Think Sunday Morning First

Social media isn’t the community building silver bullet.

I’m guilty.

More often than not I look to solve church community problems with the web. You know, “Yeah, we can get people talking on Facebook.” or “Let’s launch a new Facebook group for that ministry.” There’s a Facebook solution for everything, isn’t there?

Many of us gravitate toward social media because it’s easy. It takes but a few minutes to post, share and connect with people. The trouble is that it cannot make up for the deficiencies in your real life Sunday morning community. If “community” and “relationships” stink on Sunday morning, they are going to stink online. Period. There isn’t enough Facebook and Twitter social dust to change that.

Return to handshakes and hanging out.

For us church and social media junkies, it’s natural for us to think about how we can plus community, relationships and spiritual growth online. While this is a much needed strength to equip the church for ministry today, I think it’s also a significant weakness. As I look back on the last few months at my church, I can see many ways I’ve been blinded by my wanderlust with social media.

Too often I’ve traded handshakes for friends and hanging out for likes. Starting now, I’m challenging myself to think Sunday morning first. Think.Sunday.Morning.

Photo compliments of Tray.