Church 2.0 forum

In case you missed my Facebook, Twitter updates yesterday, I had the great privilege of taking part in Greg Atkinson’s Church 2.0 forum in Dallas.

It was a relaxed four-hour chat about technology, innovation and social justice. I loved that while there are a number of tech forums and conferences out there – Greg is doing this for the Church – for free. He’s keeping folks informed on the tools out there and helping people see how they can put them to use. And of course – these ideas work outside the Church as well.

Social Networking: The Big Ideas

The initial conversation covered using social media (predominantly Twitter and Facebook) in ministry. Greg touched on three big ideas in using both…

1. Listen to what others are saying – be intentional
   Join God where He’s already at work – listen for God activity.
   Follow a wide variety of people and listen – even those you may not agree with. Follow differing political views, religious views, and folks thinking and saying things differently than you do.
   And keep your spiritual antenna up. Look for those folks who have needs. Be aware of where you can offer a helping hand or a word of encouragement.
2. Lifestreaming – aka sharing your day to day thoughts, happenings etc online
   Lifestreaming gives people the chance to see the real you.
   But naturally be you. Be real. Be authentic. Don’t give people a false impression of who you are.
   Greg said he’s now consulting churches and recommending they put far less priority on the polished resumes and pastors who send in their best killer sermon – and instead put more emphasis on following their
   Lifestreams through Twitter, Facebook, blogs, YouTube etc. Know that everyone is watching. Don’t call in sick and then Twitter about eating lunch with friends.
   Pastors, leaders, execs need to break down the walls and be authentic with Lifestreaming.
3. Networking – build your network
   Use social networks to actually network. Take the online – offline.
   Meet together for a movie, dinner, coffee and elsewhere.
   Get out of your Christian bubble – network, meet, hang out with those outside the bubble
   (In the Dallas area? Look for trainfriday.com another one coming soon – or get ideas for your own)

Ways innovation happens

The 2nd session spoke to being innovative in our churches.

Isaiah 43:19 reminds us that “God is an innovator.” Eph. 5:1 encourages us to “Watch what God does – and then do it.”

Innovation is less about being edgy and cool – its about finding Gods activity and jumping on board.

Greg also made sure to point out “There’s no shortcut to innovation – you can’t bypass prayer.” If you want to innovate – pray. Then pray some more. Then pray some more. Keep prayer first and foremost (see “Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire: What Happens When God’s Spirit Invades the Hearts of His People” for more).

1. Revelation – God speaks to you
   God speaks through dreams, visions, music, prayer, worship, reading Scripture and others
2. Inspiration – watch what everyone else is doing
   Take time to visit other churches and groups – see what they’re doing. Watch and adapt what they’re doing for your church.
3. Observation – be students of culture
   Be a learner and watcher of those you come in contact with.
   Realize that you can learn something from everyone you meet.
4. Conversation
   God uses people and the conversations in your life to teach you new things.
   Get some skin in the game! When you get to know others you’ll start to care about them and their needs.
5. Situation – use what you’ve been given
   Greg shared several great stories of how people were innovative because their situation forced them to be.
   One story was of a church who had no musicians in their church or in the area. But they had a DJ. So – they chose to go with a DJ for their worship time. Now they’re known as the hip, trendy, edgy church with a DJ. Not because someone had a brilliant idea – and said, “We’d be hip and edgy and cool if we had a DJ.” It was simply because that’s all they had.
6. Frustration – whatever makes you angry/upset may be why God has placed you there
   Love this idea. I think its super true.
   Greg didn’t spend a lot of time on this – but I think it goes back to many previous posts here.
   What makes you angry, upset or frustrated – that may be the thing God has called you to fix. Be inspired, innovative and do something about it.
7. Desperation – you must be dependent upon God
   Risk and innovation go hand in hand – create a culture where you’re able to fail.
   Church plants are willing to try anything – they’re willing to take risk and be innovative – they have to in order to survive.
   True desperation forces you to be dependent upon God.

The afternoon session was focused on social justice and sharing some of the things God is doing around us and how we can use technology and social networking tools to better the Kingdom.

Had the chance to talk about JustOne and Laundry Love in the process.

We also heard several other stories about some churches using Twitter and Facebook to send out alerts for folks in need.

If your church/ministry isn’t using these tools – you’re missing a great opportunity to meet people exactly where they are.

Overall, while the majority of the ideas weren’t new for me, Greg did a great job of tying it all together for the Kingdom and the forum was a great reminder of how we can/should use the tools available to us for the Kingdom. Plus it was a great networking opportunity and I look forward to getting to know the great folks I met yesterday even more.

For more info on Church 2.0 events check out GregAtkinson.com and follow @gregatkinson.

You can also see all the related tweets about the forum online.