As I've been researching the Christian Church and our use of new media, a lot of questions have come up for me, the hard part is choosing ONE to focus on. As I've been pondering what angle I find most interesting, I think I've finally decided on how to narrow my view.
The question: What is the message of the Church as portrayed through new social media (i.e. facebook, twitter, blogs, etc.)?
The Church is certainly using new media. Some churches I've found have a church blog & podcast, sermons are posted to YouTube, churches & christian organizations have websites and video promos for different bible studies, missions trips, new books, etc. The church is incorporating new media into the way it worships too. And while it certainly seems that some churches are stuck in the past and not likely to reach anyone in the younger generations living in today's increasingly connected world, it would seem that the trend is to use today's media to communicate with believers and non-believers alike.
Certainly, individuals within the Church are using new media too, and their using it to share their faith. Facebook has a section in your profile for Religious Views, and it's become trendy to have a Bible verse as your status or latest tweet... at least within the Church. YouTube has tons of videos posted by Christians in an effort to reach out to people or to encourage or challenge other believers.
Asking if the Church is using new media is not the question anymore.
Marshall McLuhan proposed the idea that "The Medium Is The Message". The message changes (or can change) depending on the medium that is being used to convey it. With this in mind, is the message of the Church changing through it's use of new social media? If so, what is the new message? Or is it the same?
As a christian, I think this is a really important question for the Church to be asking. What are we telling the world about God? Is our message changing because of the media we use?
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