Frank's Blog

Relationships are an essential part of the Christian life.  To follow Jesus and his teachings means we live in community with God, and community with others.  The challenge we face in our culture is the busyness it creates in people's lives. The very people that we are called to ministered to and I believe social media is a tool we can leverage to enhance our relationships. So here are three ways you may want to try to apply social media in group life.

Create A Facebook Group

What's great about facebook is that it is growing exponentially right now.  It is something that many people are already using in their daily routine to reconnect with old friends and stay connecting in current relationships.  If we can take advantage of social tools that people are already using in daily life, it only makes sense that we will have more success.  What's great about creating a facbook group is it allows people to communicate to the entire group quickly, share photos from group activities, and even have discussions about what was shared at group that night.  Another convenient thing the facebook group can be utilized for is keeping a continuous prayer list.

Create A Group Twitter Profile

If you use twitter already you understand the networking value in a text message.  Since you may not want to bother all of your followers on twitter with details from your small group, I would suggest creating a separate twitter profile for your group.  Then have all your group members set up a twitter account.  Depending on their web skills you may have to help them with this task during a group meeting, but don't forget to set them up as mobile users and to set your group profile "device updates." This way when you update the twitter status it will hit their mobile phone as a text message.  Why is this helpful for a small group?  Here is a quick list of reasons:

• -Reminders to prepare or do homework from group that night
• -Last minute change of meeting location
• -Cancelation of your group due to weather or unforeseen circumstances
• -Messages of encouragement through the week
• -Reminder of daily bible reading that will be discussed on group night
• -Prayer requests through the week
• -Have some fun

Try Tokbox or Skype

What we thought was science fiction 20 or more years ago is reality today.  I can have a real-time conversation over the web with my brother in Hawaii and actually see him, hear him, and hold a great conversation on my computer in the comfort of my home.  Skype and other online video tools are allowing people to maintain long distance relationships like never before.  How can this enhance group life?  If you have a group member that has to travel out of town, but they don't want to miss out on a great discussion, set up a laptop in the room and let them participate using the web!!! Or with other great tools like Tokbox, you can actually hold your entire group on the web, plus see and hear every person at the same time.  Sharing life experiences, reading the bible, asking engaging questions, and praying together can all be done via video conferencing online.  I must admit that I do prefer an "in person" group experience but these things can be done on the web and actually lead to a worthwhile experience.  If you've not tried something like this yet I'd encourage you to give it chance and have some fun with some friends as an experiment. 

If you've found some other forms of social media useful please share in the comments below.

And if you would like to connect with me using social media you can find my points of contact by CLICKING HERE

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Group life is has already entered the online environment and there is no doubt in my mind that online communities will continue to grow in number and influence.  However as our churches embrace the social media environment there are some things I recently wrote on my personal blog that I think we need to keep in mind...

I have been having a ton of conversations about social media in recent weeks and I recently listened to a webinar that got me thinking further about our need to merge social media and ministry. Conference calls, staff discussions, breakfast meetings, have all caused me to finally get some of my thoughts down in a blog post. In order to fulfill our mission as a church we have to engage our culture using relevant methods and do so efficiently. Social media is not a fad that will soon disappear it is a tool that is here to stay and is changing the way our world shares information. As Christians and as a church we have a responsibility to communicate our message in this environment. If you are in ministry and considering using social media as a tool, here are some things to keep in mind:

1. Size is not a barrier for churches to use social media. A church of 100 can use it just as effectively as a church of 1000.
2. When you engage in a social media environment like a blog, facebook, myspace, or twitter you lose some control over the message. People have the ability to have conversations with others about your content. They can link to it, interact with it, and write about it more easily than ever before because the web is so easy to use. Your church is no longer what you say it is, it is what they say it is!
3. Upside - people are sharing information about your church!
4. Downside - negative comments can travel farther and faster than ever so the first impressions we make as a church are so much more important.

We need to empower our staff and our churches to engage in social media responsibly. The more engaging our team is, the more content there is about our church and our message to the world as Christians. The more engaging content there is, the more conversation there is. However, it is so important to remember that whatever digital environment we choose to use to interact with others, we still represent our church, and Christ. So we need to use it responsibly. Here are some good rules to follow (some of these rules I modified from a webinar with Sergio Balegno):

1 - Be authentic but careful

• - Inform people why your are there, let them know what you do.
• - Be honest and authentic.
• - Don't post things online that violate the trust others have in you.

2 - Write about things you actually know about

• - Post things that you are an expert on.
• - Be responsible for your content, if you post something inaccurate take the initiative to correct it quickly.

3 - Add value to the conversation online

• - Be thought provoking.
• - Engage others online as a leader.
• - Engage others through commenting and openly invite others to comment and join the conversation. Sometimes people in ministry can be used to “one way” conversation (since we preach and teach) so we need to remember that a social media environment is a two way conversation.
• - When using social media remember to embrace it as a student, willing to learn. The whole point is to be viewed by others as an engaging contributor to the online community.

If you have some other things you think we should consider as our churches engage others in social media, comment below...

