The Cons of Social Networking as a Ministry Tool (Part 3)

By Chuck (Sharing Compassion)

In concluding this series I would like to end with discussing the possible cons of using Social Networking as a ministry tool. This has been discussed for awhile among ourselves. As a whole I believe that social networking is a great means to get a message across or to bring about an awareness. However it can be over used and abused to the point that the message gets diluted. I think we really need to figure out who our audience is meant to be and  then use the most effective means to reach them.

As a case in point if we examine Facebook we all have a certain amount of friends. They stay fairly the same from week to week with maybe a few additions or subtractions. Constantly posting child packets each week to the same people over and over is not going to be productive. However posting a link to a relevant blog or article may keep the focus where it needs to be. Twitter I believe is great for the fact that we must be short and succinct in our message but again we are limited by the amount of followers we have and what their focus may be. We don't want to keep posting the same thoughts and overuse the medium. Blogs are personal in nature and can be used in many ways but we do not again want to keep the focus too limited. I have found this with my own blog and as a result I am at a crossroads with it. Either to seek to broaden the focus or to reinvent it.

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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.

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Facebook Ministry (Part 1) - The Beginnings

By Chuck (Sharing Compassion)

Social networking is a fairly new phenomena in the scheme of things. First there was instant messaging, then MySpace, then Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. Two years ago I could not have begun to explain these things to anyone but now I am an avid Facebook person and Twitterer. (Ok not to the extent that some of you are but still active). I even have my own blogs.

Interestingly enough my love of these sites was not from being a computer person but rather from my love of Compassion and wanting to share my ministry. In 2005 I began exploring the use of forums as part of my playing online Disney games but that is another story. I think in late 2008 I thought it would be cool to have a Facebook account. I am not really sure when I activated my account or what I really originally did with it. I certainly did not spend a lot of time with it.

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Alligator Girl and Compassion Sundays

By Chuck (Sharing Compassion)

The past two weeks have seen me working several events for Compassion and child sponsorship. I always enjoy working events where youth are involved. As I have stated on many occasions they get the need and really do want to make a difference.

It is really not a matter of why rather it is more of a case of how. The amazing thing is that while adults will hold their wallet tight and ask many questions, with youth there are no questions but only discussions or how they can pool their funds or what they can do to make this work. I love it.

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Ordinary People

By Chuck (Sharing Compassion)

While pondering the theme for this week's article, God actually placed it on my heart at our church service last Sunday morning. We have been talking about how God is able to accomplish many things and that day's message was on how God uses ordinary people.

I know we tend to look at the people mentioned in the Bible as special or "a cut above." In fact there is a children's bible that actually calls them Superheroes. Probably this is why we often feel we can never measure up and do God's work. Amazingly enough though all of the "heroes" of the Bible were flawed in one way or another. Lets look at some examples:

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