MEDIA IN
Ministry GO SOCIAL
What next? Download the free app, create an account and connect to your friends. Here are some ideas to get started:
• Watch for a while. Just watch the Snaps posted by your connections. Maybe even follow a few brands or organizations. Get a sense of how the app works by watching the way people tell their story on Snapchat and use the filters.
Snapchat 101
If you haven’t tried Snapchat, it’s a remarkably simple application. This social media platform allows people to send pictures or short videos to other users. These photo messages (“Snaps”) may either be shared privately to one connection or to all of your connections as a part of your feed of posts (your “Story”).
Either way you share them, the pictures have a time limit. Snaps you send to your connections are usually visible for only 10 seconds once opened before disappearing. Your story is only visible for 24 hours.
One of the core features of Snapchat is the array of filters and text messages users can overlay on their pictures and videos as a running commentary about what they experience during the day.
The best way to learn more about Snapchat? Ask a young adult in your congregation—Snapchat’s largest group of users is 18- to 24-year-olds.
Isn’t Snapchat dangerous? If you don’t use Snapchat, chances are all you’ve heard about it has been negative—stories about people sending each other inappropriate pictures or bullying each other. Yes, these things can happen on Snapchat as they do on every social media platform. Like any social medium, Snapchat is a tool. The best thing we can do is learn to use these tools well and communicate responsibly.
46 DECEMBER 2016
• Be inspirational. Did you see something that inspired you today? Something that reminded you of God? Take a Snap. Sometimes the best thing we can do amid the chaos and noise of life is offer people a small moment of joy and inspiration.
• Tell a story. Use Snapchat to tell the story about an event at your church. Take some behind-the- scenes Snaps during the setup and post them to your Snapchat Story. Capture a couple of Snaps of exciting moments during the event and add those too.
David Hansen Hansen, pastor of Spirit of Joy! Lutheran Church, Woodlands, Texas, is a regular contributor to this page.
GOOD ONE!
Instead of using a traditional Advent calendar that produces a treat for every day, this year try making a reverse Advent calendar. Find a box and on every day of Advent add an item to it that can be used by a family in need, such as canned food or toiletries. After Advent donate the box of items to a food bank or to your church to distribute. This reverse Advent calendar is a great way to refocus the season on giving rather than receiving.
Photo: dennizn /
Shutterstock.com
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