Image is a composite of followers of @gc2012 created with TwitterMosaic & Photoshop by Patrick Scriven.
By Nathan Hollifield*
At first I was excited to be one of only a handful of United Methodist General Board of Church and Society staff not travelling down to Tampa, FL for General Conference 2012. I figured it would be a great opportunity to get ahead in my work and support our staff by carrying on with the business of advocacy and communications while they were away. Plus, I really didn’t want to get bogged down in the politics of it all. Nothing sours my passion for the mission of the church like political squabbling and infighting. I’m new to the relatively new to Methodist church and the ordination process. I need all the passion I can muster to help push me through the archaic process that comes along with a call to professional service in the church.
I must, however, admit that by the time of opening worship on Tuesday I felt some regret for not attending.
But, a funny thing happened on Tuesday afternoon during the opening worship service streamed live at www.gc2012.umc.org. Right there beside the streaming video was a real time Twitter feed. I noticed, just as I was rolling my eyes to the use of the 90’s praise music to open this year’s event, quite a few other folks with the same reaction. It didn’t take me long to join the conversation.
Since that time there’s been a steady stream of Twitter activity found at various hashtags (#GC2012, #GC2012love, #GCYP – General Conference Young People among others). What’s happened is quite remarkable. Delegates and observers from within the conference are engaged in real time conversations with those of us sitting in our offices and living rooms around the globe. We are doing the work of holy conferencing rooted in the historical practice of the Methodist Church as we meet, encourage one another, worship, pray and become refreshed from the sense of unity and common mission.
An informal survey would suggest that those of us Holy Conferencing via Twitter range in age from 19 to 40. We represent regions across the country as well as divergent theological perspectives. I spent over an hour yesterday in a conversation on sacrament, communion, biblical literacy and what is and isn’t sacrilegious. The entire conversation took place over twitter. One person was in Tampa at General Conference, another was in Mississippi, one in Seattle, another in Iowa and me in Washington, DC. We didn’t all agree but the venue also didn’t allow us to talk over one another or expend our breath making elaborate arguments. Instead, we shared our diverse points of view and found encouragement from the conversation itself. In the end, we blessed each other with the peace of Christ using our shared liturgical language.
Later in the evening laity and clergy weighed in as Rev. Adam Hamilton led a primetime presentation on the Call to Action (a controversial reorganization proposal before General Conference). For many of us the Call to Action represents an unnecessary attempt to streamline and corporatize the church. The proposal claims to seek “vital congregations” but uses growth metrics as opposed to missional markers to gauge progress toward that goal. Twitter allowed folks an avenue to express themselves and point out places of agreement with and contradictions of the proposal.
I suppose we’ll be talking about Twitter’s affect on the proceedings in Tampa, FL for the next four years. There’s no doubt that those of us engaged in the conversations are finding encouragement and hope. We all seem to be asking the same question at the moment:
Is anyone listening?
*Editor’s note:
Nathan Hollifield is coordinator of grassroots communications at the General Board of Church & Society. His primary responsibility is to raise the profile of the GBCS national grassroots organizers’ work by assisting in coordination of media relations and social media campaigns. His previous experience includes management positions in the corporate sector as well as with presidential, congressional and gubernatorial campaigns. Recently, he’s worked with non-profit groups based in Seattle to expand the political reach of interfaith partnerships. Nathan is a candidate for ordination in the Pacific Northwest Annual Conference. Follow Nathan on Twitter at @nbhollifield.
Awesome article! I too am wondering, “is anyone listening?” I think for those of us engaging in the Twitter conversation (Twittersation?) it is very meaningful and helps us to feel and be connected to one another. But I’m genuinely curious to know if anyone not on Twitter actually cares.
I was texting our Director, “Now is a great time to get into Twitter. With General Conference, Annual Conference Sessions, and Western Jurisdictional Conference…there are a lot of interesting voices.” And why not? I love hearing what is happening behind the curtain, miles and miles away. On another note, I saw tweets of the Imagine No Malaria flash mob? Was that real? Did anyone take pics of the dancing mosquito?
Is it a generational marker that I find it easier to follow conversations on facebook rather than twitter?
Maybe? You know, I am one of those late followers of Twitter…and I too am still wondering through the ins and outs of the service. But…there was this moment, the first moment, where I found it very useful. I needed to know what was happening at a Methodist Communications event…and they were not streaming content over the web. So, I went out on Twitter, searched for what I was looking for…and lo and behold, attendees were tweeting info out of that event. And that was the fastest way I could get any information. What we are seeing now…is like interesting commentary on the GC2012 event – but at a quicker, condensed rate. It’s as if the video stream isn’t enough, people want to hear other voices and what they think. It’s an amazing time.
As Jesse can attest, I’ve come kicking and screaming to Twitter but it’s hard to not see the utility for a large event like this. While it can expose the underbelly of things, and it can be hard to remember people are on the other end of our tweets, that reflexive quality also has some value; especially when a structure is in place that limits voices (perhaps by necessity?) and leave little room for good conversation.
There are listeners on Twitter. People have been listening even before the vital congregations webcast last year where discussion exploded. I doubt tweeters will be tweeting for the next 4 yrs about the affect on GC, they’ll be back to tweeting discussions, hopes, problem solving for the church.