New and different is partly what defines social media. Now there’s a church in North Carolina which encourages its congregants to tweet while the service is in progress. Talk about religion keeping up with the times. What a novel idea.
In a way, this reminds me of the late 60′s. During that time of social change, many churches were beginning to incorporate folk music into their services, rather than just rely on the tried and true choral types of music. Some liked it, others not so much. But what happened at that time, in those churches, was an increase in attendance. Why? Because the service was more relevant to its audience. If communication isn’t relevant, what’s the point? The use of Twitter in the church services mentioned above is, at least indirectly, credited with increased church attendance.
So, is Twitter the right social media tool to use in a church service. I don’t know. But if it’s helping people connect, and spread a mesage that they feel is valuable and doing so in a relevant way, with an increase in church attendance, then why not go for it? As Father Mulcahy said in a M*A*S*H episode that I saw recently, “There’s more than one way to skin a spirit.”
