An article was recently posted to Interpreter Online discussing Facebook in a way that I had not previously thought of. What happens when a clergy person leaves a church with hundreds of Facebook friends left behind? From the article:
Thousands of United Methodist churches are saying goodbye to leaders they have come to love and depend on and welcoming new pastors — it is the United Methodist way.
As the season of itineration progresses, a growing number of pastors won’t just have to deal with physically moving and saying good-bye in person. Many will need to find a way to disconnect in cyberspace.
“I was thinking, how do you leave with grace and make that separation while still being connected through social media?” asked the Rev. Laura Heikes who moved in mid-June from First United Methodist Church, New Braunfels, Texas, to Bee Creek United Methodist Church in Spicewood.
Many of us have become dependent on the various social networks over the last few years. They have become one of the biggest ways in which we can keep up with what is going on in the lives of people that we know. What used to be a lengthy time commitment can be boiled down to a quick message or wall post. Many people can be contacted at once. Again, from the article:
“I have had young people especially message me on Facebook when in the old’ days they would have come to my office.” She has also received alerts from members of the congregation when someone is in the hospital.
“We have a family that is adopting a child and instead of having to call that family and see how things are going, she posts what is going on on her status updates,” Heikes said. “I can also see how the congregation is responding to changes and issues based on the dialogue … on Facebook.”
The church’s Facebook page is a quick way to communicate and hold meetings without worrying about child care or finding a room, said Ralph Leal, lay leader at New Braunfels.
One way to manage all of these connections in Facebook is to take advantage of the List feature. You can easily create lists and add segments of your friends. Once your friends list gets up into the low to mid hundreds range this tool becomes invaluable. Click on the Friends link and then click the Create a list button.
Facebook friends list
Twitter has the same list functionality. You can quickly and easily segment your twitter feeds into relevant lists to make managing the updates a lot easier. You can access this functionality by clicking on the Lists link on the homepage.
Twitter friends list
Linkedin does the friends list a bit differently from the previous two examples. This website organizes connections into tags. You can access this information in the My Connections area of the website.
Linkedin.com Connection Tags
So, what are the rules? What happens for those of us who itinerate? Do we purge the various friends lists in order to make room for potentially hundreds more? Do we pick and choose certain close friends and leave the rest behind? What happens if we keep them all? Do we become overwhelmed with all of the noise? Let’s start a dialog. Let us know what you think in the comments section below.
(Love the screenshots!)
I’ve had to deal with this too. At least one member of my last church contacted me through FB requesting to speak with me. I directed them to their current pastor, as I would if they called or emailed. That part was simple enough.
But I’m still seeing what they’re doing via their posts. I’ve tried to restrain myself, though, from commenting on their posts unless they ask me a question in the comments. Then I reply with the barest of answers. It wouldn’t be good pastoral care in the midst of our parting for me to un-friend them.
What do we do, I wonder, when the pastor that follows us doesn’t do FB? There are life events (like a car wreck, someone’s relative that died, etc) that have happened to my previous congregation members that I know about from their FB posts. One a couple of serious occasions, I told their current pastor about it. It’s hard to do that, though, without that pastor feeling as if I’m still involved in their congregation.
-Taylor
When the new pastor isn’t currently using FB it possible to transfer this communications function to a layperson? (to ask a member of the church you left to keep an eye on FB and transmit important news to the new pastor?) Maybe constantly hearing “I heard on FB that…” will be enough incitement to get the new pastor interested in social networking. Or maybe an occasional gentle reminder: “I am praying for you and your family. Has anyone contacted Rev. ____, yet?”
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Is Facebook becoming an essential tool then? Should all of our clergy get involved? At what point does so many of our people make use of social networks that it becomes a requirement?
I find Facebook essential. One of the unique things about Facebook is that it has allowed us to reconnect with “old friends” in a way not nearly as likely to happen before. It also though shows us how there is nothing like “being there”- i.e., getting pics of someone and their new baby is not nearly the same thing than actually being there to see the new little one, but it is better than having nothing at all.
I’ve considered the implications for itinerant ministry in much the same way as I have dealt with phone calls and visits from former parishioners- I welcome the contact, but make it clear that I am no longer their pastor. Pastoral issues are referred to their current pastor, just as they have always been. Sometimes I have been the one to make the call, telling the current pastor about something I became aware of via Facebook.
In many ways, the issue again comes down to a sense of teamwork. God was here before I arrived, and those tending this field before me have simply handed me the baton that I will in turn hand on to those who follow. I do compete against those others- indeed to think that way is likely a source of sinful division- but rather am on the same team. Anything I can do to help the team- gleaning from those who came before and assisting those who come behind me- is all part of the connection. These new tools need to be used in that same sense of teamwork.