Social networking sites have inundated the Web world. MySpace, Facebook, and the latest Twitter have become the rage to people of all ages, race, and religious affiliations. The extension of faith-specific networking sites has canvassed the social market platform, giving birth to sites such as Everyone’s Apostolic, Apostolic Fellowship Hall, and MyWorld, just to name a few.
Now an Apostolic church in Orange, NJ, has created its own social networking site, not exclusive to church members but open to all who are socially minded. The Web site committee for First United Tabernacle Church (FUTC) says the idea stemmed from wanting a social network to bring youths from all over.
Bishop Lloyd Faulknor of FUTC also presides over churches in Antigua and Grand Cayman and he desired all of his young people to establish a connection. The site administrator, Chastity Thompson, says “we wanted our own platform where we can blog, chat, and join groups, even though we are geographically apart.”
The youth department at FUTC birthed youthroc.com, known as The R.O.C, using Ning. Bernard Grey, youth minister and site committee member, says “this is a Christ-minded social network, which is why we named it Youth Radically Obsessed 4 Christ (Youth R.O.C.).”
It is a tool to network the message of Jesus Christ, encourage one another, and connect internationally with young people. The R.O.C. is for anyone who wants to join, including Non-Apostolics. The R.O.C is tailored for appropriate blogs, photo albums, videos, and groups. Since MySpace’s reputation has come under fire during the past couple of years, Grey says, “This is a way to lure them away from that and join this network so parents can be at ease.”
However, as the site administrator, Thompson will ensure that it maintains its premier purpose, to be a Christian networking site. If there are any inappropriate videos or pictures posted, the person will receive a warning. “If the member persists, I have the power to ban them from the network.”
The R.O.C. committee is making sure they won’t become a carbon copy of Facebook and MySpace. “A great feature we have that Facebook doesn’t have is the blogging feature, says Grey. Members can personalize their page using CSS code. The R.O.C. allows members to decorate, change font size, color, and add music to their pages. “This is a great exercise for those aspiring Web site designers.”
The site is still in its early stages, though. The current layout is just temporary, but The R.O.C. team has hired an experienced designer who has designed other network sites on Ning. They hope to give it an eye-popping transformation. “The sights, sounds, and colors are critical keys to drawing people to the site,” Grey says.
Once youthroc.com is official, the committee plans to advertise it on Facebook and by word-of-mouth. “We want this to be big!”
Do you know a church that has a public social networking site? Leave a comment.
-Kaleena Thompson, TAR Editor
While I respect the idea of having a apostolic-type facebook, I don’t think it’s neither necessary or good for the church. One of my experiences is that the Apostolic church has this deep-ingrained sense of isolationism that has come from having to defend our faith since the early 1900s. It has contributed to our young people not being able to rightly stand for the truth, the idea that we are a cult (however ludicrous it is to call a religion of millions of people a cult), and and the lack of membership in the United States today. I’m not saying that we should drop our principles, but not be afraid to stand among those who don’t believe as we do and be able to adequately defend and stand on the faith.
Remember, the unwillingness of the Catholic church to stand on principle led to it’s adoption of Christmas, Easter, and other Pagan holidays transformed into “Christian” holidays so not to upset anyone. And now you have an organization that prays to every saint first before to Jesus Himself, and takes confession seeking forgiveness from a priest who is just as corruptible in the flesh as we are.
Kind of off topic there, but the point is that continuing to make “pockets” of social networks doesn’t allow us to show our faith in a way that being on a public forum such as Facebook.
I agree with John, however I see a need for something different.
Facebook is far too intrusive and that is why I have been working on reviving the Everyone’s Connected.
We may not need to have a secluded space, but one that is run by a Christian group would make it much more safe.
I am sick of fearing that Facebook will again divulge my gift ideas, or expose me to explicit images. Then there is the controversy of Facebook again changing their TOS and never deleting my profile.
Everyone’s Connected is apostolic owned and operated, for the sole purpose of maintaining a Godly direction in moderation and policy. Everyone is allowed to join, and your profile is yours.
The website isn’t clunky like other attmepts have been, it’s fast and well built.
The fact is, we know it will be hard to compete with Facebook’s hold on the market. To gain a usage that is even a drop in bucket compared to Facebook is no small task, but it takes people that want to show support for movement away from a secular owned site (with very intrusive policies that disregard your privacy) to one that is designed to be a similar environment with more user/christian-friendly policy.
God Bless and check it out at http://www.everyonesconnected.us