A whopping 2.7 billion people , more than a third of the earth ’ s population , are active on Facebook every month . The platform with the next closest reach is Instagram , which is owned by Facebook . To get a sense for just how widespread Facebook is , if you ’ re in the United States and asked your weekend service attendees how many of them are on Facebook , eight out of ten of them would raise their hands or lift their heads with a curious look on their faces because they were scrolling through Facebook and missed the question that prompted all the raised hands around them . It ’ s widely believed that only older people are using Facebook nowadays , and while it is true that less than 6 percent of users are between thirteen and seventeen years old , that ’ s still 162 million people — nothing to shrug your shoulders at for purposes of ministry . And it ’ s growing .
But beyond the sheer number of users , why use Facebook for ministry ? Many churches invest in their own apps to house content and provide a mechanism to keep members and visitors aware of upcoming church events and other useful information , but these apps stop short of being a regular part of their members ’ lives , something Facebook already is . Whereas people open church apps only for specific reasons ( e . g ., to listen to a sermon , see upcoming events ), the vast majority of Facebook users check it throughout the day simply because it ’ s on their phone and their phone is in their hand . Facebook is already integrated into their daily lives .
Let ’ s go back to an earlier statistic I shared . Right now eight out of ten Americans actively use Facebook . This is the exact inverse of the percentage of people attending a church service on the weekend : two in ten . If you knew that 80 percent of your community gathered every day in one place , wouldn ’ t you strongly consider building a church there ? Allow me to make a careful distinction . I ’ m not asking whether you would consider posting a billboard there ; I ’ m asking whether you would consider building a
church there . Having a Facebook page is great , but it ’ s the digital equivalent of a billboard and , while it can serve as an entryway toward discipleship , the page by itself is not where discipleship happens , just as the auditorium is not where discipleship happens .
“ We must keep our eyes on the horizon to reach the vast sea of people who are searching for an authentic experience with Jesus through an online church community .”
We must keep our eyes on the horizon to reach the vast sea of people who are searching for an authentic experience with Jesus through an online church community .
Instead of swimming against the current of people ’ s behavior patterns and preferences , we should strive , to the best of our ability , to integrate ministry into what ’ s already a familiar experience . When it comes to something as serious as sharing the gospel and transforming lives , if it ain ’ t broke , don ’ t fix it . Go where the people are , and integrate ministry into their routine .
Facebook is not only the largest , most frequently used social media platform , but it is
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