Thou Shall Twitter In Church
Thou Shall Twitter In Church (This is new and improved version of a post that I had written a year ago; I re-worked it to be released last week over at Church Marketing Sucks)
Thou Shall Not Twitter in Church… Says Who!
I haven’t seen that anywhere in the Bible. I have seen Twitter in the Bible “Like a swallow, like a crane, so I twitter…” Isaiah 38:14 NAS
In all seriousness, there are many people that believe that you shouldn’t Twitter in church. As a pastor, I would say, “Get Your Tweet On!” As a matter of fact, I say “Tweet and Tweet Often!”
Many times “church people” can look at particular methodology and technology as a negative thing. Technology is basically neutral; it’s what you do with it that allows it to have positive or negative implications. I know there are some varying opinions about texting and utilizing social media during church. Personally, I use the YouVersion Bible app. on my iPhone during church and it has this great option of sharing scripture instantly with the Twitter World.Not only can you share scripture with YouVersion, but also any person sitting in any church service around the globe can share thoughts, points and notes from sermons as they are happening.
Today, we live in more shared world than ever as information access and people connectedness just happens. The beauty of this world is that people can engage with God, engage with their pastor and share pieces of those engagement with the world, all at the same time. There are entire real, living, breathing online church services where online congregants share information throughout their service. These services are just as real and God encountering as a physical building. Again, I say “Tweet and Tweet Often!”
Here are 5 Reasons To Twitter During Church:
- You have the opportunity to be a real-time extension of your pastor’s voice while he/she is communicating God’s word. You and your pastor can do some tag team teaching while you are being fed all at the same time.
- If the pastor shares something that moves you, inspires you or changes your life, there is a good chance it will have the same impact on the lives of some of your Twitter followers as well. Here is a tweet awhile back from Pastor Steven Furtick — “Preaching recently I noticed the crowd was too busy tweeting to verbally respond. Click clack is the new amen.”
- When Jesus said: Go into all the world and preach the Gospel… “All The World” applies to the Internet world, as well as the Twitter World. Do your part by going into all the Twitter World, tweeting the Good News.
- You will have a stored database of your compelling thoughts and notes, from your favorite sermons. Use a #hashtag to keep up with the information that you share. We could even implement a universal Twitter In Church Hashtag. There are some being used that are more comical in nature and/or being cross-used by different content. I’m thinking #iTwic, iTwurch, #TweetInChurch or #TwitterInChurch… Any suggestions?
- Many times people suffer from (SADD) Sermon Attention Deficit Disorder. So instead of just wandering off into space, simply wander off into the space of the World Wide Web. It’s better use of your time Twittering great thoughts, instead of drawing on the back of offering envelops.
Some people including pastors get upset and complain about these new age people being a distraction when they are using their mobile phone Bible and Twittering in Church. I think doodling on the offering envelopes is more distracting… Hmm I have not seen a big push to remove those offering envelopes from the church.
Thou Shall Twitter In Church, Remember God’s Omnipresence applies to Twitter as well. Get Your Tweet On!
What do you think about Twittering In Church? Any Suggestions on the hashtag?
23 Responses to “Thou Shall Twitter In Church”
I vote for the tag #iTwurch. We could then set up a website where all the iTwurch feeds are shown. Maybe if you register with the site – then any feeds from you also show the church that you are twurching – which could link to podcasts etc? Could be a great site!
Will do some testing on that idea…mmmm…
Thanks Matt
Like the SADD. Have just come from the (iphone) apps of the apostles at the ship of fools blog; & saw an attempt at passion week acted out on twitter – with assigned roles and accounts.
Surprised not to find the gospel according to twitter for church readings (penguin do twitterature)…
I really like this blog post.I’m almost always tweeting n church.and everywhere else I am. I vote #churchtweet that’s also what i usually use
I also tweet during our Saturday evening services challenging people not to miss our Sunday morning services if they want to really grow in Christ. I get a lot of feedback from those.
I guess that would be another reason to tweet in church.
Blessings,
Dave
hi i vote #churchtweet. I love this article. People get upset with me for doing things like texting\twittering at church.
Interesting. I don’t see neutrality anywhere in the Bible. I probably just missed it. What? Can’t we all just tweet along? (grin)
I was sitting next to a girl in the youth group on Sunday, who was texting through the sermon. If she had been texting about the sermon, would that have been acceptable? Probably not. Why should Twitter be any different?
