You cannot be effective in ministry today unless you are PROFICIENT in technology/social media.
Not an expert, nor a casual observer, but intentional, strategic, and humble to learn, try, and discard technological tools.
I love what Matt Stauffer, a staff member from Intervarsity, is doing over at Staffhacker. So much so that I’m going to be guest posting there regularly on the topics of technology and productivity.
“One Awesome Place to Capture Your Tasks,” my first guest post, is live on the Staffhacker. Click here or on the title to check it out.
But the even easier thing to do is subscribe to the Staffhacker blog:
I have written many posts in my head with a similar catch line as yours when you say, “you cannot be effective in ministry today unless you are PROFICIENT in technology/social media”. However, I have tried to resist making such claims. I know you are largely making such bold statements to get click-throughs so I will give you the benefit of the doubt.
I simply don’t think the statement is true. I’m sure we could find many counter-examples across the globe to your statement. I am positive there are countless God-fearing, Bible-believing, gospel preaching, fruit-bearing people ministering without technology.
As you know, I whole-heartedly think we need to embrace technology to become more effective in ministry. I am not knocking your heart. I am simply saying be careful not to put down the good things many are doing without technology.
I think emphasizing something along the line of what Craig Groshel of LifeChurch.tv does when he says, “to reach people no one is reaching, we are going to do things no one else is doing” is a healthier approach to motivating change.
We may well find out that technology doesn’t solve all our ministry effectiveness and proficiency issues. Yes, we need proficiency in technology to accomplish the mission, but that’s not all there’s to it. I think you know that.
hey russ not really making a claim like this for click-throughs.
perhaps yours and my definition of proficient are different.
proficient for me is:
-uses email regularly
-can send a text msg w ease
-is signed up for facebook and uses it weekly
-understands how powerful a tool it is for those 35 and under
in working w a variety of staff/ministry leaders in the US many are still NOT proficient according to this definition. i would say that these people could dramatically increase their effectiveness by becoming proficient.
and i am writing this for those in the US–I don’t feel like I have to give caveats for every statement, and trust that people can discern my point of view and apply or not apply based on their context.
Ok. I get the first three parts. I am signed up for facebook, what do you mean by using it weekly? Most of what I get are posts or requests from people I barely know. I would like to use facebook more for evangelism, I guess I just need to make it more of a focus. Weekly was a good word.
thanks.
Hi Jan thanks for your comment and question.
a great process for using facebook intentionally is:
-one photo update per week of something personal (a picture of where you are, what you are eating, a pet, group of friends, etc)
-one to three “likes” or comments on someone else’s status
regarding facebook for evangelism:
posting evangelistic content without maintaining a personal presence on facebook is like sharing the Gospel with a complete stranger and only focusing on the message of the Gospel, and ignoring the connection with the person. and it produces the same ineffective results.
a great way to start evangelistic conversations via facebook is to post an image or a video that invites people to like or comment on it, which can then be transitioned into a more evangelistic conversation.
most people do not like to have “public” evangelistic conversations on facebook because they are concerned about who is watching. sending a private message or using facebook chat to have those intentional evangelistic conversations respects the privacy of the other person.
so the facebook wall would be the place to start the conversation, and facebook messages or chat would be the place to continue and follow up those conversations in my opinion.
hope that helps!