Using Twitter for Ministry Part 1

Twitter is the “new” thing. Newspapers, TV Stations, Hollywood stars and even Oprah are now using Twitter. Maybe you are wondering, “What is Twitter?” Twitter says it is a service for friends, family, and co-workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?

The brilliance of Twitter is that it is simple. You send out a short (140 character) message to all those who are following you. You follow other people and receive their updates.

One reason Twitter has taken off so quickly is that there are many ways to access the information. You can go to twitter.com on your computer or m.twitter.com on your cell phone browser. You can download computer software (PC or Mac) like Tweetdeck or you can use Twitter on your phone via text message. If you have an iPhone or Blackberry you could download one of the many applications.

There are many ways people are using Twitter. I thought I would share with you 5 ways you can use Twitter for Ministry. I’ll cover the first two this month and finish-up next month.

     1) Dialogue With and Learn From Other Church Leaders.

I follow all Pastors and ministry leaders because I can learn from them. I follow megachurch pastors and small church pastors. I follow leaders of new churches as well as leaders from churches that have been around for 100 years. I have met many of them face-to-face at conferences.

I hired my worship pastor (@jclayville) through Twitter. We’ve gotten tech advice from our Twitter followers when we needed a new projector and presentation software for our MacBook Prol. I brought in a guest speaker to our church whom I had never met because of our relationship with her via Twitter. As a church we are part of the NewThing (newthing.org) Network and I regularly keep in touch with other Lead Pastors who are in the Network. We dialogue and collaborate weekly.

   2) Promote your Church Website or Blog.

Twitter is a great marketing tool. I send out tweets like this: “Live in Portland and don’t have plans for Mother’s Day yet? Check out Church! at Bethany as we start a new series entitled, “Suburban Legends.” I received a reply tweet that said, “We’re going to come visit your church soon, in the next couple weeks!”

Whenever we update our website I post links to Twitter. Whenever I make a blog post I send the link out via Twitter. More people now come to my blog because of Twitter than any other place.

Are you on Twitter? Follow me at twitter.com/mlpayne.