Social media - Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, Youtube, etc. - is massively used by corporations and non-profit organizations today to promote their businesses' products and events. But where are the churches in the ever-growing social media map?
I did some research on 11 randomly chosen Korean churches in the greater Los Angeles area, and the extent of their use of social media for their ministries. Out of the 11 churches, 7 are in Los Angeles city, and 4 are from Orange County. Out of these, only 2 have a Facebook page and update the page regularly. 4 churches do not have a Facebook page at all. The rest of the churches have a Facebook page but have not updated the page in the past year.
For Twitter, only 4 churches have a Twitter account, and out of those 4, only 2 update their Twitter feed regularly.
The church with the best social media score out of these 11 randomly chosen churches was Young Nak Presbyterian Church. Young Nak sometimes has several posts a day on their Facebook page, and their Twitter is also updated at least once each day. Their posts are mostly about sermons or promotional content for upcoming events. Some examples of upcoming events include a baptism ceremony and a health professions mission conference.
I also asked a few young adults about how social media affects their church experience.
Jasmine Cha* said that when she is in the process of looking for a church, social media is "pretty significant." She elaborated, "When I see events and pictures of church people spending time together, it definitely makes me want to have that. It catches my interest, and eventually makes me want to check out the church."
Grace Chun recently started attending a new church, but she won't be able to get herself fully involved until after she comes back from her trip to Korea in September. Regarding how social media has affected her involvement with her church, she said, "I just started checking it out, so I haven't been able to go to the small groups and other events yet, but seeing those posts and being aware of those events makes me feel like I can totally get plugged in if I want to once I get back. Definitely, communication-wise, it [social media] helps a lot."
"Searching for a church through their website or Facebook is super helpful. The church I attend in Orlando was found through Google. It was the only church that had a user-friendly website that was easy to access," explained Paul Kim. After living in the Los Angeles area for most of his life, Kim recently moved to Orlando, and social media has been extremely helpful in his search for a church community there.
As social media has become an essential part of daily life, it has also become a crucial part of marketing for many businesses. Churches too can take advantage of the benefits of social media to communicate with their members and also to use it as an opportunity to share the gospel.
In fact, there are many American churches and ministry organizations that are already using social media frequently to not only promote their own events but also the gospel itself.
Desiring God, a non-profit Christian blog and resource website organization, is one such example. The organization frequently uses Facebook, Twitter, a blog website, and more to share sermons, Bible verses, and insights from pastors and church leaders.
A Desiring God blog post from 2012 read, "Facebook surpassed one billion active users today"¦ It could make you cringe, or it could make you dream of gospel possibilities."
*A fake name has been used because this individual requested to remain anonymous.
