Communicating Beyond the Pulpit

A Look at Social Media in the

Church Setting

Misty Campbell-Olbert

Please see below for notes accompanying each slide.

Issue at Hand

Church numbers are falling

especially among the younger generations.

Christine Wicker in her book: The Fall of the Evangelical Nation - The Surprising Crisis Inside the Church

Roger L. Dudley in his study - Indicators of commitment to the church: a longitudinal study of church-affiliated youth

Steve Wright in his book - : Decide for Yourself, Student Ministry Working?

The Question is “why?” and what can church leaders do about it?

“In a major quantitative, ecumenical study of church disengagement and reentry, based on the 1978 Gallup survey of unchurched Americans, Roozen (1980) estimated that about 46% of Americans drop out of church participation at some time in their lives, with the peak occurring during the teenage years. Probable causes for the increase at this stage were lessening of parental influence as peer pressure and the emancipation process increased, plus the feeling that the church had little to offer that was relevant or interesting.”

Roger L. Dudley "Indicators of commitment to the church: a longitudinal study of church-affiliated youth". Adolescence. FindArticles.com. 27 Aug, 2009. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2248/is_n109_v28/ai_13885818/

“Who’s to blame for all this? Not the bible, not God, and not the churches. Modern life, changed circumstances, the new realities that we live among are to blame. Evangelicals tried to fight the modern world and the world won”

(Christine Wicker, The Fall of the Evangelical Nation, p. 4).

Could common technology and social media play an integral roll in creating a sense of community and help bring in members as well as

keep them by making church “relevant or interesting”.

What is Social Media?

Forrester defines social computing as "A social structure in which technology puts power in communities, not institutions."

We also believe that three tenets define social computing:1) innovation will shift from top-down to bottom-up;

2) value will shift from ownership to experience; and3) power will shift from institutions to communities?

http://blogs.forrester.com/groundswell/2006/02/forrsters_socia.html

History of Social Groups within Churches

Three Questions…

Can technology and social media create a sense of community?

Can technology aid in assimilation of individuals to a church?

Can technology and social media influence retention of parishioners

at a church?

Methodology

Sense of Community

Has communicating with this group through the Internet allowed you to get to know people that you otherwise might never have met?

“The Internet is being used by congregations to strengthen the faith and spiritual growth of their members, evangelize and perform missions in their communities and around the world, and perform a wide variety of pious and practical activities for their congregations. Many believe the Internet has helped these faith communities become better places” (Larsen, 2000, p. 2).

If Grace Fellowship and its members did NOT communicate through the Internet, do you think the group would function __________ than it does now?

“When polled specifically about email usage, which is a collaborative Web 2.0 tool, the results were overwhelmingly positive in the effect it had on the idea of building a stronger community, not just within the organization, but also within the surrounding community as well. 91% say email has helped congregation members and members of the staff stay more in touch with each other – 51% say it has helped a great deal and 63% say email has helped the congregation connect at least a bit more to the surrounding community – 17% say it has helped a lot” (Larsen, 2000, p. 2).

Percentage of Respondents using email to communicate with a group on the internet

How Important is the use of email by the church you attend?

Assimilation (Recruitment)

Church B

Church C

Church AChurch

D

Church E

No Church

Have you used the internet to find a new church, congregation, or worship group?

How did you FIRST find Grace Fellowship’s web site?

Did you belong to Grace Fellowship BEFORE you started communicating with them through the Internet?

Were you looking for a church to attend when you looked at Grace’s website?

Participants usage of searching for religious information on the internet

Retention

Email - 100% Important

Website - 100% Important

Facebook – 60% Important, 40% Not Important (interesting to note that both the 18-25 and

61+ age groups ranked this as 100% Important)

MySpace – 33% Important, 67% Not Important (interesting to note that 83% of the 18-25 year

old category marked this as Not Important which is typically the demographic that uses

MySpace)

Linkedin - 29% Important, 71% Not Important (interesting to note however that the 61+ group

was 50-50 on this item)

Twitter – 45% Important, 55% Not Important

Video and Audio Downloads – 83% Important, 17% Not Important (interesting to note that both

the 18-25 and 61+ age groups ranked this as 100% Important)

Videos on YouTube – 71% Important, 29% Not Important

Multimedia in Worship Service – 93% Important, 7% Not Important

Videos for Announcements and News in Worship Service – 90% Important, 10% Not Important

Text Messaging for Communication - 60% Important, 40% Not Important

Photo Sharing for Events and Mission Trips – 74% Important, 26% Not Important

Active Blog – 72% Important, 28% Not Important

Conclusion

“Technologies will come and go, but the power built on the relationships created by social computing will endure.”

http://blogs.forrester.com/groundswell/2006/02/forrsters_socia.html

References:Adkins, M. (2003). Missions and Beliefs. Retrieved June 20, 2009, from Grace Fellowship Church:

http://www.gogracefellowship.com/mission.html

Anderson, P. (2007). What is Web 2.0? Ideas, technologies, and implications for education. United Kingdom: JISC.

BNET. (2009). Qualitative Research. Retrieved August 23, 2009, from BNET Business Dictionary: http://dictionary.bnet.com/definition/qualitative+research.html?tag=content;col1

BNET. (2009). Quantitative Research . Retrieved August 23, 2009, from BNET Business Dictionary: http://dictionary.bnet.com/definition/quantitative+research.html

Boyd, W. (2009). Social Monday: 3 Things Every Church Member Should Know About Social Media. Disciples World Journal , http://disciplesworld.wordpress.com/2009/03/23/social-monday-3-things-every-church-member-should-know-about-social-media/.

