iPhone Evangelism
Two ‘Tweeting Vicars’ are trying a bold new experiment for the Information Age: they've joined the social networking site, Twitter.com, to keep their communities in the loop about parish life and news. Twitter's stock-in-trade is the ‘tweet’ – a short, one-sentence message that answers the question “What are you doing?”
Users send tweets to the web from computers or mobile phones throughout the day, and any friend with a Twitter account can sign up to follow their stories live and to send messages back and forth.
The Revd Mark Lawson-Jones of Magor Benefice started tweeting from his iPod around February. The Revd Will Ingle-Gillis of the Caerwent Group followed suit in May to coincide with the launch of a new parish-group website.
Mark says, “Whether I am publicising events, services, social events, or even prayer requests, Twitter gets information to many people with very little effort. With a bit more effort, you can post pictures, web page links, even podcasts of sermons and talks. It can even help clergy keep up to date with current events and news in the Anglican Communion.”
Will adds, “This is a fantastic tool for keeping a modern, tech-savvy person up-to-date with parish life – including, perhaps, some who are curious, but not yet active Church-goers. It’s not limited by geography. It promotes conversation amongst priest and people in an active, inclusive way. And, used well, it can give parishioners a live view – and possibly a different perspective – on life in a dog collar.”
You can keep up with Mark’s and Will’s adventures in the Great Big World by signing on to Twitter at http://twitter.com/ and following @MarkTweet and @CPGfatherwill.
The Caerwent Group website is on www.caerwent-parishes.org