“That’s not real community!“

Their response is frustrating. Alas, you feel obligated to continue with your pitch. It’s the first time you try to discuss social media with a parent, a leader, an elder, a deacon or worse, a pastor who seems to be aggressively against online community.

There’s an array of typical responses:

• “That’s such a waste of time!“
• “I’m not going to invest in a fad!“
• “That’s not real community!” (My discussion nemesis often received from pastoral leaders.)

I recently had one of these discussions with a senior pastor from a small community in rural Canada. He’s been at the church for a few years now and to his service, has almost quadrupled the congregation since arriving. He’s obviously doing a lot of things right!

What about social media?

After I asked whether or not he was planning on pursuing social media as a strategy for outreach, the conversation took a turn for the worse. Sure enough, he provided the typical response, questioning the significance of social media within true community.

I tried my best to oppose this thought process from my own personal experience.

“It’s true community for me. It’s true community for many peers in my demographic. It’s definitely true community for younger generations that I’ve pastored over the past few years. They share more intimate discussion over social than any other communication form.“

This is just one example of social media push-back.

For those of us who understand how social media works (and our teens and young adults certainly do), it can be an extension of our truest thoughts. There are opinions and creative expressions that are shared through these outlets that can have an impact.

Who knows why? But for many younger generations, this outlet where everyone can see everything feels safer. After explaining some of this in detail, the pastor seemed to understand. However, for those serving in small communities, you know what comes next…

“Our town’s always about 5 years behind the times.“

The idea in this comment is that one should wait until everyone else embraces something before we embrace it. Why bother being the pioneer? And yet, if you place this thought into any other situation or organization, it’s automatically false logic.

Case and point; Tim Horton’s.

Let’s think of that model in regard to a small community obtaining its very first Tim Horton’s. Community is happening at the other coffee shops just fine, but all those city folk seem to really like that Tim’s! (Not to mention Toronto and Vancouver and their Starbucks!)

The problem here is that people no longer live within the confines of their small town. We travel. We explore. We try new things. Eventually, someone is going to experience a Tim Horton’s. We don’t want to admit it, but someday, one of our friends at our local diner is going to say…

“I sure wish we had a Tim’s in our town!“

Then the competition begins. Why? Because the business model is sound. The man or woman to open the first Tim Horton’s in that town will make a profit in no time. The concept is simple. If it’s a proven product or service within larger communities, why not give it a try in a smaller community?

The odds are that it will work.

Coming back to social media. To any pastors or ministry leaders who are reading this, a large part of your congregation has probably already embraced social media. Potentially, you may have accosted them on an earlier occasion.

I highly suggest you find out who’s using social on a daily basis and take them out for coffee. Bring your laptop and cellphone. Furthermore, I would immediately purchase two books written by Christian authors for all audiences.

1. Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World by Michael Hyatt
2. Quitter: Closing the Gap Between Your Day Job & Your Dream Job by Jon Acuff.

I, like many other leaders around the world, owe many thanks and praises to these two men for teaching me how to reach more people with more messages. You will find the same.

Door-knocking has become a dead-end.