to develop excitement for various projects and causes. Twitter can be used to help you find Scripture verses related to your next sermon, to get feedback on new promotional resources, or simply to locate a business you need (like an inexpensive printer).
A Tool for Gathering Prospects
Like Facebook and other social networks, Twitter has a built-in function for you to follow and track the twitter messages of other users. A twitter association can be developed into a long-lasting friendship. Twitter is a great tool for finding prospects online. While some of these will never come to your physical building, they will become a part of your online community. Tweets about your new church are a good way to begin to touch and invite those who might actually come in person to your service or to an event.
A Tool for Networking
Like-minded people will often join you in your cause. Twitter is a good way to establish consistent and deeper relationships for peer-to-peer learning. You can use it as a way to get immediate responses from your online friends to ideas and thoughts. Likewise, it allows you to help others by sharing experiences and resources in response to questions or ideas they may have.
A Tool for Notifying Others
We have all had something unexpected come up and needed to get the word out quickly. Inclement weather causes you to cancel a church event. You need to schedule a quick meeting. There is an urgent prayer request. Using Twitter for church-wide updates can replace or supplement costly phone dialing solutions and e-mail blasts that don’t get read until it is too late. Even more, you can set up your church’s home page to include Twitter updates. Individual ministry groups can create their own Twitter accounts for more targeted blasts.
A Tool for Providing Commentary
Twitter only allows you to use 140 characters in a single message, so detailed descriptions are out of the question. But it does allow you to provide real-time commentary about an event or function. This is where your creativity can help you draw others to your message. You can purchase an application such as ParaTweet (www.paratweet.com) for “twittering in church”, encouraging people to submit tweets throughout the service which are posted on a big screen. It is a creative way to create community and make the service more interactive. Warning: It is always a challenge to keep technology from becoming the focus and reason for worshiping. Check out this recent Time article on twittering in the church.
Wrapping it up
Twittering is all about convenience, community, and participating in the conversation. Twitterers are not afraid of the new, and they help all of us by functioning as early adopters that bring innovation for all to use. Try Twitter. Jump right in. The tides are rising, and the water is energizing. Enjoy it.
Written by Tom Cheyney (twitter: planterdude) and Steve Canter (twitter: stevecanter). Tom and Steve are members of the Church Planting staff at NAMB.
