There is definitely no reference in the Bible about Online Social Networking, but Social Networking is what we are build for. I mean we are relational being, we need to gather and encourage, we need to connect and especially we need to connect with our God – our Creator. Jesus come to fix that connection.

I put my own thoughts down in August last year concerning this: The Church and Social Networking . Yet recently this topic come up again and again – which is just a logic progression of the Church becoming more involved Online.

But in this present time and most assuredly in the future we will be able to connect with the whole world by means of the internet. An Online gathering of the Saints so to speak and most certainly a place where we can be a light to the Online Community.

In an article I read today on GeniusDV: Churches Flock to Internap for Online Messages there is an interesting  quote:

According to The Barna Group in a study1 about Protestant churches’ use of technology, 62 percent of churches currently have an Internet presence, up from 34 percent in 2000 and one in four are available on social-networking sites. Additionally, 16 percent engage in podcasting and 13 percent are avidly blogging. The study points to the growing presence of religious groups and companies taking advantage of the latest Web 2.0 technologies to engage their congregation and spread their message to a larger audience.

This just re-affirms the fact that so many Churches are leveraging the connectivity offered by Online Social Networking.

You can even garner from Ragamuffinsoul’s thoughts on what will the Local American Church look like in 20 years as well as from the comments where the Local Church is heading – in any country. And the likes of LifeChurch.tv and CrossPoint.tv are leading the way in the Online Community.

But then what should Churches do in order to leverage this? Well, learn from the best out there, learn from the Market Place where companies do this for a living, just as ChurchCrunch suggests A Social Media Strategy for Ministry 

[added 31st Jan: Don't be Stupid: You Need to be Online  lol, quite harsh by ChurchCrunch, but he is right we, as a Church, need to be online.]