| Abstract: |
This study investigated social media and pastoral administration in the Presbyterian
Church of Nigeria, Abakaliki Presbytery. The objectives of the study were to: investigate extent to which social media aid pastoral administration among the clergy and laity of the Presbyterian Church of Nigeria within Abakaliki Presbytery; identify the social media platform(s) that are mostly used for pastoral administration in the Presbyterian Church of Nigeria, Abakaliki Presbytery. The
study was anchored on the technological determinism theory. The study adopted
descriptive survey research design. The population of the study was 3,646. The
sample size of this study was 348, which was determined using Australian calculator. The study employed purposive sampling technique. The instrument of data collection was structured questionnaire. Findings showed that to a large extent social media facilitate pastoral administration. Also, the finding showed that the benefits of using social media for pastoral administration were; online evangelism, counseling, publicity of church programmes and events, fundraising and effective information dissemination. The researcher among other things recommendations that clergy and members of the Presbyterian church of Nigeria, Abakaliki Presbytery should endeavour to acquaint themselves with other social media platforms such as Twitter, YouTube and Google meet in order to carryout pastoral administration without much difficulty. Also, Churches and clergy should realize that times are fast changing and that most people have changed their means of accessing information and majority now use the new media of communication. Efforts, therefore, should be made by Churches and ministries to create their own websites and blogs and even virtual communities where they can connect their members and send them gospel messages. |
