CoE and Facebook

The Church Times has the story:

“Members of the General Synod are signing up to the social-networking website Facebook, after a new informal group was set up for them last week. Anthony Archer, a lay member for St Albans diocese, set up his own account in May, before embarking on the General Synod project.

‘This caused some anxiety among my student children and their friends that the parents’ set were now going to eavesdrop on their kids’ lifestyles,’ he said. To test the water, Mr Archer’s posting on his own page of the site was headed: ‘Can old farts do Facebook?’

Speaking this week, he said the response on the site to his initiative was ‘a resounding yes’. He believes that it is important for the Church to use this type of media tool. ‘Networking is a natural desire, and ought to be at the heart of what the Church is doing in a ministry and mission sense.’ For the first years of its existence, Facebook was restricted to students and their friends, but last year it was opened to anyone with an email address.

…Elsewhere on the site, fans of the Bishop of Durham, Dr Tom Wright, have created a profile entitled ‘N T Wright Bishop Extraordinaire’. This contains regularly updated postings and discussions on theological questions.”

The article points out that only one member of the clergy has actually created an account as of this writing.

Read the rest here.

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