The following article was posted on Friday, May 15, on the Evansville Courier Press website. The original post can be found at http://www.courierpress.com/news/2009/may/15/network-of-faith/.
Network of faith: Facebook, Twitter can be tools for ministry
By Susan Orr, Courier Press Staff Writer
Until recently, Salem Church of Darmstadt Pastor David Peterson struggled to connect with his members online.
He blogged intermittently but didn't get much feedback. The congregation started online groups through Yahoo, but they fizzled.
Then, Peterson discovered Facebook. He joined the site about two months ago to reconnect with college friends and noticed many church members on the site.
"It was just amazing to me how many were on Facebook when they didn't seem to connect with anything else," the pastor said.
"It's that all-in-one place that all of these different parts of their lives come together."
In addition to his personal page, Peterson also has created a Facebook page for the church itself. Members can see upcoming events, communicate with each other and view photos. Traffic to his blog has increased since he's started using Facebook to highlight blog entries.
Peterson's experience is not unique: Local religious leaders say social networking sites such as Facebook are an invaluable ministry tool.
Facebook (www.facebook.com) is a free Web site where members can post photos, link to sites of interest, post status updates, send e-mails and do instant messaging. 
The idea: to connect with other people.
Established by four Harvard University students in 2004, Facebook's popularity has exploded recently. According to statistics provided by Facebook, the site had 20 million active users in April 2007. By April 2009, that had grown to more than 200 million active users, with users age 35 and older the fastest-growing group.
Blue Grass United Methodist Church on Evansville's North Side has its own Facebook page, as do its pastor, the Rev. Greg Heiman, and its creative worship arts director, Greg Graham. Heiman and Graham also use Twitter (www.twitter.com), a social networking site where members can post brief messages about what they're doing and follow other people who also post updates.
"I think Facebook and Twitter give you access to your congregation in an unprecedented way," Graham said. "It's just a great way to maintain connectivity person-to-person."
Graham checks his Facebook friends' status updates regularly and updates his own status three or four times a day. Some of his updates are church related, some are not. (On April 6, Graham wrote that he had "the post-haircut itchies!!")
"What I want people to see is that I'm Greg seven days a week. And some of that's spiritual, some of that's downright silliness," he said.
Because social networking is all about sharing, Graham said, it's a good way to evangelize. Someone who is afraid to invite a friend to church, for instance, might feel comfortable writing a Facebook update about what happened at church that morning.
"It's just a real easy, no-fear way to express your spirituality to a wide group of your friends," Graham said.
Each summer, Blue Grass hosts ACTS Camp, a Christian work camp for Tri-State youth and adults. For the first time this year, Blue Grass will use Twitter and Facebook to document the campers' activities for parents at home.
Mike Seibert, a deacon at both St. Celestine Catholic Church and St. Raphael Catholic Church in Dubois County, Ind., said Facebook especially has helped him connect with his parishes' younger members. "It's opened my eyes a little bit ... to the culture of the teens," Seibert said.
At Bethel Temple Community Church on Evansville's East Side, a handful of staff members are active on social networking sites.
Among them is Lead Pastor Bret Nicholson, who uses Facebook, Twitter and MySpace. He also blogs.
He said Facebook helps him keep in touch with members' lives. If someone shares a concern — a health problem or a big test at school — Nicholson can follow up with the person right away.
"You're keeping a very day-to-day read on how people are. ... This travels a lot faster than the grapevine."
Wendy McCormick, director of the Center for Congregations' Southwest office on Evansville's East Side, said she's fielded lots of queries about social networking in recent months. The office provides resources and support to congregations of all faiths.
In response to the queries, McCormick invited local congregational leaders to gather recently and share ideas about the topic.
McCormick said some pastors remain skeptical of social networking, especially if their congregations have many older members.
But, McCormick said, Facebook can be relevant to all congregations — particularly those looking to reach new faces.
"If somebody's maybe interested in your congregation, they're going to look on the Web first."
