Social Media for Missionaries (Part 1: Facebook)

Carrie Mills • Sep 11, 2014

Blogging, tweeting, posting and sharing are fabulous ways to share about your ministry, but navigating the world of social media and online communication can seem confusing and overwhelming. We’re here to tell you that it doesn’t have to be! Today, you’re reading the first installment of a three-part series on how missionaries can use social media to connect with friends and supporters.

We frequently hear the same questions from missionaries about Facebook, Twitter, blogging, and more, and have compiled some general ideas and suggestions based on these conversations. We understand that there are countless resources for learning about and managing social media; our hope is to simply invite you to discover new ways of using these tools to connect with others and engage your audience more fully in your ministry.

*Please note that we discourage using social media if you are in a security-sensitive area or situation. Always use discretion when choosing what to share publicly.

First off, we’ll discuss the best ways to use Facebook. Let’s get started!

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If you’ve spent much time on the internet, you’ve heard of Facebook. Used by over 68 percent of American adults (according to Pew Research Center ), this mega social media site is everywhere you look. Besides being full of fun images and entertaining distractions, Facebook can be a valuable tool for connecting with others and involving friends, family, and even supporters in parts of your lives they might otherwise not be aware of.

Here are some ways you can start using Facebook to share, connect, and communicate with your support base.

1) A picture is worth a thousand words
People love photos on Facebook. Sharing pictures is a great way to provide a glimpse into your world and culture. If you have an interesting story or funny anecdote to go with it, even better!

2) Cross-communicate
Use Facebook to supplement your other modes of sharing. If you mail monthly newsletters , share them on Facebook. If you blog, share your posts on Facebook. If you send out an email update… you guessed it: share it on Facebook! You do not have to generate completely unique content for every Facebook post; you can use Facebook to notify your followers that there are updates available on your other social media channels, and you might catch the eye of someone who would have otherwise missed it.

3) Link up
Facebook is all about sharing, so do just that. Share links to websites you find interesting. Share blog posts you’ve enjoyed reading or articles you’ve found fascinating. Use your Facebook page to share your giving link, or direct your followers to a website about your ministry or country. Chances are, if you’ve found it interesting, someone else will too!

4) Connect with others in ministry
One of the beautiful things about social media is that it opens doors to new worlds and new connections you might not make otherwise. Find other missionaries, missions agencies, and ministry leaders and start interacting with them. If you meet someone at a retreat or conference, look them up on Facebook and stay in touch!

5) Beware the “over-share”
While it’s great to share a lot of good, appropriate content on Facebook, be careful that you don’t over-share. If you like to post a lot of personal AND missions-related items consider opening a second account or starting a page just for your ministry updates. Facebook is wonderful for sharing all aspects of your life and it can be a lot of fun to share funny stories and cute pictures. However, keeping the focus on your ministry will allow your followers to clearly see those updates and keep your posts from getting lost in the crowd.

6) Be consistent
Set a posting timeframe that works well for you. Whether it’s once a month or twice a day, try to maintain some consistency in how often you post. You certainly do not need to post every day at the exact same time, but maintaining your page with regular updates will keep your friends and supporters coming back often—giving them something to look forward to!
(Tip: If you have trouble remembering to post, set a recurring calendar reminder!)

7) Stay in your comfort zone
If you’re not comfortable or don’t enjoy using Facebook (or Twitter, Instagram, blogging, or any other communication platform) it can become a chore. There is nothing written in stone that says you must use Facebook to communicate with your supporters! Use what you enjoy and are comfortable using—whether that’s one outlet or eight—and forget the rest!

On Facebook, the world is a mouse click away. You are part of a great adventure that your supporters and friends want to know about, and Facebook can be the perfect tool for keeping them involved and engaged.

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This is the first of a three-part series. Read part 2 (blogging) and part 3 (FAQs).

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Bridging Dissonance: Finding Connection in Music and the Gospel

