Rethinking social media

 Facebook is a dream. Facebook is a nightmare. Both these things are true.

When we started Bordeaux Church some 8 years ago in 2014 we had no money for anything, not for a fancy website or for anything else for that matter. So I set up a church website using Blogger and we used Facebook for church communications - a public Facebook page and a private Facebook group.

I accumulated Facebook friends over the years and made a point each day of greetings people on their birthdays, usually in French. I thought that if they saw a "Joyeux anniversaire" from me, then they might be reminded to pray for the work of the gospel here.

But I stayed on Facebook for the sake of the church.

This blog dates from 2005, when we first came to France. In the beginning everything was fresh, new and tough. I wrote about the joys and sorrows, the wonders and the horrors. Part of the goal was to enable our families and supporters to see how we were and to pray with understanding.

Now we're three years away from retirement and the church situation has changed.

There are others now who can take on building a church website, so soon there'll be a new site.

I've passed on the social media rôle to a ministry intern and do not intend to take it back at the end of their time with us, so I don't need to use Facebook so much, except for one weekly live cast and to keep up with the church group.

Blogger has changed over the years. It now seems to me to be much more difficult to post videos and photos, and I don't have the motivation to adapt.

So I've deleted the Facebook app from my phone and iPad.

And as blog posts have become less frequent I don't anticipate ramping this up.

I do need to write one or two articles over the next few months, however, so I may use this blog to test those out.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A bit about music exams in UK and France

They're really different. I think I have already mentioned that while in the UK people generally find a private teacher for their instrument, or do it through a school scheme, here there are municipal music school, conservatoires and so on. The situation is a little more complex than I had first understood, because the schools vary in the rigidity of their organisation: the most, the conservatoires, next the municipals, then the associations. Our music school is an association, but it tends to apply the standards of the municipal schools with its programme of cycles, etc. Britain - grade 1 to 8, grade 8 being roughly equivalent to A-level, pre university/conservatoire. France - 3 cycles, each taking about 4 years, with 3ème cycle being roughly equivalent to grade 8. Theory of music - UK to take grade 8 you need theory grade 5. In France you study theory alongside your instrumental studies, very slowly. Catrin's flute music is MUCH more difficult than the stuff she does in theor
Read more

The Kitchen

 Our new apartment will be equipped with toilet and bathroom etc. but not with anything at all in the kitchen. Not even a sink. So we need to purchase a kitchen and engage a kitchen fitter. A friend who knows how to fit kitchens suggested buying an Ikea kitchen. "They're guaranteed twenty years and they honour their guarantee", he said. "I've proved it". Well I don't know any other kitchen laces in France, and I can't imagine there's much that's cheaper than Ikea, so I was happy to accept his advice. So it was that on Monday I booked an appointment with the Ikea Kitchen Planning Service in the centre of Bordeaux. The woman was friendly. "You've already started the process", she said, (have we?) "so that will save us lots of time". "What are you aiming for?" Something not too country, something discreet, something that can adapt to whatever colours we put in the rest of the room. She understood our dislike of
Read more