LIFE & TRENDS Faithbook
Social media is transforming the way many Americans worship. ::
BY CHRIS GONSALVES T
he gothic spires of the pine street Presbyterian Church hardly scream “high tech.” Like many churches, the 154-year-old congregation, one of the oldest in Harrisburg,
Pa., prides itself on its long history and tradition. But there’s something else at work at Pine Street these days. Before Sunday services it’s not unusual to fi nd the
church’s associate pastor, the Rev. Alex Lang, banging away at a laptop, doling out the latest in church news and spiritual encouragement. The 32-year-old clergyman is part of a growing movement of tech-savvy religious leaders who are using Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and other social networking sites to spread the word of the Lord. “Like many mainline Protestant churches, we are
experiencing a declining membership,” Lang said in an interview. “We wanted to reverse that, especially in the 20-to-45 age group.” In much the same way they’ve aff ected life, love,
and daily interactions, social media websites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, FourSquare, and MySpace are changing the way many Americans practice religion. The social tools are becoming increasingly vital for churches looking to fi nd — and keep — members.
BIBLE BLOGGING The Rev. Kenneth Lillard, a
Baptist minister in Oxon Hill, Md., and author of Social Media and Ministry: Sharing the Gospel in the Digital Age, compares the power of Facebook and Twitter today to the infl uence of the printing press on Martin Luther’s Protestant Reformation. “The new media allow
TECH SAVVY The Rev. Alex Lang at the helm of the Pine Street Presbyterian Church in Harrisburg, Pa. Lang is a regular on Twitter.
with which to share the Gospel in unprecedented ways.” Facebook is by far the most popular site for reaching the cybermasses, according to new research by Fellowship Technologies and LifeWay Christian Resources, an affi liate of the Southern Baptist Convention. The group’s survey last year of 1,003 Protestant congregations found that 47 percent of churches are active Facebook users.
FRIENDS IN FAITH “Our website is great for publicizing calendar
SPIRITUAL TWEETS Pastor Rick Warren of Saddleback Church has more than 800,000 Twitter followers.
us to connect with online communities in entirely new and exciting ways,” says Lillard. “This has vast implications, especially for ministry. Social media provides a whole new set of tools
66 NEWSMAX MAXLIFE | MARCH 2013
events, displaying photos, and telling visitors about our congregation,” Linda Jacobson, president of start-up congregation B’nai Israel Synagogue in Michigan tells The Jewish Week. “But Facebook goes well beyond that. It allows our followers to interact with that information and with each other.” For those churches that have taken the
social media leap, more than 70 percent use it to distribute news and information, according to the survey. Printed church bulletins are
now often posted on Facebook or elsewhere online. Says LifeWay Research Director Scott McConnell: “Congregations are rapidly adopting social networking.”
LANG/CHRIS KNIGHT/THE PATRIOT-NEWS / PHONE COMPOSITE: RICKWARREN/
TWITTER.COM, IPHONE/ISTOCKPHOTO
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