By Emily Sheddan • 18 Jul, 2024

TEAM worker Luke Standridge and his fellow musicians use music to build connections to faith in Japan. In music terms, dissonance creates movement or even suspense in a song. It invites tension. That tension is what helps grab our ear’s attention and the interchanging of these notes with pleasant melodious parts is what makes music such a delight. In a similar way, God is using music to grab people’s attention and catalyze Gospel impact in the largely unreached nation of Japan. TEAM Global Worker, Luke Standridge moved to Japan in 2019 with no clear direction on how he was going to use his passion for composing music while doing ministry. However, after Luke got involved with a local church and began developing deep friendships, the Lord opened unimaginable doors for Luke that in time, coordinating his creative skills with sharing the Word. “People Need to Come to Japan!” Growing up as one of ten kids in a family that was heavily involved in ministry and missions, Luke never considered that it would one day be a part of his own journey. In 2016, via a Japanese language learning class in Indiana, Luke and his brother had the opportunity to travel to Japan. Hearing, learning, and using the language in the context of Japanese culture was the goal. While it was Luke’s first international trip – even his first trip on a plane - it was also his first time hearing about the spiritual condition of the Japanese people. “And just through that, God did a huge 180 change on my heart,” says Luke. “More people should come here as global workers. People need to come to Japan!” The call God was laying on Luke’s heart is echoed when looking at the spiritual landscape of Japan. The nation is home to the second largest unreached people group in the world. It is one of the most difficult places for the Gospel to take hold and grow. Japan is also home to a deep and rich culture that prizes creative arts from pottery to ink to music to anime – a fact that would help Luke find his niche in life and ministry. God’s Guiding Hand In the short three-month timespan of that first trip, Luke found that opportunities came naturally to share about life, and people’s curiosity for Christianity grew. “I left Japan knowing I just had to come back,” Luke shares. “Even if I didn’t get back to the same area, I knew Japan was where God wanted me to be.” The Lord is good all the time and all the time the Lord is good. His plans do not fail. Luke returned to Japan in 2019, and less than a week after arriving, he was put in touch with a renowned composer in Japan. The composer saw some of Luke’s music and invited him to help write the music for a beloved in-country animated show. But God wasn’t finished yet! Fast forward a year, and more connections and opportunities allowed Luke to help with music for Pokémon - a franchise that has brand recognition around the world and was being developed into a TV series in Japan. Luke recalls how the Lord began using these connections in the production world to open doors for Gospel conversations. One night while having dinner in downtown Tokyo with famous artists and composers from all around the country, Luke was asked about his ministry-focused visa. This was a rare opportunity in a setting with people otherwise uninterested in Christianity. Luke shares, “The whole time I could see God’s hand in guiding the entire thing.”

Connecting in a New Kind of “Neighborhood”

By Lorena de la Rosa and Suzanne Pearson • 13 Jun, 2024

Through creative arts and other forms of innovative outreach, “The Neighborhood” is creating connections to the Gospel and the love of Jesus. CONNECTION. It’s a common word with powerful implications. Dictionary.com defines connection as a joining or linking together; a relationship between people or objects that unites or binds them together. God has created each of us with a deep need for connection with Him as well as connection with others. Hebrews 10:24-25 speaks to this, as the writer exhorts, “Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” This God-given need for connection lies at the heart of a creative and innovative ministry in Japan known as “The Neighborhood.” TEAM Japan global worker, Kelly and her family created The Neighborhood as a place where connections are formed through creative arts, educational opportunities, and simply just providing a space for people to be together. A Family Calling The journey to the creation of The Neighborhood began over 5,000 miles away from Tokyo, in California where Kelly, her husband Jeff, and their five children were living. The kids were the first to sense God’s calling to missions, and asked why their family wasn’t serving in this way. How Kelly and her family came to TEAM is a God-story in and of itself. “God placed a TEAM Japan worker at our lunch table the same week that the kids posed that question to us,” Kelly recalls. “We had never heard of TEAM and so we thought, ‘let’s check this out.’ After that, God just kept confirming that we were supposed to be here.” After a period of fundraising and with much excitement, the family of seven moved to Japan in 2014. For the first five years, Kelly and Jeff served as a part of other TEAM ministry initiatives, but they began to sense a stirring for something new. Creating The Neighborhood Kelly and her family truly have a deep gift for hospitality, and regularly opened up their home to others they met in Tokyo. They saw a great need for people to have a place to gather and connect, and they wondered what doors the Lord might be opening for them to meet that need. “About a year before we were to return the States on home assignment, we were just really thinking about our future in Japan,” Kelly says. “We saw a need for people to have a ‘third place’ – a place that’s not home and it’s not work. They didn’t have a church community or any other place where they could meet people and just connect.” Kelly goes on to explain that in Japan, the culture is such that people don’t generally invite each other into their homes, but as her family did so, people embraced that opportunity. “This idea formed in all of our hearts of a student ministry center – a place where we can create community and learning,” says Kelly. “It was born out of what we were already doing in our home, but seeing how we could expand it and have better space.” God’s Provision What happened next is a true testament to God’s provision. Kelly, Jeff, and the kids returned to the States and began sharing their vision for The Neighborhood with their supporters and churches who responded generously. Upon returning to Japan, the search was on for the right space. “We had a Christian realtor that we told our dream to, and he just went looking for it,” Kelly recalls. When the realtor found a 5-story apartment building, he said, “It’s kind of out of your budget but it has what you need and want.” The Lord provided the funds and the family moved into the space in November 2019. They now occupy all but the ground floor, with living space for their family as well as classrooms, areas to study or hang out, and guest rooms for exchange students or others who need a place to stay overnight. The first floor is occupied by a pizza shop – a welcome amenity for the many groups and students who visit The Neighborhood. “It’s very convenient!” Kelly says with a laugh. The Neighborhood began to see lots of activity right away until the pandemic hit in early 2020. During the height of the quarantine, Kelly and Jeff used the time to redecorate the space and plant gardens outside the building. Then as the restrictions eased, they invited individual students or families over for meals and fellowship. It wasn’t until March 2023 that The Neighborhood was able to fully open again as intended. Kelly shares that despite the setbacks of COVID, the Lord continued to provide the funds to pay the rent.