Church is not the Sunday morning service. If that is all it is then advertising and whatever might help.

And if you want to bash attenders and those that are trying new things to get people in the doors go right ahead. But you aren't going to grow the church by knocking people that are trying something different. Yes they might not be after the right thing.

You want to fill pews, when was the last time you saw someone raised from the dead because they fell out of a window at a late night service. What about gathering together to pray (every day). How about selling everything people have to help those that are in need.

If you want to bash things, twitter would not be high on my list of things to bash. There are many things that are not the same as the early days of the church.

Seems to me that twittering is far closer to what the authors of Hebrews meant by encouraging each other when we meet together than sitting in rows all facing the same way listening passively. Talk about culture affecting our faith....

Its a mistake that many conservative Christians make to assume that European and Enlightenment age cultural norms are biblically mandated. For instance, the author asks, "When people cannot focus on an hour long sermon, it is time to take a step back and reexamine both our faith and culture." Are we to assume that Jesus call on our lives is to sit still in a pew for an hour? The "epistles" of James, Hebrews, and perhaps even Colosians/Ephesians are considered by some NT scholars to be ancient Christan sermons. Read them outloud and it will not take an hour. Similarly, look at Jesus teaching and preaching. Imitating a 1st Century Palestinian Rabbi in a conservative Christian church will look pretty bizarre.

Those are good points. Church is more than the Sunday service and just because it's been done one way for awhile doesn't mean that's the only way. That said, I'm skeptical of churches who resort to the latest fads to try to win souls. Don't get me wrong, I love Twitter, but neither that nor Facebook nor daily inspirational emails can adequately substitute for face-to-face relationships whether romantic or spiritual, and Sunday service should be the gateway to connect newcomers with other members.

You sound like that old guy who yells "get off my lawn" at the neighbor kids.

Hasn't every generation had to explain to the elders that new technology is neither intrinsically evil nor intrisically good? It is, of course, whatever anyone makes of it. And, for goodness' sake, just because it works for some doesn't mean those people are forcing everyone to, or even implying that everyone should, embrace it. And just because some do, doesn't mean you have to or have to like it if you do.

The problem with rigid theology in the evangelical church is, well, the rigid theology: the type that says there's only one way to be right, there's only one way to have church, there's only one way to do EVERYTHING. This isn't a problem. It's an opportunity. Wake up!

I've got to say, though, that "Church -- it's hard and boring" as an organizing priniciple had me LOL. Having done a fair amount of church-shopping last year after I moved, I can report that more churches take that approach than you'd think. I'll take "Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors" instead thank you very much.

I suppose when Jesus came on the scene it was a new teaching, anew fad. The masses was following Him. He took tradition and turned it on it's head. The elders were throwing a fit to the point they wanted Him dead.Twitter is a long way from Jesus but the principle is the same. Jesus said go into all the world. What is different from a radio sermon or T.V? It is a means of going.

I love the Alan Jackson song "If Jesus Walk the World Today" It reminds me that at so many levels Jesus was anti-establishment and he remained true to his message in the face both indifference and support. I think many of our former radio or T.V. evangilist may have slipped somewhere along on their journey.
I'm on the tail end of the boomer generation. I grew up without PCs, the internet, cable TV and all those other things we take for granted today. I also use, subscribe to or participate in all those new technologies.
Remaining true to the message means the manner of communicating is irrelevant. That being, I don't care if the hymn was written in the 6th century or in 2009. If it shares the message it is good and should be used. If it distracts from the message I don't care how new or how traditional, do away with it.

Early Christians didn’t have to worry about making the message look like the latest fad... died and was raised back to life."

Peter and Paul and the rest healed people. They raised people from the dead.

That's a pretty good show put on to help people to listen. They used the methods of their time in approach, in location, to get a hearing.

The problem with sitting for an hour to hear a Sunday lecture is that people don't see any particular difference in lives or life for those who do listen. Nor is this a contemporary common approach to any other form of learning. Not even most classrooms have an hour of lecture anymore. A big reason for this is because learning patterns have been better studied, and if we want people to learn, rather than put their time in for some works related salvation, we communicate in the best pedagogical fashion as possible. Like interaction.

Something Jesus modeled. But, we too often think we know better than Jesus, so don't allow questioning, or living life together, or other forms of interaction. We just want people to show up, sit down, listen, put their money in and leave.

People seem to think that using Twitter in church will be good for the community - that it will give churchgoers new ways to fellowship.

It doesn't.

The writer of Hebrews told his readers, “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another - and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” (Hebrews 10:25) He meant that literally. No matter how advanced communication methods become, there will never be an adequate substitute for face-to-face interaction, and there will never be a replacement for real-life fellowship.

We have souls, and we crave interaction with other souls, but we also have bodies. When we communicate through technology, we functionally disembody ourselves. There’s a great difference, for example, between talking to your mother on the phone and talking to her in person. When you can communicate with someone unseen without even using your voice, you separate yourself even further. Misunderstandings become more commonplace and relationship building more difficult. Instead of bringing us closer to those around us, technologies like twitter actually tend to separate us - and it’s hard to teach people about the glories of the incarnation while dis-incarnating yourself online.

Communication has always been a key part of Christianity, and the Church should certainly learn to make use of new methods. The modern Evangelical church would not exist in its current form if the printing press had never been invented, and today’s technology may become similarly useful for the Church, but not if we don’t keep our eyes open.

So should you tweet during church? No, unless perhaps you are trying to help someone far away (say, in the mission field) feel marginally included. When you are in church, you should be in church, and you risk being less than fully present if you’re busy with your iphone. Concentrate instead on worshiping the Lord with your body and your soul - your community will thrive when all eyes are on Him.

I personally think this Twittering in churches has gone too far, it's just too much information that can take up too much of your day. We were recently contacted with what we thought was a better alternative to Twitter by a company in Phoenix, AZ that is called MCJC Ventures, LLC. They offer and provide an existing "texting" platform to get one daily message out to our church's donors and members. I called the company back (480) 236-9272 and asked them about it, they gladly sent me some information on it. I asked them if they have any churches currently using their texting platform and they told me Creflo Dollar Ministries and Jamal Bryant Ministries (but mainly megachurches in the Phoenix area) that have been using it for some time now. They charge each donor or "subscriber" as he put it $4.99/mo. to get a daily custom text message directly from the church (news, events, etc.) and the church gets a good portion of that back in donation revenue. He said many churches are dumping Twitter for this platform because they can control the daily message much better than on Twitter. Could this be the new technology to increase a church's revenues? Probably. Anyone else heard about this?
Carla

I have some interesting information about MCJC Ventures if anyone would like an inside scoop on the practices of this company.

Alright I can see both sides of why you may or may not want people to twitter during church. As far as making it the 11th commandment that might be going too far. As long as people really are using it to help others that aren't there or to help their friends get there then it's fine. The problem is that not everyone will be doing that. I say we have a little patience and just let people make their own decisions regarding it.