Ministry in the World of Social Media

     I went into full time ministry in 2005.  When it comes to social media, it was an entirely different world then.  MySpace was the popular site and it was a bit of a big deal to choose who your "top friends" were.  Facebook was new and you had to have a university email address to use it so it wasn't nearly as easily accessible as it is now.  Pinterest, Instagram, and Twitter were not even much on the radar yet if at all.  So, to connect with the world around you, it was necessary to actually go out into that world.  Email was an easy way to communicate, but folks did still send actual letters from time to time.  However, in order for people to really get to know who you were, they generally had to talk to you face to face.
     Today, it is a different story.  Now, most people (though not all people) are on some form of social media.  They use it to connect with people all around the world and it is now a necessary tool for many types of jobs...ministry included.  However, the thing about Social Media is that you have a platform from which to talk to the world...the whole world.  And our circle of influence for the Kingdom got a lot bigger.  We "like" or "share" posts we find interesting or funny.  We comment on world events.  We cheer on our favorite sports teams or promote our favorite entertainment choices.  We are pretty transparent when we are online.  And, that is a good thing...but it is also something we need to be aware of.  Because our witness can be damaged by the choices we make online.
     Now, I am not saying that we should not be authentic when we are online.  Hypocrisy is not good in any form, but when we sit behind a computer screen, sometimes the filters that we use in our real life, seem to disappear.  But living a life of Holiness, doesn't pause when we sit down at our computers.   We, as Christians, are meant to live all the parts of our lives in such a way that everything we do points people to Jesus.   Here are a few things to remember when it comes to our online witness:

     1)  Be Christlike in your online speech. 
          This is maybe the biggest thing I see online.  Can I tell you how often I have seen something that a fellow Christian has posted and been disheartened?  From politics, to sports, to family interactions, it is important to look over what you are posting and ask yourself: 
   A) Does this really need to be said?   And if it does, is this the proper forum in which to say it?
   B) Am I venting simply because someone else thinks differently than I do?
   C) How would I react if my child/grandchild/neighbor kid were talking like this about a classmate? 
   D) Is this building up the Kingdom of God?

     2)  Don't Steal
          Do you own the rights to the picture you are posting online?  If not, you are stealing.  It is very easy and inexpensive to create photo graphics for your church or blog through sites like www.canva.com.  If you share a picture online through a share tab, that is fine...after all, that is what the share tab is for.  But if you save it to your computer, then share it as if you created it, that's not ok. You wouldn't steal it from a store, so don't steal it online either.
    
    3)  Do a quick social media check on yourself from time to time
         Every so often, go through the items you have posted online.  Do they reflect who you want to be?  What would your impression be if you saw those same posts on the social media account of someone else? 

    4)  Fact Check
         If you see a news article, warning, or alert about something, check it out before you share it.  There are a ton of bogus "warning" articles and lots of inaccurate news/stories out there.  Before you "share" at least check out the story on snopes.com or some other fact checking site and find out if there is any truth to it. 

Living a life of Holiness is not something we turn off and on.  If we really want to be like Jesus, then we have to include our online world in that journey as well.  After all, in today's day and age, the first place someone may meet you could be online...and as they say, "You never get a second chance to make a first impression."  

Until next time!

A Few Thoughts on Bullying...We Adults are part of the problem.

There are many things that we try to teach as Children's Ministers.  But, more an more I am seeing that we, ourselves, have to be very careful, especially online, if we do not want to harm our own witness.

If you have been online, listening to the radio, or watching the news over the last few years you would see that there has been a huge surge of people speaking out against bullying. And rightly so because it is a huge problem in our society.  Those of us who work with children and teenagers know that it happens.  It's terrible and it's hurtful and it MUST STOP!  Everyone seems to agree with this...until it is time for the elections.

Then it seems that adults all across the country decide that bullying is ok.  After all, the people they are talking about are politicians.  They made themselves fair game, right?  WRONG!  They decided to run for a political office.  They decided to try and make a difference in our country.  They did not decided that they and their family were just going to be "ok" with being bullied.

No matter what our political affiliation, this blog applies to everyone...and I'm talking to the politicians and even the news reporters too. There is a difference between a news story and a smear campaign for ratings.  If we want to teach our children that bullying is wrong, then we have to stop it ourselves.

And while I'm on the subject, this applies to sporting events too.  How many times have we seen someone post something about how they are so glad so and so was fired, or how "Mr. Sports Star" is doing such a lousy job in their sporting event.  Seriously???  

How do we explain why it is ok for us to verbally torture, tear down, and post embarrassing pictures of a politician or a sports star, but it's not ok for our kids to do it of a classmate?  Do we realize what we are doing to the family of that person?  How would you like it if your Mom, Dad, Aunt, or Uncle was being torn down all over the internet by people who had never even met them?  Do you know for an absolute fact that what you are saying is true?  Even if you do, why is it ok for you to post such things about this person while at the same time you are trying to teach your children and teenagers that it is not ok for them to do the same to others?

This is a horrible and tragic double standard that MUST STOP.  Children learn by example.  What kind of example are we setting?

If you don't like a particular politician, don't tear him or her down.  Build up your candidate.  Show off all his or her good points.  I don't care why you don't like the other candidate...tell me why you DO like yours.  Is that so hard?  Or do you really not know enough about your candidate to do that? 

If you are unhappy about how a sports personality is playing their game, don't tear them down, focus on something positive you can say or simply don't say anything at all. Perhaps highlight someone else on the team who is doing well.

We are being watched and our online lives are often have an even bigger impact than our offline lives.  Why?  Because people all across the world have access to seeing what we put online.  But only those literally around us see our real life actions.  How does it look if they see us praising God with our mouths at church and tearing down people online?  What about those who post Scripture about how God loves everyone one minute and then how they hate such and such a candidate the next?  Do we not see how our witness is being damaged?

Before you post something, put your name, or better yet, your child's name in the place of the person you are ready to post about.  Would you still post it? If not, then DON'T POST IT.  Don't SHARE it.  And just because you think it's funny doesn't mean it's not cyber-bullying.  Remember...that person is someone's child, so don't do to them, what you wouldn't want done to your child.  Is that really so hard? 

I know this is different than  the tips I usually post, but this is a topic that is simply too important to ignore.  And as we all know, our actions speak much louder than our words and that applies both to Children's Ministry and to life in general.

Until next week...

* This is an updated version of posts I wrote for my other blog a few years ago.  However, with this ever increasing social media world, I felt it was important to share my thoughts here as well.