Faith and Facebook

To me, Facebook is a definite blessing. It used to only be available to those who had school e-mail accounts. Well, I was out of school, and always heard everyone talking about Facebook, and became almost jealous that all of my friends were on there because they were still in school, and I couldn't be. When they finally decided to open Facebook up to the world a couple of years ago, I jumped on the bandwagon. It was really wonderful to get back in touch with a few friends from long ago and also long, long ago! It was nice to see what people were doing with their lives, who'd gotten married or even had children!

One of the first things I learned about was creating groups, and events. I thought it would be a wonderful way to get folks at my church connected. Why not? There were a bunch of teens and young adults from my church on Facebook, anyway. I created a group for my church, and started inviting folks to join. It was (and still is) a place where any church member could post news, announcements, events and prayer requests...a way for everyone to stay connected. More and more church members have been joining Facebook this year. Every time I log on, there's someone new, so I invite them to join the church group. It's really just a wonderful way to keep everyone informed.

If you can get your church staff to join, you can list them as 'officers' off to the side of the group homepage. Upload photos, videos and enable the wall so everyone can post to one another within the group. It's a great way to post updates and reminders about rehearsals, meeting times, link to your website, etc. Creating a Facebook group for your church is also a form of advertising and community outreach. It's a wonderful tool for newcomers or visitors to use who are looking for a place to worship. Try to list as many wonderful things your congregation has going on as possible. This will let others see the ministries offered at your church, and may encourage them to give it a try. These groups, just like Facebook, are free.

I've been blessed recently because so many of my family members have signed up for Facebook. I am so glad that I can log on and leave them little messages and see photos of distant cousins and so forth. There are so many ways to use Facebook to promote your church, Christian music, bible studies and other Christian groups. If you're already a member of Facebook, look to see if there is a group for your church. If not, why not start one and invite your friends? The name of Jesus is all over this social networking site, and I encourage you to help keep it strong within the community. You never know how many people find out about Jesus and Christianity via the Internet. Let's keep encouraging each other, keep building our groups and communities and sharing the gospel- even on Facebook.

To sign up for an account, go to www.facebook.com.