Last Sunday, St. Andrew’s, Pearland, Texas, asked congregants to “Please use your cell phone.” to church, because when they take pictures of the service and post them on social media sites, live blog the service or e-mail their friends they are also bringing their friends to church.
ENS has the story:
For weeks leading up to the event, dubbed “Bring Your Cell Phone to Church Sunday,” St. Andrew’s leaders encouraged everyone to bring their cell phones and take photos of the service. Their e-mail newsletter read, “Take at least one photo of our worship and post it on Twitter and/or Facebook and/or your Pinterest account.”
“We are just trying to find ways where people are comfortable inviting friends, and so we thought this would be a good way of doing it,” said rector, the Rev. Jim Liberatore.
Liberatore encouraged the congregation to post photos or status updates that referred back to the church’s Facebook page, Twitter, Instagram, or Pinterest account. Liberatore said it was hard to tell exactly how many people mentioned St. Andrew’s in social media on Sunday, but the parishioners were excited, including those who attend the more traditional 8 a.m. service….
…Liberatore hopes that his members will now feel free to share their church experiences more freely through social media, although there won’t always be time set aside to promote the use of cell phones.
“We’re not going to advertise it every Sunday, but we hope people will use it in church,” he said.
Have you used social media in your church services? Are you open to the idea?