How Non-Denominational Christian Churches use Facebook

Social Media has been a very present and effective source of communication for a couple of years now, but it has not always been around. Our society has had to learn to adapt to this new source of media that has allowed us to communicate in so many more different ways than we had before. Facebook is one of the first, and pretty much the predecessor of all social media sites to follow. It has many different features that allow people to communicate and share information more easily. Different religions have different views on the use of media to unite their congregation. One religion in particular that I have been looking at in my case study is the non-denominational Christian churches. These churches are very much about modernity and using technology and new forms of media to better communicate and relate to a congregation who is continuously growing in this information age. They are very much about living in the future and moving forward rather than dwelling on the past, and that shows in the way they operate and function. One way this is shown is how they use social media sites like Facebook to communicate to their members. Through this case study, I will be examining how non-denominational churches use Facebook to communicate to their members and why.

            The first thing that I examined was the Facebook page of “Christian” in general. When a Facebook member “likes” the Christian Facebook page, they are opened up to a world of information that they can use. This page is supplied with different groups and people who are also Christian and may be living near you. Users can come to this page and find people in their area that can help point them to the right worship community for them. What this Facebook page lacks, though, is the idea of community. The Christian Facebook page is more of a resource rather than a communication tool. So I decided to look deeper and focus on specific worship communities, which led me to observing different non-denominational churches.

            Non-denominational churches are very much about living in the present and making Christianity your own. They preach some of the same ideas as more traditional Christian churches, but they also are much more modern and contemporary and adhere to the needs of Christians living today. One way that they do this is through their Facebook page. The church that I looked at, in particular, was the church I attend back home, Riverpointe Church. One of the first things that I noticed that they do for their members is provide podcasts on their Facebook page of the sermons that they might have missed on Sunday. This tactic is seen as a double edged sword, especially to those who are of the more traditional churches. This makes the sermons more accessible for congregation members, but it also gives them a reason to not have to get up, get dressed in their Sunday best, and head to church on Sunday. The Christian religion has always been about putting Jesus Christ as your first priority, especially on Sundays, and by allowing members of the congregation  to negate that by providing a podcast goes against this. On the other hand, in today’s society people have become much more busy, especially on the weekends, and while they very much wish that they could make it to church Sunday morning and watch the sermon in person, they are just not able to. By providing this podcast on Facebook, they are able to listen in and worship just as they would if they had gone to church that Sunday, only this time it is in front of a computer screen instead of in the church.

            Another church I looked at was Breakaway ministries here in College Station and how they used their Facebook page. They are different from Riverpointe in that they use their Facebook page as more of a way to encourage people to come to Breakaway. All of their posts are about upcoming dates, parking information, etc. rather than podcasts, scriptures, and other inspirational things. They very much enforce the idea of community in Christianity and would rather the student body come together to worship, rather than worship on their own in private. By not providing the messages that they would be sharing at the breakaway sermons on their Facebook page, people are more like to come see it in person rather than worship on their own time.

            Non-denominational churches are changing the way people look at Christianity, and technology and social media sites like Facebook are definitely helping them doing that. By looking at the Christian Facebook page, the Riverpointe Church Facebook page, and the Breakaway Ministries Facebook page, I’ve been able to gather information and better understand how Facebook is being utilized to help these churches reach more members and make Christianity a more accessible and inviting religion than it has been in the past.

Focusing Observations and Looking for Trends in Lived Religion Online

This week I've decided to focus on River Pointe Church and how they communicate religion through their Facebook page.
       Something that they are focusing on in church currently is "Brush with Greatness". Being motivated in your everyday life by your love and faith in Jesus. While most churches/ members of the Christian church may communicate this by just posting a bible verse, the pastor at River Pointe, Patrick Kelley, posts his own interpretation of what "Brush with Greatness means instead of solely scriptures from the bible:

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Through these #BrushWithGreatness posts, River Pointe is trying to communicate the importance of faith in Jesus Christ:

 

                                       

Many people say that they do or do not have Faith in Jesus Christ, but River Pointe is trying to communicate the idea that sometimes people may lose sight, or may not have ever known what faith actually is. This allows members of the church and religion the opportunity to reflect on their own lives and what they think faith is to them. They're communicating the idea that in order to have a Brush with Greatness, you have to have faith in Jesus Christ and faith that he is going to guide you to where you need to be.  They also include a hashtag so that members of the River Pointe church may respond through tweeting or making their own Facebook status about what Faith means to them and how they are trying to live this message out in their every day lives. River Pointe is very much about allowing the congregation to have a voice in the church and how important community is to their mission and values, and that is why things like hashtags and the ability to comment on these different quotes are encouraged throughout River Pointes Facebook page. 

