Social networking and the church: evaluating the electronic media program of Wildwood Community Church

Social networking and the church: evaluating the electronic media program of Wildwood Community Church

R Mark Robinson

The thesis of this dissertation is that there is a positive relationship between participation in the electronic media program of Wildwood Community Church (including reading blogs, listening to podcasts, participating in the church Facebook group, and following the church on Twitter) and sermon retention and application, experience of group life, and involvement in serving. This dissertation shows how one church in Norman, Oklahoma intentionally developed a strategy to leverage electronic media resources in an attempt to further their chief discipleship goals related to helping people worship, connect, and serve. The hypotheses anticipated that participation in the electronic media program would reveal a positive relationship in sermon retention and application, experience of group life, and involvement in service. To determine the validity of these hypotheses, a pre-test/post-test was designed to evaluate the change in sixty demographically diverse participants after a one-month period in the electronic media program in July 2010. After the results of the survey were examined, the hypothesis concerning a positive relationship between participation in the electronic media program and sermon retention and application was confirmed. However, a statistical analysis of the data did not confirm the two hypotheses that predicted a positive relationship between participation in the electronic media program and an improved experience of group life and involvement in service.

Dallas Theological Seminary

English

2010

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