Looking for updates or announcements about upcoming events at New Hope? Want to see coverage of past events, such as “Spirit of Aloha”? New Hope O‘ahu has a variety of user-friendly social media platforms through which congregation members can stay connected with all that’s happening in the church.

In this digital age, social media—which includes mobile and web-based technologies to facilitate communication between individuals, organizations and communities—has become increasingly essential in everyday life.

“Social media is important because it seems like the highway of communication nowadays,” says Broadcast Engineer Gaston Souza. “It’s a quick and easy way to send and receive information. Being as open and accessible is the key in social media.”

New Hope utilizes various social media platforms, including the New Hope website, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and podcasts.

The New Hope website—www.eNewhope.org—is the best way to look for information about announcements, such as the next “Growing Deep, Growing Strong” classes, upcoming water baptisms or other ministry events. It is also a good resource for finding the devotional readings for the day, looking at previous and current weekend bulletins, searching through the available ministries at New Hope or even reading previous issues of Life at its Best magazine. [Note: Life at its Best magazine is currently no longer in publication, but previous issues can still be viewed online.]

“I would like to encourage our congregation to, if they’re not already, follow us or ‘like’ us
on Twitter and Facebook ... and to try to engage more interactively with
our contests and real time feedback in the future.” – Maricar Lagman

Located at the top right corner of the New Hope website are quick and easy links to the Church’s Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and podcasts. While the website is often utilized to view announcements about upcoming events, the New Hope Facebook and Twitter accounts are used to connect congregation members to the church via “on the go” type of coverage, according to Web Content Manager Maricar Lagman.

“It’s (Facebook/Twitter) a vehicle through which we can disseminate information immediately about future events as well as (what’s happening) when we’re at an event,” she explains. “We have the ability to post updates, photos and videos right away to engage those that are not able to make it.”

“It’s important for congregation members to stay connected with New Hope via Facebook and Twitter because they get to see upcoming announcements, be on top of events that are happening and see workshops that are coming up,” adds Souza. “It also gives the audience that ‘behind the scenes’ (feel) of what goes on in and around the church.”

The church’s Facebook and Twitter are also used to create more awareness about New Hope and keep church members connected, regardless of their location.

“We have a lot of people tuning in online (to our weekend services) from around the world,” Souza says. “We have a global network of people who tune in weekly and catch our services; using Twitter and Facebook helps us keep connected with them. Even when they tune in online, they can tweet out that they’re watching service streaming live on the Internet. Then it pops up on their Twitter feed; whoever’s following them will see their tweet.”

Bookmark these great New Hope Social Media resources for inspiration, information, and education:

         

While users on Facebook can choose to “attend,” “like” or “invite a friend” to New Hope events, messages on Twitter are much more brief.

“Twitter directs you to the link of event pages,” Souza explains. “Your messages can only be 140 characters long. Also, we’ve been using hashtags (at our major events, like Easter) to get more audience participation … a hashtag (#) is a quick and easy way to search and query tweets. Getting people involved in adding a hashtag to their tweets also helps to unify the Body of New Hope and what we’re about. If anyone has any suggestions or comments, they can tweet us at @NewHope.”

New Hope’s YouTube channel features previous “New Hope in Actions,” video testimonies and various worship songs from our weekend services.

“Our YouTube is filled with some worship songs, dances, skits, illustrations and special elements that are involved in service,” Souza says. “If you need a boost or just want to worship Jesus, check out our YouTube channel for inspiration — YouTube.com/NewHopeOahu.”

Finally, in case you missed the most recent weekend services, the sermons are uploaded weekly in podcast form to iTunes and are easily accessible for download.

“Open up iTunes and search under New Hope O‘ahu, and our sermons are posted weekly,” Souza confirms. “You can subscribe for free and iTunes will automatically download the most recent sermon to your iTunes library.”

The latest social media offering is “Word for the Week,” an audio teaching that is updated weekly and is available on New Hope’s devotional page. 

“Through ‘Word for the Week,’ Pastor Wayne prepares us for the upcoming week’s devotions with his narration,” Lagman says. “It’s a great way to get a personal, weekly Bible study guide.”