The Pros of Social Networking as a Ministry Tool (Part 2)

By Chuck (Sharing Compassion)

As I mentioned in my last article I would like to use this opportunity to explore the positive aspects of using various social mediums as a ministry tool. As I discussed before there are quite a few of us Compassion advocates that use Facebook and Twitter in our ministry. Child packets are posted on sites that are available for sponsorship. Prayer requests are "twittered, posted and shared." It is really amazing how fast things can go viral on the web with social networking. Compassion itself has a blog, a twitter account. and a Facebook account. Things get posted and shared constantly. The question exists though, just how successful is using these mediums as a ministry tool?  Since this is a fairly new area I think it will be a few years until we can really determine the answer. I know that on a local level it has proven to be beneficial. My wife took a child packet and ran it for several days on her Facebook feed. One of our friends from out west saw the packet and told a friend in San Diego. Within a week that child was sponsored by someone we never would have connected with except through social networking. Many advocates have done the same with great success.

Prayer requests are now sent out internationally. I have friends from other countries hence I get requests from all over regarding all types of things. It is amazing how small the world has become with the advent of social networking. In 2007 when we went on our first sponsor tour with Compassion our tour group began connecting through a message board that Compassion had set up. It was nice but really not as effective as what happened in 2009. The same type of message board was set up and immediately we all gave out our Facebook information and friended each other. For about three weeks we all connected and shared. When we met in Miami (our gateway city) it was like meeting old friends. Seriously there was immediate recognition and lots of hugs. Hence as a "team" we had already bonded and were ready to begin our ministry. In fact we then friended many of the Honduras country staff and translators and have continued keeping in touch over a year later. This was how I met Jan and Karla who went on the sponsor tour this year. I would have never have met them or discovered they lived in Maryland if not for a translator posting on Facebook from Honduras. This is very similar to throwing a stone into a pond and watching the ripples spread out.

Overall I think that social networking as a ministry tool is very positive. We are just beginning to discover how to use it effectively and how to manage it for results. It seems that each week we are discovering new ways to share and connect to get results. As an exercise take a few minutes and imagine if Jesus was here today with his ministry. Imagine how fast the word of His miracles would have spread (I can see YouTube videos of his feeding the 5,000), imagine the twittering on Palm Sunday and then the posts spreading regarding the Crucifixion. Imagine the flurry of activity on Easter when the tomb was found empty. The gospel certainly would have spread like wildfire. We have the same opportunity to spread the word regarding Jesus as well as our own ministries using some very powerful tools now at our disposal. Think about this and how you can make a difference...think about the impact you can make by maybe using these tools for a minsitry.

Chuck is a Christian husband and father who has served in part-time ministry for 17 years, and is a deacon at his church. He has been a Compassion International Advocate/Area Coordinator for several years, finding families to sponsor Compassion children throughout the world. His passion is letting others know how important it is to release children from poverty. Be sure to check out his blog, Sharing Compassion.