Sermon Series: The Theology of Twitter
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Does Twitter preach?
We’re starting a new sermon series at my church, Trietsch, next week. We’re calling it “The Theology Of Twitter”. We started out by asking ourselves, is Twitter redeemable? Is there something for the church and for Jesus followers to learn by looking at this hot social networking site?
We think there is. In fact, we’re very excited about it. Here’s what we came up with:
Concept: Teaching about the true nature of the Church
Main Idea: To encourage people to be connected with one another, and to find that the Church is that connection.
Human Condition: Aloneness and Isolation. Even with others, we can feel lonely. we all have a need to be in real, life-changing community.
Metaphor: Twitter (and other social networking sites)
The sermon series will be a three week arc, beginning May 17th and ending on the 31st, which for those who follow the Christian year is Pentecost, or the day we celebrate the beginning of the Church as recorded in Acts 2.
The first week, on May 17th, will ask the question, what is the church meant to be? Many people have false or incomplete ideas about the true calling and ideal of the church. While granted, the church often falls short, there is a power in the body of Christ that cannot be found in other places people gather to find community. Here are notes on the first week:
May 17
Scripture: 1 Corinthians 12, the Body of Christ
Main Idea: The church is the ultimate social network.
Metaphor / Connection Point: An overview of social networking as a way to introduce what the church is called to be / what it is meant to be.
Goal: To teach what it means to be the body of Christ as a church, a community of believers.
There is a unity of diversity in the body of Christ, characterized by interdependence with God’s blessing (made holy or sanctified). Our goal is not just come, but grow and serve. Those who just attend worship have a self-focus just like those on twitter who just post about their own lives have a self-focus. For Sunday AM worshippers, sitting in the sanctuary is not church. Being a part of a group of believers, growing and serving together, is church.
More on the other two weeks of the series coming soon.
Shawn Coons said,
Wrote on May 6, 2009 @ 10:30 pm
It sounds like you will be contrasting twitter (and other social networks) with the church. If so, I think it’s a false dichotomy. Online networks can be extensions of any community, including the community of faith.
I’m curious to see where this series goes.
The MO Guys said,
Wrote on May 6, 2009 @ 11:36 pm
Hey Shawn,
Thanks for the post. Interesting thought. Our goal is not simply to contrast – to say, Twitter isn’t a faith community but the church is, because you’re right, that would be a false dichotomy. Rather, we hope to use Twitter and social networking sites as a metaphor, or entry point by comparison and contrast, into a discussion on what the nature of community is, and what the Church is meant to be as a community of faith for believers. In fact, we’re planning on using examples of people being the body of Christ to one another through Twitter.
Your comment helps to clarify.
The MO Guys said,
Wrote on May 6, 2009 @ 11:42 pm
Also, it’s worth mentioning here that the definition of Church is not a building or an institution but a body of believers sharing a common faith in Jesus Christ. As such, the Church can exist on Twitter, and in any variety of mediums. The point of our first week is that the body of Christ was created and is called to be the ultimate social network, wherever it pops up.
osborn4 said,
Wrote on May 11, 2009 @ 10:04 am
I like the concept. But I’m not sure how effective it would be with, say, the oldest 30% of our congregation. Facebook is around a lot in our church, in all generations. Twitter, not so much (not even me 8-{/> ).
osborn4 said,
Wrote on May 11, 2009 @ 10:08 am
Looks like your email panel isn’t working correctly. When I try to send, I get
An error has occurred:
» Image Verification failed
Even though I typed in the correct text for the image verification. I tried a couple of time, but no joy.
Thought you would want to know.
mdavis said,
Wrote on May 14, 2009 @ 6:20 pm
Interesting concept. Agreed, connectedness and authentic community are often overlooked in the Body of Christ. I’m a firm believer that technology can help facilitate some of that. (but not create it) Am a part of a Twitter project (ParaTweet.com) for live experiences…perhaps it could help the series.
Twitter Sermon Series Getting National Media Attention | Midnight Oil Productions said,
Wrote on May 26, 2009 @ 8:04 pm
[...] Mound, TX, is “The Theology of Twitter.” Regular readers of this blog may remember it previously discussed here. Two weeks into the series, it is getting national [...]