Business Definition for: Primary Data. (n.d.). Retrieved August 22, 2009, from BNET: http://dictionary.bnet.com/definition/primary+data.html

Clark, L., Hoover, S., & Raine, L. (2004, April 7). Faith Online. Retrieved June 29, 2009, from Pew Internet and American Life Project: http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2004/Faith-Online.aspx

Coghlan, D., & Brannick, T. (2005). Doing Action Research in Your Own Organization. London: SAGE Publications.

Comiskey, J. (1996, August). History of the Cell Movement - Dissertation. Retrieved July 12, 2009, from Joel Comiskey: http://celycecomiskey.tripod.com/new_page_2.htm

Cornelia Carter-Sykes. (2009). Pew Internet and American Life Project. Retrieved July 12, 2009, from Pew Internet: http://www.pewinternet.org/About-Us.aspx

Daniel K. Marquardt. (2009). New Social Networking Site MyFaithDaily.com to Launch in September Targeting 2.5 Billion Christians in the Faith-Based Community and Set to Become the Largest Social Networking Site. Market Wire .

DiNucci, D. (1999). Fragmented Future. Print , p. 53(4): 32.

Fergusen, T. (2008, July 30). Gen Y Is Setting the Tech Agenda. Retrieved August 21, 2009, from Business Week: http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/jul2008/gb20080730_562367.htm

Fox, S., & Madden, M. (2006). Generations Online. Washington D.C.: Pew Internet.

Golvin, C. S. (2008). 2008 North America Technographics Benchmark Survey. Cambridge: Forrester.

Jones, S., & Fox, S. (2009). Generations Online in 2009. Washington D.C.: Pew Internet.

Larsen, E. (2000, December 20). Wired Churches, Wired Temples . Retrieved June 29, 2009, from Pew Internet and American Life Project: http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2000/Wired-Churches-Wired-Temples.aspx

Mapes, D. (2009, June 2). Holy Twitter! They’re Tweeting from the Pews. Retrieved June 29, 2009, from MSNBC: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30970139/

Mehlhaff, R. (2008). Churches Using Internet for Social Networking. Christian Century .

O'Reilly, T. (2003). Patent No. Serial Number 78322306. United States.

O'Reilly, T. (2005, September 30). What is Web 2.0. Retrieved June 1, 2009, from O'Reilly Media: http://oreilly.com/web2/archive/what-is-web-20.html

Raelin, Joseph A. (1999). Syllabus for Business Research Methods. Retrieved July 1, 2009, from MSU: http:msu.blackboard.com

Raine, L. (2009, January 10). Baby Boomers in the Digital Age. Retrieved August 1, 2009, from Slideshare: http://www.pewinternet.org/Presentations/2009/Baby-Boomers-and-the-internet.aspx

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Sutter, J. D. (2009, June 10). English Gets Millionth Word on Wednesday. Retrieved July 8, 2009, from CNN: http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/06/10/million.words/

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Ulrich, D., Zenger, J., & Smallwood, N. (1999). Results-Based Leadership. Boston: Harvard Business Press.

Big AhasFacebook – 60% Important, 40% Not Important (interesting to note that both the 18-25 and

61+ age groups ranked this as 100% Important)

MySpace – 33% Important, 67% Not Important (interesting to note that 83% of the 18-25 year

old category marked this as Not Important which is typically the demographic that uses

MySpace)

Linkedin - 29% Important, 71% Not Important (interesting to note however that the 61+ group

was 50-50 on this item)

Video and Audio Downloads – 83% Important, 17% Not Important (interesting to note that both

the 18-25 and 61+ age groups ranked this as 100% Important)

Active Blog – 72% Important, 28% Not Important

Biggest AhaIt is interesting to note one of the follow-up questions posed to the interviewees dealt with

special sermons held throughout the year that involve text messaging as part of the sermon itself. The results were fascinating in the fact that it did not seem to matter if the individual had a texting plan or not, the participants overwhelmingly (100%) liked the idea of the integration of this common technology. The responses were as follows:

“I liked the spontaneity.”“I liked seeing other people’s thoughts expressed - and subsequently addressed.”“I feel like the idea/use of current technology/texting will draw in younger people.”“There was/is nothing I disliked.”“Like for instant feedback.”“I think it is a great concept to keep up with the way the younger generation

communicates.  Also, it gives people an anonymous way to be more actively involved in the service.  It is interesting to see the opinions and questions others have.”

“I really like it that Mike can incorporate the congregation in these special sermons. I think at first they needed to tweak the process quite a bit, but after getting a few months of experience with using the program, I believe it runs more smoothly compared to when they first started using it.”

“I like if you have questions during the service you can ask right away and get answers right away”

“I think the services are fine and it is great for Pastor Mike to be able to answer people's questions immediately.  I don't text, so I don't participate in this part, but I like hearing the questions and his answers.”

“I like this, it lets you feel more involved with the sermon.”

Pope embraces social media: will it help?May 7th, 2008 Lois Kelly Posted in Conversational Marketing, Leadership, Musings |Pope Benedict plans to text thousands of young Catholics during World Youth Day in Sydney in July; the church plans to also set up a Catholic social networking site and use digital prayer walls. The goal: make the Catholic church more relevant to younger churchgoers.Good for the rather conservative Catholics to use new ways to connect — especially in view of the declining number of members of the Catholic Church in many Western countries like the United States and Belgium. According to a recent Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life study:Catholicism has experienced the greatest net losses as a result of affiliation changes. While nearly one-in-three Americans (31%) were raised in the Catholic faith, today fewer than one-in-four (24%) describe themselves as Catholic. These losses would have been even more pronounced were it not for the offsetting impact of immigration.The question for the Pope, as it is for all marketers, is whether using social media tools can help attract and keep members without also changing the message and experience.

Interesting Fact