Today we continue our series on the most popular website in the U.S., MySpace. Last week we asked, “Is MySpace safe?” and discussed what parents can do to make it safer for their kids should they allow them to use MySpace. If you’ve read any of the comments readers have posted to the first 3 articles in this series, you know there are strong opinions on both side of the issue of whether Christians ought to use MySpace.
While some Christians believe we should protect ourselves and avoid MySpace, a growing number of Christians have the perspective that Jesus met people where they were at and if they are going to reach this generation with the gospel of Jesus then they are going to use MySpace as a means to do that. Here are some churches that have created profiles on MySpace.
- Christ Jesus Community – Church, Richmond, IN
- 247Connection Church – Hickory, NC
- LifeChurch.tv – Hendersonville, TN
- College Park Church – Long Beach, CA
Here’s an example of a church youth group and a college ministry that have MySpace profiles.
Alternatively, some churches and ministries have created their own MySpace group rather than the typical profile. In some ways this seems like a better fit because groups include group information and discussion forums. The one negative of doing a group instead of a profile is that when people become members of your group, the ministry doesn’t show up in the person’s list of friends so group members can promote the group to the same extent they could promote a ministry that was one of their top “friends.”
- Mars Hill Church – Seattle, WA
- Bel Air Presbyterian Church – Los Angeles, CA
- Church of the Highlands – Birmingham, AL
The most common way MySpace is used for ministry, however, is by individual pastors, youth ministers, and other Christians simply creating their own personal MySpace profiles and building relationships with the people they meet. If you go this route, you might consider joining some MySpace groups that have to do with interests or hobbies you have that aren’t related to Christianity so you can mingle with non-Christians.
If this has got you thinking about using MySpace for your ministry here are some tips.
Consider your demographics. MySpace is still primarily used by teens and young adults. Creating a MySpace profile for your ministry makes more sense the more young people you have engaged in your ministry. It may make a lot of sense for a youth ministry or college ministry. For a ministry to seniors… eh, not so much.
Do MySpace in addition to rather than instead of a website. Despite its meteoric rise in popularity, most people still do not use MySpace regularly and never will. MySpace can be used to build community and attract new people to your ministry, but MySpace cannot be considered a reliable way to communicate with people within or outside of your ministry. Therefore, just like when you first developed a website for your ministry you didn’t stop producing printed materials, don’t think MySpace will take the place of your website or eNewsletter.
Duplicate content. Because some Christians do not want to be on MySpace and don’t want their kids to be MySpace be careful about putting content (pictures, announcements, articles, etc) exclusively on MySpace. Doing this will either exclude people who are not on MySpace or cause people to feel like they have to be on MySpace even though they don’t want to or (for kids) aren’t allowed to. You’re better off duplicating content into MySpace that you already have on your website.
Be smart. If you create a MySpace profile for your ministry, it’s probably because you want to reach out to people who are already on MySpace. In that case, you are probably going to want to make your profile public. If you do that, keep in mind that anyone on MySpace can see your pictures and read your blog and comments. If you lead a student ministry, for example, don’t be putting up photos of your kids with their full names in the captions.
Be real. Nobody on MySpace wants to be preached at. Nobody wants to hang out with someone who pretends their a perfect Christians that knows everything. That doesn’t mean you air your dirty laundry for all to see in MySpace, but humility, understanding, and authenticity go a long way towards conveying the love of Christ.
Does your church or ministry have a MySpace profile or group? Post a link in the comments. Got any other tips for using MySpace for ministry?
25 Comments
I have begun to use MySpace to post my messages, and to casually let people know about our ministry. It is a good deal of work, but does seem to be working.
