Welcome! Click the links below to see preliminary results from the
State of the Church Online | Member Community and Social Networks survey.

If you haven’t already, please add your voice to this research by taking the survey.
* Results based on data collected through August 24,2009.

• Social Media in Ministry
• Discussion
• Return to Project Page

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Social Media in Ministry

In this section:

• Top Challenges to Implementing
• Opinions about Usage

Top Challenges to Implementing Social Media in Churches

According the early results, 42 percent of all respondents indicate “Amount of effort required” is one of the top three challenges to implementing social media in their church. Rounding out the top five are:

• Determining ROI (return on investment) – 24 percent
• Fostering real community – 22 percent
• Identifying appropriate goals – 22 percent
• Getting church leaders/pastors to buy in – 22 percent

Early results from the survey also indicate a disconnect between what church leaders perceive as challenges to implementation and what church members believe.

• 33 percent of church leaders identified “Fostering real community” and “Identifying appropriate goals” as a top three challenge compared to only 5 percent of church members.
• 25 percent of church members believe “Reconciling social media tactics with internal processes” and “Not sure how to get started” as top challenges, compared to only 10 percent and 7 percent of church leaders (respectively)
• Similarly, 20 percent of church members believe “Potential exposure to negative behavior or explicit content”, “Steep learning curve” and “People posing as representatives of our church” to be top challenges, compared to only 7 percent, 7 percent, and 0 percent of church leaders (respectively)

Opinions about Usage

In Progress