Impact of Digital and Information Technology on Church Growth in the 21st Century
Chapter One
Purpose of the Study
The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of digital and information technology on church growth.
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
Effects of Social Media Marketing on Church Growth
The current century has seen a great evolution in the way firms market their products and services. According to Smith and Taylor (2004), companies are currently undergoing some unexpected activities and the development of the cyberspace as a communication medium is undoubtedly nearly one of the most dominant factors. The internet has brought about several modern aspects, it has made clients more reachable, it has come up with a modern set of communication tools that make the process of exchanging knowledge and ideas much conveniently and it has pushed companies to rethink how they are communicating with their clients (Jaokar, Jacobs, Moore, and Ahvenainen, 2009).
Bolu (2012) adds that the use of ICT in the church has been noted in the last two decades in contemporary church communications for growth. Contemporary church communications for growth is taking phenomenally great strides. However, adoption levels vary across countries, church groups, church budgets, and with the increasing threat to mass gathering by insurgencies, the rate of adoption will further increase.
Social Media
Social media is a word that describes a range of web based platforms, applications and technologies that people use to interact socially online (Cruz, 2012; Kamp, 2016). They include; Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Wikis, Wikipedia, Blogs, Social Book Marking, Instagram, Google among others (Badmos, 2014). Hosseinzadeh (2011, p. 6) adds and states that social media is “a group of internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0, and that allow the creation and exchange of user-generated content”.
Social Media use is invariably linked to the internet. A survey done in Africa on internet accessibility and availability revealed that Africa has access to internet and since then the same has more than doubled. It was also noted that most people had mobile phones which were digital and could access internet (De Lanerolle, 2013). From the survey, South Africa leads the park with 78%, followed by Nigeria at 74.0% while Uganda and Tanzania were at 46% and 35.8% respectively for East Africa. Rwanda had the least penetration with 24.4%, Cameroon 44.5%, Ghana 59.6%, Namibia 56.1% and Nigeria 46.7%. This revealed that there is accessibility and availability of internet in Africa. With it are a new group of users who utilize it to the feel like reading newspaper (De Lanerolle, 2013).
Nigeria’s social media accelerated in the last five years since the Africa survey and branded “silicon savannah” in this line, the country at the time of the study was rated second to South Africa, in connection to the internet and social media (Kaigwa, 2013). By 2013, Nigeria had 18 million people on Facebook groups, Twitter, and the rest. It is noted that social media platforms have played various roles in the country, the first being in 2013 during the general elections. The other was in the time of adversity when Westgate mall was attacked and the country was unified in the course (Kaigwa, 2013). Social media is projected to impact interactions at all levels like never before in view of its explosive growth particularly in the coming general elections in this year 2019 (Kaigwa, 2013). This is the level at which the social media is in the country to be harnessed by the churches as part of their growth strategy which necessitated this study.
A survey in Africa by Wyche (2008) on the use of ICT in churches revealed that all Christian churches were using ICT to support their faith practices with notable use in the protestant churches as well as tremendous adoption in the mega churches which was a replica of churches in the USA and the world (Wyche, 2008).
Online evangelism is surfacing as a new methodology to traditional evangelism where members have had to find a church at a specific location for fellowship (Hvass, 2011). However, competition from alternative forms of religious practices and other competing churches working on converting members and the availability of more information where people can seek and find more about competitive groups before commitment leaves the churches no option but to embrace new forms of work methods to remain competitive. Social media therefore, comes as an answer to this new way of doing business in that it has the capacity to meet the requirements for the church (Hvass, 2011).
Internet can enable churches to access the attention of people in new regions thus creating growth and expansion. Other benefits to the church from social media use include; enabling the church to resonate with modern society making it relevant and giving people alternative choices of faith (Hvass, 2011). In view of this, Badmos (2014) adds and says that the church is then able to attract and retain its members because it is in tune with the times. Further to that, Badmos (2014), posits that social media enables the church to achieve its sense of community through its different programs of church life that include; spiritual, social, economic, administration and evangelism.
Besides that, social media enables the churches to pass information faster and cheaper to its members on church activities or upcoming events, programs, and evangelism (Badmos, 2014; Cruz, 2012). Since social media overcomes the barriers of time, space, mobility, boundaries and distance, it brings together strangers and in the process, it is able to form and maintain relationships easily and this is good for the churches’ mission to reach all people (Badmos, 2014; Kamp, 2016). In the process, it connects people with shared values, ideas, faiths, needs, skills and experiences and gives the supportive connections in the community of believers (Badmos, 2014).
