If you're like me, you have one major goal for your preaching: to
clearly, correctly communicate the heart of God, so that the listener
can experience the change God desires for them. Since our preaching is
all about the goal, we are interested in leveraging any advantage
possible to achieve the goal.
Now hopefully the title of this
post made you wonder, "How's he going to connect social media to
preaching in a positive way?" I realize that Gospel preaching and
social media seem like two unrelated concepts, but actually, social
media has proved to be a great benefit to me and my congregation where
preaching is concerned.
Given the afforability of social media,
and ease with which it can be utilized, it just makes sense for the
preacher to use it as a communication tool for the Gospel.
Here are 4 ways social media assists me in preaching the Word:
1. It trains me
I'm
wordy. I suppose that's why I've taken to blogging. I'm wordy in the
pulpit. I love to wax eloquent about pretty much anything and discuss
in great detail Biblical and spiritual ideas. This is not always
advantageous to my congregation, because in my eloquence (well,
perceived eloquence) I can easily convalute rather than simplify
Biblical truth. My communication prowess isn't the point of
preaching...communicating the Word of God clearly, is.
My people need to understand, and remember the teaching of scripture, not stumble over my delivery.
So,
I turned to Twitter. I decided several years ago that I would
discipline myself to tweet insights from the Word, main points from my
messages, and other spiritual observations on a regular basis. That 140
character limitation was my enemy...for a while. Once I really
submitted myself to it, however, I began to think more critically about
how I could communicate truth in more succinct, more powerful ways. As a
result, I am doing a better job of self-editing my messages and
expressing complex thought with simplified language. I also notice that
my congregation latches onto the simplified phrases and language, and
often repeats it in their conversations and social media posts.
2. It teases the public
I usually make two or three 'teaser' posts prior to a message. There are a couple of effects this has on my audience:
*First,
it cultivates an interest in, and excitement about the theme of the
message. Yes, I have actually had people show up to a service because a
'teaser' post either peaked their curiosity, or spoke to an issue that
was current for them at the time.
*Second, it prepares the audience
for the content of the message. I love that when they show up to a
service, those who have read my posts have already opened their mind up
to the theme of the message, and maybe even thought or prayed about it.
All of this serves to position their heart to receive what God is
saying to them.
3. It teaches my congregation
Over the
past couple of years, our staff has encouraged their people to take
notes using Facebook or Twitter. This is a perfect way to engage a
younger crowd in the message. They want to be on social media anyway,
and probably are while you are preaching, so challenge them to post
impactful parts of the message. The advantage here is that your people
are listening for main points and key insights from the message....they
are learning how to listen to preaching.
4. It transmits the message to the masses
Now
because I make 'teaser' posts, and our people post sermon-bytes, we are
transmitting the message to literally thousands of people in cyber
world. This means that every message I preach is going global through
social media. Those posts have served to draw people into conversation
and have given our people an opportunity to be a witness. In fact,
several of our folks have utilized social media, quite effectively, to
evangelize their friends and old acquaintances.
So, thanks, social media, for helping me take the Gospel to the world!
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