I’ve sat where you sat. I’ve had the yelling matches and felt the frustration when you try to explain to your church leadership the importance of social media and the digital world. I know what is like to think that you’re the only who can see the future.
It’s easy to feel defeated when you’re the only one in your church who’s passionate about social media. You see churches around you using Snapchat, Facebook live, and creating hashtag campaigns to help in slavery in some third world country.
But don’t lose hope. You know why?
Because the future is on your side.
It wasn’t too long ago that churches thought that having a website was “nice” to-do. Not something that you had to have, but you could if you wanted to be the edgy church down the street. I mean, who needs a website when everyone can just find your church in the Yellow Pages?
Of course that changed, and now when someone is starting a church one of the first things they do is grab a domain name, and build a basic website to make sure they show up in Google results.
Social media is the same way. For a lot churches, this is still a “nice” to-do. Do we need a Facebook page? Do we have to share photos on Instagram? For these churches, these are seen as legitimate questions. For others, they might not have even thought about them.
If this is your church, don’t worry. This will change. Maybe it will be when your pastor looks up at the congregation and sees them all looking down at their phones reading the Bible. Or maybe it will be when your pastor attends a conference and is influenced by a nationally known speaker to “get online and share the Gospel”.
Either way the future is on your side. Churches can’t escape the digital future, whether it’s social media, mobile devices, or online worship. The future is here whether they like or not.
So when you have those moments when you think you’re on an island and no one is listening, don’t worry the life boat is coming. It’s called the future, and it’s going to be awesome.