Two years ago a family visited me. They had three children. The oldest was a savvy seven-year-old girl.
I pulled out my cell phone to share some family photos. One photo featured a painting by one of the grandchildren who was also seven years old. It was a pretty good painting. I was proud to share it with her.
The girl looked at the painting and took control of my phone. She pecked at the keyboard and handed it back to me.
“What was that about? I asked.
“I shared it on (she named a platform supposedly safe for children).” She replied with no sense that she might have asked.
The child quickly moved on while I worried if the parents of the grandchildren might think I was sharing family photos indiscriminately.
That’s the world we live in. Sharing is second nature.
As much as we might long for days that passed a little more slowly, small churches can do little to control the impact of technology—except perhaps to make it work in our favor.
People like to share. Let’s give them something to share.
Social media is a powerful evangelism tool. Even more.
- It is powerful education tool.
- A powerful community builder.
- A potential faith building influence in countless lives.
If we use it.
But how?
Social media thrives on content. Creating content is work. Large churches build communications teams. They have a director of communications, a content creator, an editor, one or two people to do the posting and monitoring and perhaps a videographer or photographer.
That’s a hopeless prospect for many small congregations.
On one online forum, I recently noticed a plea from a small church leader—“Hey, big guys. How about a little help!” She was expecting large churches to assist smaller churches with some of these challenges.
In my experience, that’s unlikely. Even if church leaders are willing, there’s always a board or committee that could at any time revert to “What’s in it for us?”
Small churches are on their own much of the time.
Small Church Toolbox (SCT) works to help small churches succeed in ministry beginning with the people and resources they have.
Small Church Toolbox provides content for small churches to use as their own so that they can use social media consistently to reach with the message of God’s love beyond their walls and into the changing demographics of their neighborhoods. Small business experience—mom and pop efforts and solopreneurs have proven social media works over time. SCT helps you learn from their experience. Small churches using social media can sustain a new ministry strategy with the people and resources you have.
As the Spirit Moves, for example, includes weekly email campaigns based on upcoming scriptures. It provides a great entry level experience for small churches just starting to use technology. The emails are editable and easily customized to appear as created by—and coming directly from—your church. The emails are designed for sharing—memes, interesting links, music, and art, with occasional tie-ins to current events—all related to the upcoming week’s worship emphasis.
SCT levels the playing field. Even the smallest churches can harness the power of the internet.
CLICK HERE TO START REACHING
INTO YOUR CHANGING NEIGHBORHOOD