I like that people can share the things the speaker is saying with others who aren’t there – but does it really need to be done in the middle of the message? Surely the message/sermon is the time for the people listening to be taught – sharing that message is a good thing, but it can also wait 30 minutes until the end of the service. Just like the girl could have waited 30 minutes until the end of service to text her friend. People seem to forget that the cyberworld will still be there and functioning when they get home.
In the movie theater they encourage not texting/tweeting/talking on the cell because of the distraction to others. This is the problem for some in church, especially adult A.D.D. sufferers like me.
I’d like to have my MacBook open for taking notes and tweeting, so I agree with your point in principle. I’ve sometimes been stopped by the Spirit from tweeting message points because God wanted me to just listen to what he was saying to me. Too often we like to think how much someone *else* needs to hear the message so it’s in one ear and out the tweeter and I don’t give God’s voice to my heart the attention he’s asking.
There is a time and place for everything. Don’t be a stumbling block.
I am very surprised by this post. It is very well written but the idea of twittering in church to me is disrespectful. Cite Jesus for example, he knew that the temple was a place of worship and he overturned the tables of the moneychangers because they were making it into a house of merchandise. If the church is supposed to be God’s house why would anyone invite in some of the very elements that God disapproves of through technology.
Twitter can be used on many positive levels but even it has certain elements that are inappropriate. Depending on who a person follows they can come in contact with images, speech, and conduct that certainly would be unwelcome in a place of worship.
I really do think that this kind of permissiveness is extremely displeasing in God’s eyes.
As a conservative, liturgical Lutheran pastor, I’d probably shock most people in saying that Scott is right on. If tweeting will not only help you remember what I preach, but also get the message of salvation through Christ out… Go for it… Just keep listening though
I’ve found that Tweeting in Church has gone a long way for keeping my attention during our pastor’s interminable sermons. Once upon a time, I’d just follow the late English Premier League match on my phone or reading a book on my Kindle app after I figured out where he was going with the sermon, but now I find myself listening far more than I did before, trying to find that one good nugget to pass along to the Twitter World. I still know where the sermon is going, but at least I’m now not staring off into space on our way there.
The problem I have is that I really love the idea of folks who LiveBlog things with their own commentary, and on occasion want to toss in my own two cents with what I tweet. Unfortunately, people seem to take that the wrong way… even when you agree with time. *sigh*
then again, I don’t think sermons are the proper “etiquette” in church either. It’s just so stuck in the pick and choose from the early church mode.(grin)
I think it is the wrong question, and I think it is set up in the classic dualistic right or wrong approach (like talking about alcohol use). We are only asking the question from the standpoint of information exchange with the assumption that formation takes place. So the assumptive answer is yes.
I love twitter. But not in a service. And I am not Lutheran. Can’t we find one hour a week where we aren’t held hostage in techno-distracto world? I agree with Will Miller and Glenn Sparks who study this stuff at Purdue. We spend increasingly more time looking at screens than looking at faces. TV watching has increased during the last 10 year internet explosion, not decreased as expected. Now we add social media. Yikes, when do we stop?
Twitter forces us to condense the profound, simplify the mysterious, and quantify the unpredictable.
The Spirit loves quiet places, and we do not. Those are the uncomfortable places, the awkward moments when He grabs us and speaks deeply into the soul about our sin, our gifts, our longings. He is a distraction, taking us from a sermon outline to a spiritual moment. And some tweeter might just quench His work.
So, should we twitter during the singing time? during a performed song? during a testimony? Why not twitter 24/7 then we will really have lifechange, right?
After a service, YES. During a service, give a rest. Please. For the sake of us who are listening for the whisper.
#iTwic i like that one
I guess I don’t see the difference between taking notes on paper and taking notes electronically. If I don’t take notes on a message, there’s no way I’ll remember the main points a week later. Why not take notes and hit “send” so that others can be blessed by the Word as well? My pastor encourages Tweeting during his messages. No, I don’t interact with those I follow or read other tweets during that time as THAT would be distracting. Thanks for the blog Scott. It was well written and the points are valid if taken objectively. My vote is #iTwurch. I LOVE Matt’s idea of a site to manage the new Twitter church. One more way to break denominational barriers and be the Church outside the walls.
I haven’t twittered in Church yet, but I have sent status updates to Facebook on great comments the speaker has made. I think its great to be able to share a thought or comment that is meaning full with others.