The Next Generation of students that are now occupying our college campus’ are the most connected and media-savvied students we’ve ever seen. Laptops and tablets occupy student lounges…iPods are part of everyday attire…and texting has replaced doodling in the classrooms. In fact, texting has almost become an obsession!
Texting is now the communication mechanism of choice to the college student. So much so that email is becoming obsolete. Texting not only offers the ability to have multiple private mini-conversations at the same time, but with the advancement of Social Media, students are consistently updating their Twitter and Facebook status’ as well.
So how can we capitalize on this opportunity in our campus ministries and collegiate church plants? Simple! We encourage our students to text away during our services! It allows them to be interactive with the message and communicate with their friends at the same time!
During our services, instead of a normal ‘meet & greet’ time, we often encourage our students to text their friends and family to encourage them and to pray for them. We also ask our students to invite their friends to join them for worship. The results are staggering. When we do this, we normally see an increase of up to 10% in attendance!
Here are a few reasons why we ask our students to update their Facebook status, Twitter and to text their friends during our services:
- The Message Is Extended In Real-Time. When you quote something via Facebook or “retweet”, you are literally extending the reach of God’s message deep into your campus community. If the pastor shares something that moves you, inspires you or changes your life, there is a good chance it will have the same impact on the lives of some of your Facebook Friends and Twitter Followers as well.
- The Scripture Is Obeyed. Apply Mark 16:15 seriously: ‘And then He told them, “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone.’” This applies to the internet world of Facebook and Twitter, and to your friends listed in the address book in your cell phone.
- It’s A Powerful and Free Marketing Tool. When you give students the freedom to ‘do what comes natural’, you help market the church in the best way possible which is by word of mouth.
- It Helps Stay Focused. Regardless of how great the speaker is, it’s a known fact that a portion of us ‘wander off’ during a sermon! This helps students ‘wander off’ productively.
- It Helps Us Remember. I’ve always found that I’m impacted more when I take notes during a message. By updating our Facebook Status and Twitter with quotes and moments from the message, we have in essence developed an online sermon notebook. And if using a hashtag when Twittering, these quotes can be searched and shared with everyone.
- It’s Current and Relevent. This allows students to share the Gospel with their friends in a way that is comfortable to them. This gives students tools to reach other students right where they are.
So text away H2O, and let’s impact our campus for Jesus and His Kingdom!
H2O Collegiate Ministry 