A missional tool?

As Facebook celebrates its 20th anniversary, Jackie Macadam considers the Church’s experience of social media.

FACEBOOK, YouTube, TikTok, WhatsApp, Instagram. These brands, familiar to those over 40, are fundamental to the lives of those under the age of 30.

In the space of just a few years, social media has changed the way we look at, feel about, interact with and communicate with the world, as individuals and as an organisation. How has the Church coped – or used – the social media ‘revolution’?

“Blue letters…how happy I was to receive a blue letter when I worked overseas in the late 1980s and early 1990s.” says Carol Finlay, Congregational Engagement Manager with the Faith Action staff.

“News from home was sporadic to say the least and letters to Malawi had often gone first to the Maldives or Mali. Welcome letters with news in them were often well out of date by the time they arrived.

“I remember when working in Pakistan, I received a telegram which told of the birth of my brother’s first child…although a baby had been born it had been lost in translation whether I had a niece or nephew and I had to wait several weeks for the blue air mail letter to arrive with more details.

“When in Malawi in the mid 1990s I got a telephone in the house but the cost of international calls was very high, so we really only used it for birthday or Christmas calls! If it rang in the night, the worry of what had happened back home in Scotland was all that went through your mind as you raced to answer it.

“ It is alarming when one realises that social media is not a neutral space but rather purposefully prioritises messages that encourage interaction and attention to the platform.

“Then joy of joys in the late 1990s emails became part of our life…well that is if the dial up worked. Anyone else remember that whirring, clicking noise as you watched the broken line working its way between the phone and the modem icon on the screen of the computer? And heaven forfend if people sent a picture file which could take a couple of weeks to download!! An exciting potential prospect but at that time still seemed like a frivolous extra means of communication.

“But roll forward 20 years and what a difference. Mission partners can call, text, WhatsApp or email 24 hours a day, and are much more in-touch and the web has become a ‘best friend.’ Somehow though the world seems a much smaller place.

“A pertinent question to ask though, is ‘does instant messaging demand instant response’? Is that always for the best? To never be away from work, even just mentally or reading an email on the phone? “For congregations who have twinning partners around the world, use of WhatsApp has brought to life the ability to share day to day activities or instant news. It is wonderful to have live messages and shared worship with partners around the world in church on a Sunday. The use of social media platforms have revolutionised partnerships with the world church so much so – we can hardly remember being without it now.”

The Rev Peter Johnston had avery high ‘profile’ on social media, being heavily involved in it in various forms. But not any more.

“We should recognise that many members of the Church of Scotland are perfectly happy not engaging with social media. A life of faith and connection to the local church should not be affected by the level of one’s engagement with social media. And our engagement with social media may change over time. I, for instance, chose to close my Twitter account after some ten years of activity on the social media site when it changed ownership. I chose to walk away even though it meant losing many online connections that I had found.

“Social media is intended to be ‘relational’. It thus should be a useful tool for a church which is built on relationship: whether with the divine or to each other. When used well, social media can aid a sense of relationship and connection with each other. Regular posts on a church’s Facebook or other social media platforms can help people feel connected and engaged with the church. It needs to be active, however, in order to make this a reality: responding to questions and comments to enable conversation and connection in real time, and thus requiring people to commit to do this. This crosses geographical boundaries to create new relationships. In my own situation new relationships through social media were formed with people across Scotland and the world during the pandemic which have continued since, even to the point of a family from Italy making a point to plan a trip to visit the church and meet with the people they have only known through social media.

What we need also to be aware of, however, is that what people see in their own social media feeds is curated by algorithms owned by the social media companies and designed to maximise their advertising profit by selling our attention. This affects both what we see and the prioritisation of what we post and that raises the issue of ‘trustworthiness’….

“It is alarming when one realises that social media is not a neutral space but rather purposefully prioritises messages that encourage interaction and attention to the platform. This can lead to distorted perceptions of reality and negative feedback loops as people go down the digital rabbit hole. It is part of our good witness that the church be a source of trustworthy information, news and social interaction in an age of misinformation and disinformation. Social media is built on the hook of gaining ‘followers’, something to which the church can surely relate, but it can be a distorting lure, and rather should we be steadfast in our commitment to the truth and good news.

“Social media platforms can be utilised to promote good news of transformation and reconciliation as God works in and through the lives of faithful people. This is to be ‘hopeful’ in our social media presence, providing a break in the doom-scrolling that can overwhelm people as they delve into the big issues like conflict, climate change, inequality, and politics. This hopefulness is best when honest, recognising the challenges around us, not denying them. It is providing a route by which people in good faith can maintain hope and work to enact that good news

“But social media has affected the church’s life in another way: how we are ‘prophetic’ in voicing truth to power. This is to push the boundaries and utilise social media platforms to challenge issues that do harm to others. Getting engaged with such activism on social media should be done with awareness that it may lead to further and sometimes heated discussion about the issues raised which will need appropriate moderation. This can be healthy and good, but it involves careful consideration of the issues and time to engage with people.

“Social media is evolving all the time. Particularly with younger generations, finding ways to engage positively is a new challenge to consider, where a short TikTok video is the expectation, not a ten minute sermon. This provides opportunities, however, to encourage younger people in creating content themselves.

John Sharp is Director for Communications and Development with the Boys Brigade. “Facebook launched twenty years ago,” he says.

”Today Meta estimates that there are over three billion Facebook users and it is the most well used social media platform by churches in Scotland.

“With an estimated 60% of the world’s population using social media, it obviously presents the Church with amazing missional opportunity. Just as Jesus used parables to get across his key messages to those who he was talking to, so social media can be a really effective tool for engaging with people, particularly those that have little or no other interaction with the Church.

“It’s also a way of getting involved and having more visibility within the local community. It can also be a window for people into their local church and a good way of challenging perceptions of what people think the church is like, what goes on inside that strange building or the type of people who go to Church.

“During lockdown, it certainly helped the church to adapt to the particular challenges of the pandemic. Churches were able to turn to social media when face-to-face worship wasn’t feasible.”

But John is quick to point out the risks as well.

“Online can be a highly negative and confrontational space. Your content, views and beliefs are open to any kind of response. ‘Discussions’ on social media channels can seem to quickly escalate, leading to harassment, bullying and abuse in a way less likely in the ‘real world’.

“Social media channels recommend restricting your video to between 15-30 seconds long to maximise ‘views’. Is there a danger that social media could push the Church towards becoming more focused on entertainment rather than worship?

“How neutral and ‘free’ are social media spaces really? We are perhaps starting to become more aware and a little more suspicious of the commercial, political and ideological interests behind platforms. It all needs to be taken in to account.

“Social media hasn’t led to any spectacular national revival over the last few decades but individual churches, and faith based groups like the Boys’ Brigade, that have grown and are growing tend to cite social media as a part of their recipe. And maybe there lies the answer – social media is a tool, that if used well can be an important part in the mission of the Church to tell people that Jesus loves them.” ¤