The Rev. Robyn Barnes (@theologybird) of Montana is among those most responsible for the growing appreciation of Twitter among the leadership of the Episcopal Church. On her blog, she informs us of one helpful outcome from the use of twitter at the organizational meeting of the Commissions, Committees, Agencies and Boards of the church that concluded on Thursday in St. Louis.
She writes:
I find the appropriate and sensitive use of social media, even and especially at gatherings like this, to be a great tool. (And, let’s be honest, an occasional stress/boredom/loneliness relief.) I’m working on more to say about a lot of this.
For now though, I want to share one result of our social media presence. A new Episcopalian followed the #ccab and posed about a question on twitter about which CCAB is dealing with disabilities. I saw this and connected the tweet with @gaycjen, the current President of the House of Deputies. This lead to an answer. Which lead to another person chiming in with this:
@amyphaynie: My husband is disabled, so I am very interested in this work. Thanks for the heads up!
There are, and will always be, questions about social media and boundaries. About what should be shared and with whom. These are good questions and the Church needs to wrestle with them.
We need to wrestle with them because sometimes beautiful Godly things happen. And if our tradition teaches nothing else, beautiful Godly things are worth the struggle.