Church Mag recently released a story that is often imitated in church circles. This story, The Facebook Exodus: Where Are All the Teens Going rattles the cages of congregations desperate to attract young people and families by getting more engaged with their social media tools.”Again,” the writer concludes, “we see that the Church will need to look beyond Facebook to reach this generation of users online.”
Let me spoil it for you. This is an arms race you are not going to win.
Give the article credit for unearthing the newest trend of social networking tools making the rounds among the young. If you have children, most of the new tools will be no surprise to you–your kids are already using them, and you’ve probably seen the icons if you haven’t used them yourself. Certainly, it helps to stay on top of what’s new and developing in this world.
But to think that using these tools will attract youth to your church is akin to thinking that wearing a particular pair of shoes will make you a better athlete. (It’s gotta be the shoes).
Using KIK or SnapChat or Vine is not something you build an outreach program on.
Rather, you build an outreach program on being true to yourself, being clear with others about what you are, and living that essence out in the world around you.
This is not to say that you should be ignorant of new technologies–we’re all for it and encourage it. Nor or we saying don’t use them.
All we’re saying is, don’t confuse the tools for the message.
mdavissite 