     Another thing that is happening currently at River Pointe church is that Patrick Kelley is  traveling across the globe to speak with different famous figures about what role Jesus plays in their life and how they live their life accordingly. The first segment of this series included Patrick speaking with Dave Turin, from the History Channel's series "Gold Rush". In case members were unable to attend the service this past sunday, River Pointe has posted the main take away as well as the video that was shown during the service: 

The first way that River Pointe communicates religion to it's audience through this is by sharing what they think the take away message from the interview was. "I'm not about rules and regulations, I'm about a relationship with the creator of the universe." In this interview Dave talks about how he grew up in the Catholic church and how there were so many rules that he felt like he had to follow in order to be a good Christian and a good person. He says because of this he felt like he could never be good enough, and it wasn't until he joined a non-denominational church and developed his own relationship with Jesus that he started to feel like he was living his life to the fullest and living his life for his Jesus. This is important to River Pointe because they too are a non-denominational church that strives to get the message across that a personal relationship with Jesus Christ is more powerful and fulfilling than the many rules and regulations that other church's believe are important in order to get into Heaven. This and the fact that Dave Turin is a famous celebrity strongly encourage these ideas and communicate that even celebrities have a relationship with Jesus and are able to avoid the temptations and negative aspects of fame because of this.

   

   Patrick Kelley has interviewed several other celebrities like Dave and throughout this series plans to share their stories in hopes of communicating this idea that a relationship with Jesus Christ is the best thing that we can do for our lives. The next interview with a celebrity that River Pointe plans to share with their congregation is with Kylie Bisutti, a former Victoria Secret model who left the world of Super modeling in order to become a proverbs 31 woman and wife: 

This interview will speak more to women and how Fame, Beauty, and Glamour often cloud our minds as something that is supposed to be important. Through this interview, River Pointe is hoping to express that a relationship with Jesus Christ and being a strong woman of faith is more important than any of these other ideas that many women struggle with through out their lives. By interviewing a former super model, someone who was constantly surrounded by all of these ideals, and how she has bettered her life by leaving these behind in order to grow closer towards life, River Pointe is communicating the idea that this strong relationship with Jesus is so much greater than fame, beauty and glamour combined. They will most likely post the link to the interview along with the take away message this sunday after the service.

Not only does River Pointe try to make an impact on it's members during their church service through the many interesting series and messages that they share, but they also strive to impact their members on social media as well. When you are a member of River Pointe, church does not end on Sunday if you are a part of their Facebook page. They are constantly posting things in order to keep their members engaged as well as to communicate their main idea that a strong, personal relationship with Jesus Christ is more important than any of the other things that we think we need. Through their posts, they try to communicate the idea that the best life is had through our faith in Jesus and his plan for all of us. I think that this aligns very much with the emerging church movement and the mission of many non-denominational churches. They strive to encourage just the idea of faith and love for Jesus and all of his children, rather than preaching about all of the different things that you cannot do in order to have Jesus's love and acceptance. Through the non-denominational churches, there is no such thing as "I'm not good enough". They preach the idea that Jesus's love is unconditional and he loves you and is there for you even if you don't deserve it. They communicate that if you have faith in Jesus and that personal relationship with him then he will lead you to the promised land and will help you live a happy life.

