Tweeting in church!

Tweeting in church!

by Unknown ~ Monday, April 06, 2009

The other day I read this post on a blog that I recently began reading.

Tweeting during church

Here was my response...

I think your reaction is a little overboard. At one point in time paper notes for the sermon was a new thing, then we had power point. I don't see the difference between asking people to write down notes from the sermon and asking them to tweet their thoughts. I actually do see a difference. I think that there are more beneficial outcomes from asking others to tweet.

One benefit is that you can get on twitter that evening and see what people got out of your sermon. You know what you said, but you don't always know what others hear.

Another benefit is that if someone misses church due to illness or other they can get real time responses from their family and friends.

One more benefit is that if people in the congregation generally like the sermons and say good things about it then their followers may be inclined to ask about visiting.

Are other people going to be doing other things on their cell phones? Absolutely! They always are. This is no different than offering them a pen and paper. They can pass notes or doodle. You're not offering any more distraction, you're only offering a different one. Those who are distraction prone will still be distracted. You're offering a different incentive.

I find it very interesting that the man who calls himself The Gadget Pastor was advocating the abandonment of gadgets when it comes to a practical application in ministry. I think it's really easy to see these "gadgets" as aids to our levels of administrative productivity and yet ignore them or reject them when it comes to creatively using them for ministry.