[Ed Dantes]

Ok, so I was driving home from work and I saw a church marquee that read 'get off facebook and get in God's book', and it really incensed me...

#1 - Facebook is not evil.
#2 - You can be a Christian and on facebook.
#3 - Any pastor who wants to be relevant in the 21st century needs to embrace things like facebook and social networking, not curse them.
#4 - Facebook will be around longer than that guy's church (Myspace? not so much).

Sorry. Had to get that off my chest. And I don't think it's off my chest yet. But it's bed time.

[JMUDukes]

both churches that I am a regular at in Harrisonburg use Facebook. also church back home has a FB group

[Hold My Own]

I think they are talking about the fact that most students hit the refresh button 300 times on facebook and they would rather them read the bible during that time...not that its evil just time consuming and people get obsessed over it

[RagingTireFire]

That's a fairly heavy reaction to a church marquee, Ed. I'd hate to see what you'd have done if you saw that on a bumper sticker.

[Hold My Own]

I do hope he knows that all these Church Marquee pictures going around on the internet are fake...of course nobody puts things like Mikey's a Homo on a church Marquee

[Ed Dantes]

I do hope he knows that all these Church Marquee pictures going around on the internet are fake...of course nobody puts things like Mikey's a Homo on a church Marquee

No, I saw this while I was driving around.

[ALUmnus]

I'd agree with #'s 1 and 2, not so much 3 and 4.

[Sly Fox]

I'd agree with #'s 1 and 2, not so much 3 and 4.

+1

[SuperJon]

I can see his point with #3. I think youth pastors need to embrace Facebook and things like that.

[RagingTireFire]

Has it occurred to anyone that said marquee might have been less of a shot at Facebook and more of a plug for the Bible? I know a number of friends who literally spend hours on Facebook every day, most of which could be spent doing anything else such as -- in this case -- studying God's Word.

But, then again, what would message boards be if we didn't over-react to everything?

[ALUmnus]

I think they are talking about the fact that most students hit the refresh button 300 times on facebook and they would rather them read the bible during that time...not that its evil just time consuming and people get obsessed over it

Has it occurred to anyone that said marquee might have been less of a shot at Facebook and more of a plug for the Bible? I know a number of friends who literally spend hours on Facebook every day, most of which could be spent doing anything else such as -- in this case -- studying God's Word.

But, then again, what would message boards be if we didn't over-react to everything?

Wow, RTF plagiarizes HMO.

[RagingTireFire]

I guess I did. I generally just skip past his posts.

[Schfourteenteen]

I can see his point with #3. I think youth pastors need to embrace Facebook and things like that.

In moderation.

[Hold My Own]

I guess I did. I generally just skip past his posts.

Does that scare you....bc it freaked me out!

[Ed Dantes]

Has it occurred to anyone that said marquee might have been less of a shot at Facebook and more of a plug for the Bible? I know a number of friends who literally spend hours on Facebook every day, most of which could be spent doing anything else such as -- in this case -- studying God's Word.

But, then again, what would message boards be if we didn't over-react to everything?

When Christianity is known (these days) as what it's against versus what it's for, those kinds of marquees can send the wrong message.

Whatever happened to the 'ask us about our prophet-sharing plan' marquee? I always like that.

[phoenix]

1 and 2, absolutely true. 4, not sure about (without knowing which church).

#3 is more ... complex. There are a lot of opportunities out there for churches who are willing to invest the time in social networking and new media (ghaah -- I hate those buzzwords). But there is also room for churches who don't. A church who is ministering to people in rural Appalachia doesn't really need Facebook, for example. A church ministering in a suburban context does. It really depends on the church, and the demographics.

Churches need to make sure that they know how everything they are doing fulfills the Great Commission in their community. Doing anything that takes time from that mission is not a good thing. As big a social media geek as I am, I'm not convinced that every church needs to do it all the time. Ironically, here is a good example of how it can get taken to extremes.

I worry that, as beneficial as social media can be, too many churches are doing it because it's trendy, and they'll stop as soon as the next trend comes along. It has to be done right, and that requires commitment.

[Sly Fox]

This particularly timely for me in the new position I accepted today with my church. We are doing some things using social networking tools. But frankly we have a great deal of room for improvement. I am anxious to get started tomorrow.

[phoenix]

Interesting piece at Church Marketing Sucks today that adds a lot to this thread (even though it's a week old).

I really like this

Your church will never be great because you figure out how to use Facebook and Evites. Your church will be great because you commit yourself to living the gospel in a radical way, and you can use social media as a balanced part of that gospel-centered diet.