Identifying Trends in the Performance and Construction of Lived Religion Online

After examining the Facebook pages of  Christians as a whole, Riverpointe Church, and Breakaway Ministries, I have noticed some common trends among the three as well as some distinct differences in the way that they express their religion.
      One common trend that I saw was they each provide information on how current and potential members can participate in worship as well as other things. The "Christian" Facebook page provides different Facebook groups that people who have "Liked" the page can look into in order to find out how they can further worship. They also provide related pages that people can like and look into to see how else they can get involved. The Riverpointe Church Facebook page is constantly posting opportunities for members to get involved with their church. Riverpointe has several extracurricular events going on outside of Sunday worship service, and they always make sure to let their members know what they have going on and how members can get involved. Breakaway ministries posts every week where their service is, how members can avoid traffic and get their conveniently, as well as a quick sentence on what will be talked about that week. Each of the Facebook pages use Facebook as a means of communicating what they are doing at the moment and how members can get involved and share in worship. A similarity that I saw between the Riverpointe and Breakaway Facebook pages is that they both provide podcasts on their Facebook pages for their members to listen to in case they missed their sermon. They understand that we are a busy group of people, and sometimes making Sunday and Tuesday worship is difficult with our busy schedules. By providing podcasts and posting them on their Facebook page, members are able to easily access the sermons that they may have missed out on. When you "Like" either of the pages, everything that each church post on their page immediately goes into the news feed of each of their members, which allows members to see them immediately and to listen in.
     While there are many similarities between each Facebook page, there is also a number of differences between the three. For starters, the Christian Facebook page is more for the religion as a whole rather than and individual church. While it serves as a resource for members to find a church or group that they can join and further their worship, it is not an actual organization that members can be a part of like Riverpointe Church and Breakaway ministries are. One of the main differences between Riverpointe and Breakaway is that Riverpointe posts more content that includes scripture, videos reflecting the message of the week, statements for members to reflect on before the church service on Monday, etc. Breakaway Ministries Facebook serves as more of a resource for members to see where the service will be that week and how they can get their easily. Riverpointe uses Facebook as a way of updating their members, as well as communicating Christianity to it's members throughout the week.
   While each Facebook page has their similarities and differences, they all for sure have one thing in common and that is that they provide a place for Christians to come together online and communicate their love for Jesus Christ in whichever way they choose. They each take denomination out of the equation and allow members to worship Jesus in the way that best fits them. Where as more organized Christian churches come with rules and restrictions, the two churches I've chosen to study give members the ability to worship Jesus freely and the way that best serves them. While critics may not be the best fans of this idea, I think that these non-denominational churches best reflect the purpose of the Emerging Church Movement and everything that that includes, and a lot of that is demonstrated in how they use their Facebook pages to reach their members.
After looking at all of this information, My research question for this case study will be: "How do non-denominational Christian churches use Facebook to either communicate or not communicate religion to their members, and why?"

More investigations in Lived Religion in Social Media

To continue my observations of the way different churches use Facebook to communicate to their members, I have chose to look at yet another church that uses Facebook as one of their means of communication. Locally in College Station, we have what is called Breakaway Ministries. This is a weekly non-denominational worship service held at various locations on campus that allows college students to take a break from their studies and join together to praise Jesus. This ministry is another example of the Emerging Church Movement that is taking over today in that it uses several forms of technology and different ways of worship that adheres to the worship practices of College Students.

One thing that  I found interesting about their Facebook page is that they have included a section that allows members to review their experience at Breakaway:

This provides current and potential new members of the Breakaway Ministries to get a feel of what they might be getting into by participating. This is an excellent way of using Facebook to reach out to members that may want to worship with other Christians on campus, but may not know what the place to do so is. Instead of just the ministry talking about what they have to offer and what someone may get out of worship, this feature on their Facebook page allows potential new members to hear from current members. This gives members more of a voice.

Something that I have noticed about this Facebook Page is that they do not post about their religion. Any pictures that are posted are just pictures that show the amount of people that come to each worship service:

The most that is sad is "God is the God of everyone", keeping it very open to all religions. This shows to potential new members that Breakaway is very popular among the Texas A&M campus. In order for members to know what they're going to get out of going to Breakaway they will have to go and see for themselves. 

Most of their other posts are more about letting members know where Breakaway is going to be that week and how they can get there: 

Breakaway uses their Facebook more to inform their members on how they can participate in Breakaway each week, instead of pushing religion on them. Even the status's they post are very short and just inform and remind members about Breakaway each week.

I think that Breakaway does this because they want to maintain that anyone, of any religion, can come to worship. One of the things that they posted from one of the pictures I posted above was "God is the God of everyone". I think their message is that at the end of the day, we all worship a higher being of some sort. Breakaway aims to accomodate college students from all different backgrounds, so by refraining from posting scriptures or other Christian propaganda they let current and future members to understand that all religions and backgrounds are welcome. Yes, they are a Christian based ministry. But much of what they talk about is life lessons, adapting to college, dealing with the different things that may arise in the life of a college student, etc. They aim to attract college students in general, not just Christian ones, and they keep this philosophy by keeping their Facebook page as more of a means of communicating reminders and updates to their members, instead of communicating their religion.

    

Studying User Generated Religion

Originally, I wanted to do my case study on how Facebook tends to be an outlet for people to use there faith and religion in order to defend their social views. But because currently there is nothing that has warranted such debates, I wanted to change my focus.In class we learned about the Emerging Church Movement, and  I want to look at how some christian churches have started to use technology, including social media, to reach more of their members.
      To start things off, I wanted to look at Christianity as a whole and it's use of Facebook. The first thing I did in order to see how Facebook was able to do this was type the word "Christians" in the search bar. Not only did it present me with all of the people, whether I know them or not, who identify with the Christian Religion, but it also gave me a page entitled "Christian" that I could like in order to find and interact with more people like myself who identify as "Christian". 

