Rev. Naomi King

Pinterest is a social media community building site where users share visual images picked up (pinned) from blogs across the web. Somewhere between a digital scrapbook and an image journal, Pinterest gives faith communities a new way to cultivate connection.

I’m particularly taken by the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Atlanta and what they’re doing with their Pinterest site. First, it has a social media team of contributors behind it, so the Pinterest display can’t become focused too narrowly by one person’s editorial taste. Secondly, there is a board set up for each of the six sources of Unitarian Universalism, inviting visitors and members alike to explore the connection between those sources of faith and words and images.

People of the Second Chance (POTSC) shows another way faith communities can use Pinterest well. Their boards relate to POTSC’s major themes and guest bloggers. One theme is “Grace in the News”. Apparently edited by a team, POTSC has also set up boards based on Twitter hashtags. Doing so invites community members to share images and image blogs with the hashtag on Twitter and allows for easier editing and cultivation from that sharing onto Pinterest. Simple and simply effective, which is something I’ve learned to expect from how POTSC approaches growing community via social media.

Just as with other social media, Pinterest works best when people are generous about sharing, first via their blogs and then by pinning and repinning what others are doing. While religious leaders may wish to show their own style and preferences, congregations will most likely want a team working with Pinterest, so that a variety of interests and styles are cultivated.

I can imagine congregations setting up Pinterest boards around particular mission themes, devotions, seasons, and faith development topics and classes. I can imagine small groups cultivating their own Pinterest boards, to share what issues they’re exploring and service work they’re doing with the larger community, inside and outside the congregation.

Pinterest is easy to use, fun, and terrific for visual devotional resources, faith formation, showing the congregation at work in the world, and feeding the spirit with visual arts.