Blog Post No. 25 - Reading Time: 3:40

I know some churches have greatly expanded their reach into the internet and some are even getting results. I can’t say I’ve seen the benefit, except some of our congregation gets to see what they missed when they are absent from church. Also about a year ago Facebook “unpublished” our church’s page because of Community Standards Violations. This led me to restarting our Calvary Website and returning to publishing our service videos on YouTube. We get copyright strikes there for our music (even though we have a streaming licensing through CCLI), but at least they don’t seem to care or notice what I say. I then provide a link from my Facebook page to the video and we post the video on our website also.

I think that’s enough, but somehow we feel we have lost a way of announcing our upcoming events. I try to include them on my Facebook page, and a few of our people share them on their pages as well. Yet, I don’t feel we are adequately getting the word out about our special services, events, and guests speakers. There’s always that question as to whether people don’t care to participate or they are simply not aware of what we are doing.

Regardless, after a year of Facebook Jail for our church’s page, today I deleted it permanently. It was actually a good feeling. Now I don’t have to think about it anymore. Maybe I could even start a new one. That’s what other churches have done when their pages became restricted by Facebook.

One thing I do know, Facebook is a powerful resource for sharing information and connecting with people. I may be a little “old school” in the fact that I use a cell phone to make calls, I still send emails, and I use Facebook mainly to aggravate people and stay up-to-date with my personal family.

Like the Apostle John in his letters, I still like to sit down with people face-to-face and talk (with no cell phones on the table).

“Having many things to write unto you,
 I would not write with paper and ink:
 but I trust to come unto you, and speak face to face,
 that our joy may be full.“

2nd John 12

Of course this may be because God has built me this way so that preaching is my main gift to the body of Christ. As a result, I like to read a person’s face as I talk, not simply post an emoji. Nevertheless, I feel that we’re missing it somewhere.

I hope that we, as a church, can become more active in sharing our faith with others, and they will in turn become more involved in the life of our church. I pray that our church doesn’t become event driven to the point that it’s all about publicity and entertainment. I still view church life as praying for each other, worshipping God, and equipping the saints to minister to their families and friends.

Because of this, there are a lot of things I don’t get into. However, I have become more aware of the need for fellowship among older saints who have served God most of their lives. They may not be stepping up and beginning new ministries in the church, but they need the church now more than ever for the stability that Christian fellowship brings.

That being said, I feel there are some good things happening at Calvary, and the essence of what we need is a platform to make others aware of it. Why? Because they too may need the faith, family, and friends that Calvary provides. This may very well be “the place to be.”

Until next Monday, may the Lord bless you! Pray for us!

Pastor Brian Jenkins

Calvary Assemblies of God

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