31 May 2017

I’m going to start with a couple of controversial statements:

1.  It’s easier than ever to share the gospel.
2. You can be a missionary in one of the world’s largest “countries”, today!

Sometimes we use work or busyness as an excuse for not sharing the gospel. We even (embarrassingly) admit that because we spend so many hours in the week surrounded by other Christians—especially those of us in predominantly Christian workplaces—we don’t have time to engage with non-Christians.

Switch on and share the gospel!

However, if you’re on social media, you might be surprised to hear how much spare time you actually have. Of the 7 in 10 Aussies who use Facebook, the average user spends more than half a day per week on Facebook. That’s equivalent to at least two or three coffee catch ups with a friend!

At St Michael’s, our mission is to know Christ and make Him known. Did you know that if Facebook were a country, it would have the third largest population in the world, with over 1.9 billion users! The reality is that people are connecting more digitally than ever before… So we can be missionaries every day, and fulfil our church mission on Facebook!

St Michael’s Facebook

To help engage with our community, we have a private St Michael’s Facebook group and a public Facebook page. We use the private group to share everything from family news, prayer points and encouraging stories, to opportunities to serve, and other important notices.

On the other hand, we use our public Facebook page as a sort of ‘front door’, or a first taste of life at St Michael’s.

Our Facebook page has enormous reach. Better yet, it’s inexpensive and measurable! For example, our Christmas video was viewed by over 7,600 people on Facebook for only $30 (compared to the 5000 postcards we letterbox-dropped around the CBD for $200+).

What can you do?

Understandably, social media isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. But if you’re already online, you can help us achieve our church’s mission in the following ways:

• “Like” our Facebook page, and “invite” other friends to like us too!
• Review us on Facebook or Google Maps.
• “Like” our public Facebook posts and share them regularly (this is the best way for more people to see what’s on at church and engage with us).
• “Check in” when you come to church, or attend a church event.
• Send your photos/videos of church events to Lauren or Sandy to use on the public Facebook page.

Using your gifts

1 Peter 4:10 encourages us to ‘use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.’ If communications (photography, video, websites, etc.) or social media are areas where you could serve our church family and further our mission, I’d love to hear from you!

In Him,

Lauren Russell
Communications Director (p/t)