“Social networking tools have become an integral part of most people’s daily lives and relationships. If churches desire to connect with their congregation and community in meaningful ways, then they need to establish a strategy for actively engaging in the social media conversation.”

Churches are turning increasingly to social networking tools as ministry aids and Facebook is by far the most popular tool, according to a new study by LifeWay Research.

The survey of 1,003 Protestant congregations was conducted in September and sponsored by LifeWay’s Digital Church partner, Fellowship Technologies. It found that 47 percent of churches actively use Facebook…

However, a full 40 percent of churches do not use any social networking tools.

“Churches are natural places of interaction,” LifeWay Research Director Scott McConnell said. “Congregations are rapidly adopting social networking, not only to speed their own communication, but also to interact with people outside their church.”

Large churches use Facebook far more than small ones…

Large-city and suburban churches are more likely than their small-city and rural counterparts to use Facebook…

Among churches that utilize social networking tools, 73 percent use them for interacting with the congregation, 70 percent for distributing news and information in an “outbound only” manner, 52 percent for fostering member-to-member interaction and 41 percent for managing the church’s group ministry…

A majority (62%) of churches that utilize social networking tools use them to interact with individuals outside the congregation.

A separate LifeWay Research survey of 1,000 Protestant pastors in October 2010 found that many pastors are personally using social media to interact with their congregations.

Read More: http://www.christianpost.com/article/20110121/study-churches-increasingly-fans-of-facebook-social-media/