Comments on: Twibal church

By: Donna G

Donna G — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 01:03:16 +0000

My pastor husband and I have been talking about the possibility of actively encouraging twittering during sermons. It started out when I commented that after having sat in grad school classes for the last two years, I found it difficult not to immediately engage in some type of discussion about something that challenged the way I thought or provided an ‘Ah, Ha!’ moment.

I also think it may provide an opportunity to understand what message is received from a sermon, teaching or presentation in ways we have never had access to previously. As a com geek, that is exciting. After all “It’s not what you say, it’s what people hear.”

We have yet to do more than kick ideas around. Maybe this is the push we needed to just jump in and experiment in a limited way.

By: Faith and Social Media : presbymergent

Faith and Social Media : presbymergent — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 17:48:01 +0000

[...] some interesting takes recently on the subject from a few folks in the emergent and Presby world. Carol over at Tribal Church was musing about Twittering during church events: I like it when people twitter during conferences, and even worship. This is [...]

By: Carol Howard Merritt

Carol Howard Merritt — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 10:27:06 +0000

Neil! It’s good to see your name. I hope that all is well in Minnesota.

I don’t usually assume that people are checking email when they have their blackberries/iphones in worship. Or they might be.

If they have to break the sabbath/worship to check work email, usually I’m just happy they came to church, because it would have been much easier for them to stay home and work all day (after all, that’s what all of their friends are doing).

But I do feel some compassion for those (including me) who are wired all the time. Like you, Rick, some wonderful, retired members of our congregation tell me that it’s “modern-day slavery.” I think you might have a point….

But the thing that made me pause when I had this conversation with the retired members was that they weren’t judgmental toward the younger members. They were concerned.

I think that’s why we’ve been able to make the generational shift in our church–because the older members are pretty good at accepting lifestyle changes around a variety of things (technology, women working, child rearing, etc.), and they don’t assume the worst when there is one.

By: neil

neil — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 17:39:46 +0000

I think there’s a huge gulf between a conference and worship. In worship we are there to meet God and I see no function for texting or tweeting in this context. A conference or seminar is completely different in that we are usually there to learn and that would be a thoroughly appropriate place to text or twitter.

That being said, please don’t ask me to turn off my phone as I often use the notepad on my i-phone to take notes during a sermon.

By: Rick

Rick — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 16:02:47 +0000

If I’m preaching, and I see someone on their Blackberry, my basic assumption is that they are not paying attention to the sermon. My guess is that they are checking work email.

The Sabbath day is our day of freedom, our day of not making bricks for Pharaoh. To drag our slavery into worship, unless absolutely necessary, demeans us as human beings.

By: Shawn Coons

Shawn Coons — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 19:05:08 +0000

Blogging has the potential for more volume, and most likely more substance. But Twitter has more potential for a farther reach and more conversation, IMO.

I have over 1000 twitter followers due to a World of Warcraft podcast that I do, but I twitter quite a bit of church and faith stuff. And I have had some great conversations with people of different faiths, no religious faith, and other Christian flavors through Twitter.

You can interact with plenty of people on twitter who would never care about or visit your blog. I think many blogs come to be a gated community of people who have mutual interest in the blog’s topic. It can make good conversation and substance, but it’s much more homogeneous than twitter.

By: Stushie

Stushie — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 16:55:12 +0000

Blogging has more substance Carol…

By: Carol Howard Merritt

Carol Howard Merritt — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 09:40:52 +0000

Yeah, maybe.

But. Wait? Isn’t that what they’ve been saying about blogging for the last ten years?

By: Stushie

Stushie — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 04:10:43 +0000

It’s just a narcissistic twend that will seem quaint and twite in years to come.

By: Songbird

Songbird — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 19:29:16 +0000

You really got me thinking about the availability of wifi in our churches. I have an iPod Touch, but not an iPhone, so I don’t have the guarantee of constant signal. I serve one church that has its wifi “open” and one that has it protected. What does this say about stewardship/hospitality, etc? My point being, we have to be able to Tweet to be able to use Twitter.