In developed countries like America, social media has been adopted by online evangelists with a very huge following of over 3 million followers (O’Connor, 2016). According to Anderson, Vogt, and Groothuis (2011) communication using networking platforms is essential for ministerial activities. Use of technology to communicate and the development of social networking platforms prevail youth activities making it vital that forthcoming preachers need to be conversant with technology and use a combination of different forms of media for effective evangelization. The use of social media platforms can help preachers communicate especially to isolated communities, the objective being to connect all committed people creating a forum for interacting.
Like for all society, challenges of social media exist that are bound to affect the users and they include; time wasting as studies have established that the youth spend too much time with social groups; invasion of privacy as it involves sharing of personal information; minimal face to face interactions which affect interpersonal relationships (Badmos, 2014; Cruz, 2012).
Church Growth
Church growth as Burrill (2010) posits, is first and foremost, about increase in numbers; which he asserts to be critical. One would then make an assumption that growth in numbers signifies growth in revenue, in faith as well as geographical scope (Badmos, 2014; Burrill, 2010; Chiluwa, 2013; Sawyer & Chen, 2012). These will be discussed as follows: –
Without membership, there is no church because a church is simply the collection of all individual Christians (Badmos, 2014). However, Hadaway (2011) states that most congregations growth goal is to reach more people with their gospel message, or aim to remain viable. Voas and Watt (2014) assert that there is decline in the church because of failure to replace the older members. The authors then argue that for church growth to happen, the children and the youth must be retained in the church and the decline is happening because half of the children of the church goers are not in church (Voas and Watt, 2014).
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Introduction
This chapter elucidates the methodological approach that was taken to achieve the objectives of this research study described in the prior chapters. The chapter covers the research design, study population, sample size and sampling procedure, data collection procedures and instruments. Additionally, the statistical analysis of the data that was collected during this study was also described.
Research Design
The purpose of the research design was to ensure that the results obtained in the study addressed the research problem effectively, logically and as clearly as possible (Labaree, 2009). This study used a cross-sectional descriptive study design. The study design is cross sectional because it either uses the whole population or a subsection of it after which data is collected concerning the selected sample to assist in answering the research questions (Olsen, 2004). It is called cross-sectional because the information about X and Y that is gathered represents what is going on at only one point in time.
Descriptive research is used to obtain information concerning the status of the phenomena to describe what exists with respect to variables or conditions in a situation (Cooper and Schindler, 2013). The study data was collected at one time point on the independent and dependent variables. That was, data on church growth (dependent variable) and socio- demographic, brand visibility and customer satisfaction (independent variables) which were collected from respondents at the same time (Levin, 2006).
Population and Sampling Design
Population
Mugenda. O. M and Mugenda A, G (2003) define target population as the members of a real or hypothetical set of people, events or objects the researcher wishes to generalize the results of the research. The study population comprised of church members, non- members attending services and parish staff at Freedom prayer ministry, in Edo Nigeria. There were 875 individuals who met these criteria, and attended services at the church every Sunday.
CHAPTER FOUR
RESULTS AND FINDINGS
Introduction
This chapter presented the results and findings of the study under various subheadings. The first section describes the general information about the study population, including the description of the dependent variable in the study, that is, Social Media Marketing. Other key sections were the description of the findings per the study objectives, namely: Effect of Social Media Marketing on Church Growth, Effect of Social Media Marketing on Brand Visibility and the Effect of Social Media Marketing on Customer/Member Satisfaction at Freedom prayer min istry, in Edo, Nigeria.
CHAPTER FIVE
DISCUSSION, CONCLUSIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Introduction
This Chapter discussed the outcomes and discoveries of the study in line with the relevant literature. It further provided the conclusion of the discussion and gave recommendations, including recommendations for further study. The sections of this chapter were organized according to the research questions of the study, that is, effect of social media marketing on church growth, effect of social media marketing on brand visibility, and effect of social media marketing on customer/member satisfaction in churches: A case study of Freedom prayer ministry.
