Meredith Gould: Like other interviewers, I’m going to zoom in on your passionate invitation to be authentic and create real presence online. How does Click2Save help readers do accomplish that?
Keith Anderson & Elizabeth Drescher: First off, thanks so much for your interest in Click2Save. We both appreciate the #ChSocM community. We included a shout out to #ChSocM in the book and profiled many ministry leaders who participate in the #ChSocM chat. "Real and authentic presence" is crucial in social networking in general and especially so in the relational context of ministry.
Most ministry leaders start out by approaching social media as just one more way to advertise, market, and broadcast about themselves. There's always a need to communicate in this way and we're not anti-marketing. But social media is different. Social media is, well, social. Its starting point is creating and nurturing relationships, rather than sharing information per se.
In a social, relational context, you want to invite people to engage with you and by being authentically yourself.
"Authenticity" here means being multi-dimensional -- not just at your church, but throughout your life (with appropriate boundaries). Not just what you do as, say, a pastor, but how you live the whole of your life through the eyes of faith. This is especially important today because more and more people see the whole of their lives--spending time with family, pets, friends, enjoying nature or cooking--as the ground of their lived faith. And this is very different from a generation ago when, although people may have understood the implications of faith in everyday life, they saw the center of it as the church community more narrowly defined.
To help people express this engaged, everyday faith in social media communities, we include digital ministry strategy worksheets at the end of each chapter, including one about how to cultivate a real presence that’s authentic, meaningful, and invites connection.
MG: #ChSocM chat participants hail from a wide range of experience with social media, a variety of ministerial roles, and across denominations. How will reading Click2Save enhance the ongoing conversation among our chat constituents?
KA & ED: The #ChSocM chat is a great combination of social media leaders and people just getting started. We wrote Click2Save for both groups and people somewhere in between. For beginners, we cover basics, like setting up profiles. For experienced digital ministers we included advice and examples for taking digital practice to the next level.
Those we feature in the book represent Roman Catholic and mainline Protestant denominations -- leaders from traditional ministry settings to innovative ministries -- bishop, pastors, and lay leaders. We wanted to write a book that was theologically grounded and emerged from a hands-on ministry perspective.
MG: What's the one . . . wait, let’s make that a sacred number! What are the top three understandings or revelations that you hope readers will come to after reading Click2Save?
KA: ED:
1. Ministry, Not Marketing
Much of the counsel for using social media in ministry is just repackaged marketing advice. Yes, we want to draw people into our churches and would love to have them join, but that isn't the main reason we’re in these digital spaces. We aren't here to sell ourselves or our churches. We are here to build relationships and share God’s grace. The ROI (return on investment) of digital ministry are hearts set free in the Gospel.
2. This is Do-Able
We hear again and again from ministry leaders that they know they need to be present in digital spaces -- their parishioners and Church Councils are telling them so -- but don’t know where to begin. It can be an intimidating to know which platforms to use and how. We help people get started and progress as they become more comfortable and confident. At the end of each chapter we list Novice, Oblate, and Superior practices.
3. Digital Ministry is Relational, Networked, and Incarnational
This was our big learning while writing our book. We hadn't met in person until the book was about three-quarters complete. We had met through email, Facebook, and Twitter and did most planning and writing through weekly Google+ video chat hangouts.
When we finally met, we realized the power of relationships nurtured in digital spaces not just to remain in digital spaces, but move from the screen to face-to-face and back again. Most times we hear the conflict between digital and face-to-face. With intentionality, these can be mutually reinforcing for colleagues, parishioners, friends, and the various "strangers" we encounter across the digital universe.
MG: Finally, my standard closing question: What question do you wish I’d asked and what’s your answer to it?
KA & ED: We want to return to the incarnational nature of digital ministry. This incarnational imperative--the idea that as we engage with others authentically and develop relationships of real meaning and value, we tend to want to experience that relationship face-to-face if we can (isn't this the whole idea behind online dating, after all?)--is the center of Click2Save.
Again, we're not interested in moving our churches into the digital world. We're interested in supporting the development of robust ministries that move easily from digital to local communities so the work of love, compassion, and justice done by Christian communities around the world continues.
No comments:
Post a Comment