In da bginnin God cre8d da heavens & da earth.

People are starting to talk about using text messaging in ministry. To be perfectly honest, we can't tell yet whether this is the greatest thing since Moses took two tablets, or whether the hype is maybe running a little ahead of the reality.

Fact is, that more than 5 out of every 6 Americans over the age of nine has a cell phone, according to an industry study – in other words, roughly 90 percent! Over the age of nine! – and virtually all of those phones are equipped to receive and send text messages.

There are some truly exciting and innovative uses:

• y do we need 2 pray?
A preacher invited members of his congregation to text him with questions during a sermon on prayer. He was able to integrate some of the questions into the sermon live, making it more of a dialogue; others he responded to later in a blog.

• Prayers made visible.
Another church invited prayer requests and messages of encouragement to be sent via text messaging during a service, where they were fed into a projector and displayed.

There are some widely-dispersed testimonials.

• Leicester City Vineyard church in the United Kingdom says attendance has grown since it started using texting, especially for on-off events. “We have found that when reminded by text, people are more likely to attend,” says a leader.

• “Jesus is comin, r u redi?”
Seventh-day Adventists developed a text ministry to support evangelism in the Philippines

• A youth-focused church in Hawaii uses text messaging to promote services and special events among its flock, and is said to be experiencing continued growth in its text message subscription list.

There are also a number of services using texting for individual spiritual nurture. Several offer daily scripture or inspirational texts. One of the most unusual builds on the Jewish tradition of placing a note with a prayer or request in the Western Wall in Jerusalem. Now a texting service enables people who can't make it to Jerusalem, to have their intimate messages placed in the Western Wall, from their mobile phones.

With all this activity, it seems inevitable that texting will find its place among the communication vehicles we use to promote and nurture faith – especially since it is so widely used by youth. Do you have a story about how your congregation has used texting? We’d love to hear about it. Or, if you’d like to explore the technology and would like to learn more about it, we’d love to help. Contact one of our Web ministry consultants at 800.434.8607.