Summary of findings
The purpose of this research was to investigate the effects of social media on churches. The following research questions guided the study: To what extent does Social media marketing effect churches? To what extent does social media marketing effect brand visibility? and to what extent does social media marketing effect customer/member satisfaction?
The study used a cross-sectional descriptive design research methodology. Data was collected by means of a self-administered questionnaire after prior notification to collect data from the church members in Freedom prayer ministry members. The data collected from the respondents of the survey represented their demographic characteristics as well as their perceptions regarding their interactions with the church on social media. Multistage sampling was used to recruit respondents for the study whereby each member and non-members of the church were required to fill in the questionnaire by themselves. From a targeted 93 respondents, 88 responses were collected over a period of 2 days, and this represented 94.6% of the target sample. The questionnaire administered comprised several sections; socio-demographic data, while the other sections of the questionnaire comprised Likert scales which were used to generate additive indices for the data analysis which were used to answer the three research questions.
Finally, the study revealed that social media marketing was associated with the growth levels, customer/member satisfaction and brand visibility at Freedom prayer ministry in Edo meaning that if used well, social media marketing can be a great tool for churches to grow and achieve their mandate. There was need to consider other areas of church growth besides social media particularly on member retention or factors for leaving the church to come up with retention strategies. It is also recommended that the use of social media marketing should be maintained and enhanced to ensure continued growth, increased brand visibility and customer/member satisfaction at Freedom prayer ministry.
To answer the first research question the study revealed that the respondents opinions on church growth at Freedom prayer ministry were that the church had on average, registered some growth and while some aspects registered significant growth and improvement, other areas seem to have lagged despite adoption and use of internet and social media for a long time and that the rate of internet usage was still low. However, the membership believed that social media and internet had the capacity to increase church membership as well as spiritual growth. In regards to church’s brand visibility, only 40.0% of the respondents were aware of the churches social media pages while 60% comprised those unsure (15.0%) and those who were not aware at all (45.0%). Members also felt that adoption of social media had made the church to be recognized by outsiders (40.0%) while 22.5% felt there was still no change in the same and 37.5% were unsure of impact of social media on the church’s brand visibility to outsiders. In regards to customer/member service delivery majority of the respondents (73.3%) felt that social media was an appropriate tool that could be used in church and was not irreverent at all as only 12.0% felt it was. The only challenge found was that members did not find church’s service offerings on using the various social media platforms unsuitable for them as only 25% found it suitable while 40.8% found it unappealing and 34.2% were unsure. However, the respondents also felt that social media allowed them to give their views on church matters (50.6%) while 24.7% was for both unsure of the same and disagreeing to the same. Moreover, the membership also felt that social media had improved the church’s response times for complaints and queries such that members got response faster than before as signified by those agreeing at 42.9%, not sure, 26.0% and disagreeing 31.2%. Despite the membership involvement having been enhanced by social media, the respondents still felt that when it came to decision making, the church needed to involve them more as only 36.4% felt the membership was involved in decision making while 63.7% either were unsure (31.2%) or felt that the church did not involve membership at all in decision making (32.5%).
Finally, the study revealed that social media marketing was associated with the growth levels, customer/member satisfaction and brand visibility at Freedom prayer ministry in Edo meaning that if used well, social media marketing can be a great tool for churches to grow and achieve their mandate. There is also need to consider other areas of church growth besides social media particularly on member retention or factors for leaving the church to come up with retention strategies. It is also recommended that the use of social media marketing should be maintained and enhanced to ensure continued growth, increased brand visibility and customer/member satisfaction at Freedom prayer ministry.
Discussion
Effect of Social Media Marketing on Church Growth
The impact of social media marketing was found to impact church growth in various aspects that included; improvement of, church image, church attendance, church membership loyalty, church revenues through fundraising activities, and church communication as well as brand visibility that covers brand awareness, brand equity and brand loyalty. This result is partly consistent with study by carried on social media on church relationships and revenue by Malcolm (2016) that revealed that social media was a valuable tool to communicate information to members however, it did not have a direct and immediate impact on the organization’s annual fund revenues (Malcolm, 2016).
