Thou Shall Twitter in Church


“Thou Shall Not Twitter in Church.” Says who?!
I haven’t seen that anywhere in the Bible
But I have seen Twitter in the Bible:  
“Like a swallow, like a crane, so I twitter…” 
(Isaiah 38:14 NAS). 

In all seriousness, there are many people who believe you shouldn’t tweet in church. As a pastor, I would say, “Get Your Tweet On!” As a matter of fact, I say “Tweet and tweet often!”
Many times “church people” can look at a particular methodology or technology as a negative thing. Technology is basically neutral; it’s what you do with it that allows it to have positive or negative implications. I know there are some varying opinions about texting and utilizing social media during church. Personally, I use the YouVersion Bible app on my iPhone during church and it has this great option of sharing scripture instantly with the Twitter world. Not only can you share scripture with YouVersion, but also any person sitting in any church service around the globe can share thoughts, points and notes from sermons as they are happening.

Today, we live in more shared world than ever as information access and connectedness just happens. The beauty of this world is that people can engage with God, engage with their pastor and share pieces of those engagement with the world, all at the same time. There are entire real, living, breathing online church services where online congregants share information throughout their service. These services are just as real and God encountering as a physical building. Again, I say “Tweet and tweet often!”

Here are 5 Reasons To Twitter During Church:
  • 1. You have the opportunity to be a real-time extension of your pastor’s voice while he or she communicates God’s Word. You and your pastor can do some tag team teaching while you are being fed all at the same time.
  • 2. If the pastor shares something that moves you, inspires you or changes your life, there is a good chance it will have the same impact on the lives of some of your Twitter followers as well.
  • 3. When Jesus said “Go into all the world and preach the gospel,” ‘all the world’ applies to the Internet world, as well as the Twitter world. Do your part by going into all the Twitter world, tweeting the good news.
  • 4. You will have a stored database of your compelling thoughts and notes from your favorite sermons. Use a hashtag to keep up with the information that you share. We could even implement a universal Twitter In Church hashtag. Any suggestions?
  • 5. Many times people suffer from (SADD) Sermon Attention Deficit Disorder. So instead of just wandering off into space, simply wander off into the space of the World Wide Web. It’s better use of your time tweeting great thoughts instead of drawing on the back of offering envelops.
Some people, including pastors, get upset and complain about these techie people being a distraction when they are using their mobile phone Bible and tweeting in church. I think doodling on the offering envelopes is more distracting. Hmm... I haven’t seen a big push to remove those offering envelopes from the pew.
Thou shall Twitter in church! Remember God’s omnipresence applies to Twitter as well… get your tweet on!
By Scott Williams, Guest Blogger of churchmarketingsucks.com

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