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Sometimes in small group world we get caught up in the present. We think about how to enhance my group situation this week. How do I find a better study, how do I encourage my group to share deeply, or how can we support others through stress in life. However, as leaders we must also be thinking about the future. In order to have our churches remain culturally relevant we must understand the social tools that people use, especially young people. Technology changes rapidly, and social media tools are changing the way people interact and in some cases even enhancing it.

I was recently pointed to an interesting article by media and tech guy Dave Knox that provided some interesting data:

• Nearly half of US online adults are social media users, but 71% of online tweens and teens connect to a social network at least once a week.
• There are more Paypal accounts than Visa card holders.
• Americans sent 75 billion text messages in June 2008, a 160% increase from June 07.
• 70 million of the 90 million homes in the United States that are online have broadband connection speed and 37 percent of US Homes have Wireless or Wi-Fi.
• 9 out of 10 teens considers themselves to be "video gamers" and more than half play video games at least 3 times per week.
• 29% of teens would rather shop online than in a store.
• Consumers aged 18 - 26 are spending more time using the Internet (12.2 hours per week) than watching TV (10.6 hours per week) according to Forrester.

If almost half on adults on the web use the web use social media, than these tools are not a fad. They are not going away, and we should explore how they can be used to enhance community in the church. When 71% of the coming generation is using these tools, it cannot be ignored. This fall there will be a number of breakouts at the Group Life Conference on this very topic. If you have thought about attending you will want to be sure to be there this year. Plan ahead and go to the conference this fall. I will keep you posted as I find out more.

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There are lots of tools out there to help you manage a growing small group ministry but few combine two essential components - affordable and effective.  I recently connected with Matt Harrell over at MemberHub and it seems they have a solution that group leaders and pastors should consider.  They even have a free 30 day trial for you to testdrive, but I wanted to ask him two key questions to help us understand what they do:

1.  How does your product help the group leader and why will they love using it?

The key to MemberHub it empowers the group to connect online in a  safe, private environment and it supplements the face-to-face time. The group leader is empowering the rest of the group to continue conversation, share ideas and encourage each other throughout the week. Many times only the group leader has everyones email. Now each member will have access to the hub's mailing list and can reach everyone in the group by just knowing one email address. Likewise they can see each other's profile so they can share contact info. So it makes the group leader's job easier because they don't spend time doing admin stuff like updating a spreadsheet or sending out reminders manually. The can just set up calendar events to send out emails and text messages automatically. We have a church in Florida that uses MemberHub for all their small groups as a form of digital discipleship. They actually create a new discussion in each hub and embed a video into the discussion with a list of 5 questions. Then the group members watch the video and all reply. Then they discuss. So in this case MemberHub is being used as a small group entirely online.

2.  How does you product help the group ministry point person (groups pastor) and why will they love using it?

As far as the groups pastor, the benefits are similar but just on a higher level. With MemberHub for Organizations, a groups pastor can create a hub for each small group. So the groups pastor is empowering the group leaders and members to manage themselves. But he's also able to reach multiple groups at once with emails and text messaing, move people in and out of groups, and manage custom information about the members in those groups; for example, spiritual gifts. It centralizes the groups pastor efforts in managing the groups and keep him from having to use multiple tools (spreadsheets, mailing lists and word docs). Logistics, planning, member information AND communication is all in one, central place; thereby saving time and preventing the feeling being unconnected and/or unorganized.

Sounds like MemberHub has some great solutions for your group ministry - and it is worth checking out since they have a 30 day free trial.

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I've always been a big fan of using all church studies to give your group ministry a shot in the arm.  While I was leading our group ministry at CCV we strategically placed them in our church calendar to initiate spiritual growth and increase group participation. 

Another group strategy that works quite well is more of a "free market" group system where you raise leaders that you lean on to provide direction for individual groups based upon God given passions.  That means that you let them choose what they study, or the types of groups that they are starting in your church based upon their intrests.

 Both strategies work great when led well, but can they be merged?  Heather Zemple from NCC plans to find out.  Here is how she describes what will be happening at NCC this summer:

For several years, we have operated primarily out of a free mark approach to small groups. Get a vision from God and run with it. Tap into your interests, passions, and gifts and look for creative ways to turn those into disciple-making opportunities. As a church, we won't tell you what to study and what to lead; rather, we will help you discover your passions and then encourage you, equip you, empower you and unleash you to go make disciples out of those passions.

This summer, we are going to try a twist on that model and launch a new experiment.

Theory #1- Free Market small group models are the best for building organic community, raising up new leaders, and pushing discipleship out of the classroom and into real life.

Theory #2- Church-wide small group campaigns are the best for mobilizing new group start-ups, encouraging people into groups, and focusing the entire church on one strategic goal.

Theory #3- Theory #1 + Theory #2 = Chaos and Confusion = The Best of Both Worlds = Potential to Learn Something New = A New Wineskin for Discipleship.

Basically, we are going to try to create a hybrid. We are going to merge our free market DNA with the energy, synergy, and momentum that happens in churches that all focus on the same study at once. We want to see if we can implement both a free market and a church-wide strategy. We want to launch both a small group campaign and focus on taking groups deeper all at the same time. Can it be done? I have no idea. But we've got to try this experiment.

Click here to read more about what Heather plans on doing.

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