The above findings by Malcom are echoed by Badmos (2014); Burrill (2010); Chiluwa (2013); Sawyer and Chen (2012) who posit that growth in church revenues can only be seen through growth in church membership. This was also echoed in a study of commercial banks by Mutero (2014) which confirmed that use of social media increased in customer base resulting in improved revenues (Mutero, 2014). This means that social media may not impact church revenues directly or immediately but in the long analysis it does and it lies in increased customer base. On social media and communication, authors on the subject agree that social media has revolutionized communication. Robinson (2014) states that stated that social media enables every church member and potential members to have a voice, learn, collaborate towards the same destination, join the story, accord them emotional connection, to participate and create their own real story as well, get room for development and in the process allow them to connect with Jesus and it enables faster and consistent communication as well as making purposeful encounters and brings people together because it is useful and fun (Robinson, 2014). The author suggests that social media resonates with Hebrews 10:24-25 that says “24 Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. 25 And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near”(New Lining Translation (NLT), 2015)
According to Stetzer (2015), social media is the 21st town square where significant conversations take place and recommend that every church must be on it for gospel impact and influence on the community as both young and the old meet there. The author explains why earlier on at the beginning of evangelism, the apostles like Paul as revealed in Acts 13 and 17 engaged the people at the town square. Duggan et al. (2015); Stetzer, (2015) then recommends that every church should have a Facebook because it is the most used social media platform. That is why Hadaway (2011) stated that churches that have websites grow. On social media and organizational image, Nadaraja and Yazdanifard (2013) state that social media has the propensity to increase reputation and anticipated reciprocity; what Robinson (2014) calls social capital and Paquette (2013) explains that social media affects attitudes and motives such that those on company interaction pages tend to have favorable attitude. In the process information provided influences buying decisions (Nadaraja and Yazdanifard, 2013). Angheluta, Strambu-Dima and Zaharia, (2010) echoed the same and add that social media improves the image of the church and in the process, increases church attendance.
Church growth is signified by numbers and this is agreement in a study by Newman and Benchener (2011) who revealed that churches in America increased tremendously with church marketing and Angheluta, Strambu-Dima and Zaharia, (2010) also confirm that social media besides added benefits of improved image and membership loyalty, also increases church attendance. In another study by Ngenga (2015), it was established that social media marketing social media marketing is imperative for businesses in that its cheap hence cost friendly yet it has the capacity to reach a large number of the targeted groups using less effort and time and this enables the church to bring in in a the fastest way. Recommendation by various authors is that organizations must seek ways of enhancing media use on the diverse platforms as they aim to harness Facebook marketing that proved to be the most popular (Nadaraja and Yazdanifard, 2013; Ngenga, 2015; Paquette, 2013). In their study Grinter, Wyche, Hayes and Harvel, (2011) concluded that ICT applications were adopted by protestant churches for their ability to sustain, reinforce and grow their churches.
Extent of Social Media Marketing on Customer/Member Satisfaction
The study established that customer/member satisfaction involves emotional response to client expectations and what they get from the product or service and it leads to customer/member retention. It requires customer/member strategies with clearly defined and well communicated vison incorporated in the organizations procedures. Some of these strategies include; customer service that aims to meet customer/member needs as dictated by customer/member expectations; service delivery that leverages on core competences, core product and increased customer/member loyalty and satisfaction as well as customer/member focus strategy that aims to win and retain the member or customer. For all these to happen, an organization must have a clear customer/member focus strategy.
Recommendations
The following are recommendations based on the results of the study
Recommendations for Improvement
Effect of Social Media Marketing on Church Growth
To improve on this aspect, churches need to have a clear growth strategy to exploit all elements that spur growth and enable them to retain the youth in the church noting that use of social media failed. It would be of great importance to establish factors that lead to youth joining and staying on in church.
Effect of Social Media Marketing on Brand Visibility
The need to improve on brand revenue involves improvement on social media evangelism. Additionally, it would be of importance to establish other factors that bring in revenue to the church and pursue them as strategies. In addition to that it would be imperative to establish other factors that affect member retention or leaving the church.
Effect of Social Media Marketing on Customer/ Member Satisfaction
There is need to fully adopt social media as a marketing tool considering that social media platforms are now the current town square and churches can use social media freely taking not that customer/ member satisfaction is a subset of many factors that include customer service delivery, customer loyalty and customer focus which require clear customer/member strategy.
Recommendations for Further Studies
To improve on the study, there is need to consider other areas of church growth besides social media particularly on member retention or factors for leaving the church to come up with retention strategies.
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