Should A Church Have A Facebook Page?
Yes. No. Maybe.
Those are my answers. Well, you say, that’s not very helpful! Let me see if I can help…
I love social media. I think it is a great way for people to connect online and build community. Facebook is one of the most widely adopted social media platforms in our society today. It has certainly become very mainstream in the past 12-18 months. I am guessing that there are very few people reading this post that do not know what Facebook is or likely most have their own Facebook account. Facebook lets people connect with their friends and family, share pictures, videos, topics of interest, and communicateate in fun and engaging ways.
I have seen many churches and Christian ministries start Facebook groups or pages in the past few years. I think that doing so certainly has the possibility for building an extension community in addition to the face-to-face ministry activities that happen on Sundays or through the week within the walls of the church. Facebook can serve as a good networking and community building tool.
That said, it has to have at least this one important ingredient to make it successful…
Someone Needs to Own It
If your church creates a Facebook group and people join it…then what? Someone has to take responsibility to develop “community”. To encourage members to bring cameras to events and post their pictures on the page. To encourage discussion, post events, post topics, keep it current, alive, and active.
The church I attend started a Facebook Group about 18 months ago. We are a growing church and relatively a “younger church”. However, there has been virtually no activity on the page in the last year. Someone started the page, it flourished for a couple months and then essentially died. Why? Because no one took on the responsibility for facilitating community. I run (and maintain) a Facebook group for JesusAtantic.com. This group’s purpose is to facilitate community discussion around Christian events happening in Atlantic Canada. The site has consistently had in the range of 1200 members. Members post events or comment on events occasionally but I try to keep some current information updated on the page every couple weeks. It is not what I would call a vibrant community but it at least has a heart beat.
It takes no time to start a Facebook group or page. It takes a commitment to give the group a vision, mission, and purpose. If no one will take responsibility for that role in your church then there is little reason to move in this direction. It is like a web site. If it is not kept current and relevant then it just becomes dated, static, and useless. Maybe I have joined the wrong groups on Facebook, but that has been my experience with most Facebook groups…they become static all too quickly.
Craft a mission, vision, and purpose for the group. Have someone facilitate breathing life into it and it can be a nice community building compliment to your church’s online ministry strategy.
So, for those of you who have churches with Facebook pages or groups, what has been your experience? I would love to hear some success stories! Please share your knowledge so we can all learn to use Facebook with excellence for ministry.
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