The page gave me a definition of what being a Christian is as well as supplied me with several different groups, people, as well as other related pages that would help me find other people that I could potentially interact with. On top of this, when I like the page entitled "Christian", I enable this page to add several things that affiliated with the christian religion to my news feed. Through this, I was able to find  a great resource to find different Christians in my area as well as a place to interact with others who have the same views as me. If I had been a Christian in a new place without the use of Facebook, I guarantee you it would have been a lot more difficult for me to find not only a good church or other place to worship, but it would have also been difficult me to find people in this new place that share the same views and practices that I do.
       Although this is a great resource for finding other Christians in the area, it, of course, has some limitations to it. One of the elements of the Christian church that I have always personally enjoyed is the social element. It is always nice to walk into church Sunday morning and see all of your friends their ready to join in worship with you. While this form of communication does identify and bring different people together under one page, there is not much of a social element to it (which is ironic considering it is a social media site). You don't know the people personally, you just know that they are a Christian just like you. This page takes away the ability to build relationships and worship together with others. It is more for those who choose to worship individually.

   

      After viewing this, I have decided to narrow my study on particular churches and how they are playing a part in the Emerging Church Movement. I want to focus on how social media is used to bring its members together as well as inform them on the many different things to expect from the Riverpointe Church. My first church of focus would be the church I attend back home, River Pointe Church of Richmond, Texas.
        Something very interesting that they do is they include not only the take away message from the previous sermon, but they also include a podcast so that members are able to tune in a listen to what they have missed.

What's unique about this is that it provides members the opportunity to listen to the service even if they aren't able to go to church that morning. This effects how religion is communicated in the fact that it provides members of the church the opportunity to not go to church that Sunday. Most christian churches say that Sunday is the day for worship, and that includes waking up, dressing nice, and going to the sanctuary for worship with the rest of the christian community. This affects this in that members are not only able to stay in there pajamas and listen to the sermon and worship from home, but they are also able to do so on other days besides Sunday. The christian religion emphasizes putting God and Jesus Christ as their first priority, especially on Sundays, but by providing this podcast on Facebook, members are given the opportunity to put him second to their own needs. While members are still able to capture the take away from the sermon, which I personally think is most important, this form of communicating religion does go against what the bible and traditional practices of Christianity have taught.

       Another thing that I have found from looking at the Riverpointe Church Facebook Page was that they provide different quotes, scriptures, and questions for members to reflect on before they go to church on Sunday. 

Through this members are able to really reflect on their own lives for a bit before they listen to the full sermon. The limitations to this, though, are that most conventional churches believe you should do as the bible say. What you believe about your own life doesn't matter as much as what God whats for your life. Even so, I think that this provides a way for members to both reflect on how they are living their own life as well as integrate what God and Jesus Christ wants for them. This gives the member the opportunity to accept or not accept God into their life, whereas traditional religions preach that you shouldn't have a choice, and that to get into heaven you must live your life the way God intends. In fact, the word "Sex" would not even be brought up in traditional Christian churches.

How people use Christianity and Facebook

          I have been an avid Facebook user since the year 2006. I have also been a Christian since as long as I can remember. Both play big parts of my life, but I have never thought about what happens when the two intertwine.  When I do, I find that several people have used Facebook and Christianity as a way to send hope to everyone who can see the status, but they have also used them as a way to express their views on certain controversial issues that we see today.

 I am very private about my views on certain issues as well as my religion and like to keep it to myself. Even though I am strong in my faith, I am very open to other people’s opinions and don’t like to use the “the bible is law” approach when it comes to certain controversial issues that we deal with today. Other members of the Christian church are not so private about their religion.  Through this case study, I want to look at how some people use both Facebook and the bible to spread their views on certain issues. I find this very interesting because I've noticed that whenever this happens most people respond with their own argument backed up with scripture. No one ever really seems to take the time to have an open mind and actually listen to what other people have to say about certain issues. Certain people become stuck in their ways and their views, and they use the bible as a way to prove that they’re right. I think that it is because of people like this that the Christian religion is seen as judgmental and closed-minded.

Facebook has been used as an outlet for several people to express their views on certain issues, but my main focus is how some Christians use the “bible is law” approach to certain issues, and how they express this through the infamous social media outlet that is Facebook.