There are three main reasons I have heard pastors give for not engaging in Facebook or other social media.
The first, though not many would admit to it, is that it is a way of hiding sins. If there is one thing that we have learned over the last several years its that social media is great at exposing the hidden sins, and pastors are not immune. Affairs come to light, compromising photos are leaked, and rumors swirl.
And look, all of us sin. I sin. You sin. We all sin. But if the amount of sin in our lives is so great that we feel like if others saw into it, they could never again respect us as religious leaders, maybe we're in the wrong profession. We are held to a higher standard. James says, "Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers and sisters, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness" (James 3:1, NRSV).
There is going to be sin in our lives because we are humans, but as people who have the spirit of Christ dwelling within us and are moving on towards perfection, my hope and prayer is that the good within us far outshines the areas in which we still falter. If that's not the case, do Christianity a favor and stay off of Facebook.
A second reason pastors don't get on Facebook is that they are hiding non-pastory actions. We imagine that if our parishioners saw how we really live, they would say, "Pastor Dan does WHAT?!"
The other night I was meeting with a committee from our church and someone said, "Dan, one of the things I appreciate about you is that you are the same guy whether you are in the pulpit, at home, in Kroger, or on Facebook." For me, that was a huge compliment. I let people see a lot of things about me that aren't "pastory." I love stupid YouTube videos, and I share them on Facebook all the time. Will Ferrel cracks me up. I'm an internet news junkie. I love coffee (I may have already mentioned that). I love my family. The Ohio State Buckeyes consume my Saturdays in the fall. I can't get enough of the Bible. God has changed my life.
No matter where you see me...at church, at the store, in the coffee shop, at home, or even on Facebook...I am probably talking about these things. Scripture and my relationship with Christ frequently come up in my day to day conversations, and Will Ferrel quotes and YouTube videos are scattered throughout my sermons.
People are looking for pastors who are real, who have lives that aren't out of reach for them to attain, and who can relate to who they are when they aren't in the pews. Don't be afraid to show your "non-pastory" side.
I heard a pastor say they other day that they have two Facebook accounts. One is for their parishioners, the other is for their friends and family. Their comment was that they weren't doing anything wrong, but it was stuff that they just didn't want their church to necessarily see. When you do that, you are unwittingly making yourself unreachable and unattainable. You are no longer a regular person. If all your Facebook does is talk in your preacher voice, then you are missing a great opportunity to be real and transparent. That stuff you don't want your church to see may be exactly the kind of stuff that they need to see for you to become real and authentic to them.
The third reason I hear is that some pastors just want their privacy. I have no problem with privacy. I definitely have a private life. There are times when I need to just get away. However, there are other places in your life where you can have privacy. Staying off Facebook isn't protecting your privacy. People are still talking about you. But it IS keeping your voice silent in a realm that definitely needs truth spoken into it.
The great thing about Facebook is that people can have access to you, and you don't even have to be present with them! So you can disconnect from the world for weeks, but your Facebook page remains.
I'm talking mainly about Facebook because it is currently the dominant social media. There are 845 million active users on Facebook.
I'm friends with 675 of them.
So let me tell you how I use Facebook as a pastor. I'm not saying it's the only way, this is just what has worked for me (but if it works, it must be true, right?).
Here is a list of the last ten things I posted on Facebook. I think its a pretty good look into my normal Facebook activity.
- a link to a blog by Jonathan Acuff (author of "Stuff Christians Like" - the guy is hilarious. The article is about throwing away the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue. It was really clever, and I just thought I'd share it.
- A link from Huffington Post (an online newspaper) about Jeremy Lin, an emerging NBA star, and his faith. It turns out he loves Christian "rap. I don't even like Christian rap. But the artist he likes is a favorite of our worship leader at church, so I shared it and mentioned him in post.
- the Bible verse from our family devotions last night with a link to find it in an online Bible.
- an independent review for a local burger joint that I mentioned the previous week in my sermon.
- Picture of an internet meme that illustrates the funny side of being a pastor
- A status update in which I mention that I think way more people wear yoga pants than actually do yoga
- A status update about finishing the ordination process (woohoo!)
- An Instagram photo of my wife and I from our vacation at the beach last summer. Just my little way of showing her some love on Valentine's Day.
- An Instagram photo of my new coffee mug.
- A link to video of my sermon from the previous Sunday.
So what does all of this do? Very little theological teaching, apart possibly from the Bible verse and the sermon video. Most of it is just showing Christianity in real life. I'm sharing what I'm going through and having conversations with people about it.
Facebook has really opened people up to understanding who I actually am. I'm getting ready to go to a new church, and I've encouraged those I've met with so far to find me on Facebook. If they want to get to know the real me, that's a great place to do it.
I know that if I put a profile of myself on Facebook that doesn't match up with Sunday morning me, it won't be authentic. So I'm very careful to make sure that I am as real in both places as I am in real life.
This helps keep me in check. Because I know my life is so transparent, it causes me to think carefully about what I am doing. Will it cause someone to stumble? Will a picture show up on Facebook? Will someone tweet what I just said? Chances are, yes. So Facebook helps keep me blameless.
As I friend parishioners, I am also able to do ministry with them on Facebook. I have had countless conversations in the message system with people who have something they want to ask but are too afraid to ask elsewhere. I see people whose status updates seem to indicate that they are going through a rough patch in life, so I give them a call just to check in.
Pastors have often lamented that they don't know what's going on with the people in their congregation if they don't call and tell them. Trust me, if something big happens anymore, it's on Facebook immediately. Through the Facebook feed I have discovered people from my church who were in the hospital, had lost loved ones, were having relationship issues, had lost their job, and countless other issues that needed pastoral care.
I got phone calls about virtually none of them.
A few months back, our church did a series called "It's complicated," based on one of the relationship status choices people can include in their Facebook profile. We talked about the whole family mess of Isaac and Rebekah. We created Facebook pages for each of the characters and started dialogue on Facebook about the sermons. People loved it.
Our church has a Facebook page on which we post sermon videos, announcements, and links to ministry information. Recently, several of our first time visitors have indicated that they found us first on Facebook.
When we launched a Saturday night service, we started by advertising it on Facebook and asking our church members to share a photo with the service information.
In a couple of short months, it has become one of our largest services.
During the message, you'll often find me or our contemporary worship leader tweeting our favorite points and providing links to scriptures that are mentioned.
Our daily Bible reading plan goes out automatically by Twitter every morning.
The possibilities for doing ministry are growing rapidly. If we as pastors do not embrace this technology, we will be losing an opportunity to reach out to the millions of people who are living in these realms and need love of Christ in their lives.
People are looking for someone to follow. If they can't follow us, they'll follow someone else
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