Well for starters the zodiac sign is a big thing and I’ll tell you why because I used to be in the occult ,palm reading witchcraft and practiced studing people based on thier horoscope and when I received Jesus Christ as my Lord I immediatley knew i was to burn All of my books up on the occult and that included my books on astrology………………so i was praying the otther day and the Lord touched this very thing and I am in the process of deleting my accont i have so far as yet to recieve my verification number via email to cancel my account s oI maty Have to get a hold of Tom……………now astrology,that is fortunes based on the studying of stars is clearly condemmed By God and when go playing footsie with Satanic powers and accept your zodiac sign on your site as part of the bargain to get a free Myspace website …… ok you may very well lead people to Jesus but at same time you teach them new converts by your acceptance of this that the astorology must not bid of a deal…………. how about street ministry or how about coworkers or how about the market place the highways and the byways to wittness to people ………………you know there is nothing like onee on one face to face chats with the lost ot persuade them to repent …..well any ways ………..this site is ran clearly by unsavesd people ok so you are on thier turf nad really paryfully concider what you are doing and ask yourself what Jesus would do
I have just recently launched a Myspace ministry called Ignite Myspace Ministries with great content including devotions, music, movie reviews etc. Didn’t Jesus hang out with thieves, prostitutes and such…he said the sick need a doctor or did I misread that in my Bible? As far as the zodiac signs go sure I don’t agree with that, but if one knows how to cut and paste…Myspace offers html codes where you can eliminate those from your site.
MIRIAM’S CHRISTIAN MINISTRY has a wonderful Christian community of friends in MYSPACE, comprising of a PRAYER TEAM and a MAILING MINISTRY.
“MIRIAM’S MAILING MINISTRY”
http://www.myspace.com/miriamschristianfamily
“MIRIAM’S PRAYING HANDS MINISTRY”
http://www.myspace.com/prayinghandsministry
MIRIAM’S CHRISTIAN MINISTRY
http://miriamjacob.proboards34.com
This is a ministry dedicated to God, comprising of an association of the best authors, poets, graphics designers and artists on the World Wide Web, as well as people from all spheres of life. We publish Christian articles, poems, graphics and paintings to glorify God. As a diamond reflects the dazzling rays of the sun, our lives reflect the radiant glory of the true Light of the world, Jesus Christ. It takes divine cutting and pruning to shape our lives into brightly-glowing lamps fit for the King of Glory to shine His Light into. We are filled with God’s Spirit when we yield ourselves wholeheartedly to God. Miriam’s Christian Ministry invites you to share in Christ’s love, through the wonderful and inspiring media of Christian Internet Publishing. God bless.
It’s been amazing to hear the different ways people are ministering to others on myspace. God is really providing!
I’m a Youth Minister’s wife. I started a myspace page a few years ago because a lot of our Youth were on it. It is a great way to stay in contact with them outside church where they need us the most. Around that same time we were working with them on sharing their faith with friends. By putting the teaching information on myspace I was not only helping to equip our youth but it was also taking the gospel to the lost on myspace. I was able to add friends like Dare2Share Youth Ministries and local Christian radio stations and Contemporary Christian bands. My site has become a giant link to other ministries specializing in anything you can imagine.
The one thing I would like for myspace that I have not been able to find is a devotion that updates daily like the Daily Bible verses. If anyone knows of any please message me at http://www.myspace.com/mrsmelissajones. Also, I would love to network with any other Internet/Myspace missionaries.
God be glorified in your work,
MJ
This is seriously the best article I’ve read on integrating MySpace into a ministry. We’ve wrote up a similar article that mainly addresses the safety concerns: http://blog.tuggle.it/2008/03/01/is-myspace-evil/
Duplicate content is a killer and you’re right, you just have to accept that it’s necessary and deal with it.
Im just a christian individual who just started a group/ministry online. Its called TRUE MYSPACE MINISTRYS. check it out.
here it is
http://groups.myspace.com/truemyspaceministries
Al has good points, But I agree with Summer. You need to focus on areas where you think non-christians might show up.
I know a lot of people who use myspace for youth groups or to talk to people about christianity. I think myspace has it’s good and it’s not all bad.