I recently read an article in the print addition of Collide Magazine regarding texting and churches who use it during their services or for announcements.
If you’re not a subscriber to Collide Magazine, I highly recommend you at least check them out. The magazine is full of useful information for churches wanting to keep up with technology, web and media.
The article was titled, “Texting from the Pews to the Pulpit” and written by Ryan Barnhart.
In brief:
- Texting to your congregations gets information to them immediately wherever they are.
- Allows your congregation to share prayer requests immediately rather than writing them down and then having someone type them up and send them out.
- Send encouragement or scripture throughout the week
- Have interactive services where the congregation answers question at the beginning or middle of a sermon and then show them the results at the end of the service.
- Allows people to connect to the church through a medium they probably use everyday.
I personally like the idea of having a Q & A session during a service where I would submit my answer via a text message. Sometimes my mind tends to stray from the message and I could see how having something interactive would keep me focused.
What do you think?
pic by jin.thai
June 5th, 2009 at 2:20 pm
I LOVE the idea of having congregation members texting you responses to a question or survey during the service. Very cool!
June 5th, 2009 at 5:44 pm
"Sometimes my mind tends to stray from the message and I could see how having something interactive would keep me focused."
I have yet to find a single interactive tool that did not tend to increase distraction and to cripple focus.
“Multi-tasking is the reflex. Single-tasking is the discipline.”
—Patton Dodd (via Trinity Forum)
I, too, suffer from distraction. My best remedy, I find, is to seek to engage by reading the chapters around the sermon text.
June 8th, 2009 at 7:41 pm
It all depends on how it is used. Some forms can be a distraction and others can increase my attention. Live polls always seem cool to me b/c I get a better feeling of what's on the minds of those that I'm "sitting next to" instead of just "listening to."
And oh, http://ParaTweet.com is another great tool for this but I'm slightly biased.