This book outlines digital discipleship principles for building an online community and provides practical instruction for how to do it no matter how big or small a local church may be. There are more than 2.3 billion professing Christians in the world and more and more new churches launching globally, yet statistics show that in-person church attendance is declining or plateauing in every nation. Although social technology has been around for more than two decades, church leaders have long bristled at the idea of church online, ranking it as the last concern on their minds in Barna's 2020 state of the church report published February 3, 2020. And then, three weeks later, COVID-19 closed the doors of every church on earth and suddenly forced them entirely online. Nona Jones, a globally acclaimed thought leader on leveraging technology for ministry, had been leading a movement and sounding the alarm for several years to make digital discipleship a central part of every church’s ministry approach. In From Social Media to Social Ministry, she outlines her digital discipleship principles and provides practical instruction for how to do it no matter how big or small a local church may be. There are plenty of books to help churches build a social media strategy, but this is the first book of its kind that goes beyond digital marketing to digital ministry. Readers will leave this book with: Clarity on what discipleship truly is The data that underscores the urgency for digital discipleship Understanding of the resources required to do it well A step-by-step guide on how to implement digital discipleship into ministry plans Knowledge of the differences among and purposes of the most popular social platforms, as well as the tools best positioned for digital ministry

If you are responsible for managing digital communications in your parish, staying current with trends in the rapidly changing world of social media can seem like an overwhelming task. Which social medium platforms make sense for your church community? How can you make them an effective tool for ministry? As a veteran social media expert, author, and sociologist, Meredith Gould has helped answer these questions and more in her best-selling book The Social Media Gospel. In this second edition, Gould provides an easy-to-understand, step-by-step guide to digital ministry for those wishing to embrace new technologies to build community and deepen faith. In this expanded edition, Gould delivers new content with humor, helpful tips, and counsel anchored in practical experience. She focuses on key topics for effective church communication, including: * Building and ministering to online communities * Privacy and self-disclosure in the digital age * Integrating communications across digital platforms * Managing and monitoring social media * Faith storytelling with visual social media * Hashtag development and live-tweeting

How does a church go from just being online to being an online ministry? How can I get my church to see the value of spending money on becoming an online ministry? How to explain to Church Leadership/Clergy what content works best for the medium versus what they think or want to post? How do I convince my church leadership that a Social Media ministry is necessary, not dangerous? How will the Post-Pandemic church do both in-person and online ministry? If you are a church leader, some of these questions likely keep you up at night. So rather than read articles that only give you quick fixes and quick tips, this book chronicles Dr. Quick's pre-pandemic doctoral dissertation case study, shares his experience as a digital pastor responding to the pandemic, and offers his insightful quick takes after each chapter. This book provides fundamentals for creating an effective Social Media ministry for outreach and proven strategies for implementing a Social Media ministry by offering precise and definitive information on the pros and cons of having a Social Media ministry. After reading this book, the author's prayer is you will have a better understanding of Social Media ministry, and you will come away equipped and confident in sharing the "Good News" of Jesus Christ online.

SOCIAL MEDIA AND MINISTRY Sharing the Gospel in the Digtal Age is a practical guide for all (including pastors and church leaders) to social media. It is a handbook, a how-to-manual for ministries on how to use Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other social media platforms to grow and increase their influence. It is a Pastor's Guide to Social Media. This book is also for those, in general, who seek a better understanding of social networking, and how social media impacts our daily lives. Finally, it is about the information-based Digital Age and how we relate to it.

Social Media can feel a little overwhelming to a busy pastor or ministry leader. You’ve probably thought, "I know I should be using it for my church, but I don’t know where to start!" This compact guide can help! You will learn: what the most popular social media platforms are, how to utilize them, and the difference social media can make in your ministry. Fun to read, easy to understand and filled with practical how-to's and real-life stories of ministry impact, this guide will help you navigate the waters of social media and learn how to make it work for you. If you’ve wanted to learn more about Facebook, Twitter or any number of other social media platforms, this is the book for you!

Did you know you can read online reviews of your church? How often have you talked about “reaching people where they are”—and realized that much of the time, they are on the Internet? We’ve been living in a digital world for quite a while now. Justin Wise speaks about social media as this generation's printing press—a revolutionary technology that can spread the gospel farther and faster than we can imagine. It’s time to take what we know (and admit what we don’t know) and learn together how to move forward as the church. Are you ready to think theologically about this digital age and reach people in a new way?

The book, "Marketing the Gospel: A Practical Guide to Social Media Evangelism is replete with practical ideas for the aspiring social media evangelists. Whether you already have an online presence for your church or ministry or are in the process of creating one, this book will equip you with the techniques and tools needed to develop an online presence that will draw people of all ages to the fold of God. This is a must-read for anyone who's desirous of fulfilling their God-given mandate to share the gospel with all the world and making a positive impact on the world through social media.