Social Media Sunday

One of my great joys is doing social media for the Episcopal church I attend, Trinity Episcopal Church, in Tariffville, Connecticut.  I got started as a social media explorer for fun and adventure, and I became the person making the most noise about our parish's need for a new website.  A couple of years later I've found myself on Trinity's vestry, managing the social media, leading the communication team, and serving as the webmaster. 

That'll teach me to make noise.

On June 30, 2013, we held a "Social Media Sunday" to encourage parishioners to engage with our parish social media channels and to spread the word about our church to their friends and followers.  You can read all about it on the #chsocm (Church Social Media) blog here.

A key to great engagement on Social Media Sunday was the announcement I made in church before the service began.  This both alerted the congregation that their pewmate just might be using their smartphone in church, and invited them to participate.

In case you're interested in doing your own Social Media Sunday, I offer you the pre-service announcement I made. And be sure to let me know about your event; I'd enjoy following along.

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Welcome to Social Media Sunday! 

Obviously,

• Moses wasn’t using TripAdvisor to find a nice, reasonable hotel in the desert
• Martha wasn’t on Pinterest looking up recipes to serve Jesus
• David wasn’t posting his latest psalms to his YouTube Channel
• Jesus wasn’t live tweeting events (although all the Beatitudes are 140 characters or less, making them perfectly suited for Twitter!)

However, our faith has gone viral since the very beginning. Paul might not have had a smartphone, but he used the social media of his time: Epistles, which continue to spread throughout the world today. 

Today, we are asking you to join us in being a part of making the Good News go viral.
I did a little number crunching, and if even a minority of you who are already using social media post about Trinity today, almost 5000 of our friends and family will learn something about us and our church. 

You might want to scoot over and make a little more room in your pew. 

I invite you, today, to be a part of the easiest evangelism you will ever do:

• Check in on Facebook or Foursquare
• Post something about Trinity on Facebook or Twitter
• Take a photo of something here and put it on Instagram
• Tweet interesting points from the sermon

Please use the hashtag: #tctville so others can follow along. 

If you have no idea what I’m talking about, come up to the Parish Hall after church for Trinity’s Social Media Help Desk. We can help you get started on Social Media and answer your questions. 

To paraphrase Acts 1:8 

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses on Instagram, and in all of Twitter and Facebook, and to the ends of the earth. 

Go now to love and tweet the Lord!