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How (And How Not) To Use Facebook for Ministry
- 08/31/10
- 44
Facebook. In so many areas of life it’s no longer an if, no longer an option. With 500 million users it is quickly becoming a near-essential tool for families, for businesses and yes, even for churches.
The good news is that Facebook has a lot to commend it; there many things it does very well and thus there are many ways in which Facebook can assist pastors and other ministry leaders. The bad news is that there are also (and inevitably) ways in which it can hinder ministry if not used well. Today I want to look at Facebook as a ministry tool and suggest a few ways in which it can help and hinder. Because of practical limitations I cannot tell you how to go about setting up an account, but at least I can give some suggestions on what to do once you’ve already joined and started to be active.
One of Facebook’s great benefits for you, as a ministry leader, is that it lets you be where your people are. If you are like most pastors, you will find that your church members are not only members of Facebook, but that they are active members. This is where people socialize, where they entertain themselves and where (occassionally) they discuss serious issues. This is not to say that you need to be on Facebook in order to effectively minister to your people, but it does give you one more way of interacting with them, and one that can be very effective. Facebook is at its heart a social media, one used to coordinate communication and this is where you will find that it assists ministry. However, there are a few areas in which you will need to be cautious.
Use Facebook to Supplement Real-World Ministry
As you consider using Facebook in your ministry, or as you consider how you are already using it, spend a few minutes thinking about what Facebook has replaced. It is generally true of new technologies that they do not just add something to life, but that they also replace something that is already there. In the case of Facebook, it may well be that it is replacing real-world face to face ministry. Facebook builds social connections and in some ways enhances them; but it can just as easily diminish them as it replaces offline life with online. There is always the temptation to take the easy route (Post “Happy Birthday” on someone’s wall instead of calling him; Send an email instead of meeting him for lunch). Be sure that you are not allowing Facebook to be an easy way of getting around difficult ministry. And make sure you are not using it to disincarnate yourself, to remove your physical presence from people’s lives.
So as you use Facebook, be careful to use it in a supplementary way, a way that supplements your real flesh and blood contact with the people you are seeking to serve. Use it to share event information, to get people remembering last week’s sermons and thinking toward next week’s, to get people singing the songs you sing and praying for what needs to be prayed for. Use it to share photographs of great events and to encourage people to make contact with one another. The ways it can supplement ministry are nearly endless. But all the while use it to push yourself toward, not away from, face to face contact.
Learn, But Don’t Be a Stalker
There are parts of the shepherding ministry that are active and parts that are passive. This is to say that in many cases you will inadvertently encounter information relevant to your ministry—things you need to act on. You may be told by a mutual contact that there is an important date coming up in another person’s life or that someone has committed a grevious sin. You did not go looking for the information; rather, it came to you. There are other times that you will be more proactive in seeking out information. You may approach a person and ask how he has been doing recovering from a surgery or you may ask him how he has done in the battle against a particular sin.
Facebook can help with both of those components of ministry, with both the active and the passive. But you will need to guard against the temptation to be constantly trolling for information (negative information in particular), to go looking at vacation photographs to see if something is amiss (“She shouldn’t be wearing that on the beach!”), to read walls to find errant messages and responses (“Whoa! That sounded a bit snarky!”). There are times you can use the information you encounter in a way that will bless and encourage and there are times you can use that information in a way that will seem downright creepy. The societal rules about what we may do with information we encounter on Facebook are still being written; until they are, be careful. It may be that you will offend people even as you seek to help them.Use it to learn about the lives of the people you love, to encourage them, and just generally to be aware of what they are doing in life. But do not use it to stalk them; and be careful how you introduce information you’ve learned from Facebook into real-world conversation.
Be Aware
Be aware that much of what happens on Facebook is public and be aware that what is public and what is private seems to be in constant flux as Facebook matures. Posting “Had a great time last night!” on a friend’s wall may just be a little confusing (especially if that friend is a woman). Also, be careful as well that you do not assume too much from information you encounter about others on Facebook. Because much of what you will encounter will be torn from context, you will need to use that information very carefully. Believe the best whenever it makes sense to do so.
As much as Facebook can grow community within the church, it can also hinder it. When you post photos of an event that only ten or twelve families were invited to, understand that all of the families in the church will see them and all those who were not there will wonder why they were not invited. Be aware of those aspects of Facebook that will alienate people and convince them that they are outsiders. I’ve said it before: I didn’t know how much fun my friends have without me (and how often they have it!) until Facebook came along!
Be Present but not Always Present
Though Facebook can be a valuable tool for the pastor, it is a tool that is far more often used to waste time than to redeem time. Your congregation will be glad to see that you have a presence on Facebook, but they will be dismayed if they see that you have a constant presence. if they see that you are continually commenting, chatting, posting notes, interacting and racking up high scores on Bejeweled Blitz, they will come to believe that you are spending your entire day there. Even if that is not the case, you will want to be very cautious to give them no reason to think that you are wasting your study time or sermon preparation time stalking them on Facebook. So use it, but use it carefully and sparingly.
Don’t Play Farmville
Just don’t. It’s stupid and it will make you stupid.
I am a follower of Jesus Christ, a husband to Aileen and a father to three young children. I worship and serve as a pastor at 
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Comments (44)
“Don’t Play Farmville. Just don’t. It’s stupid and it will make you stupid.”
Excellent.
A great guide to using Facebook for us all …. and you’re so right about Farmville. (I’m so glad Facebook lets you block such applications.)
You’ve just unpacked what someone wise told me last week. Very helpful. Thanks, Tim!
“Don’t Play FarmvilleJust don’t. It’s stupid and it will make you stupid.”
Tim, you’re a sage.
Great article. Loved the Farmville comment. I just dont’ get the fascination there. I see one more potential warning with using Facebook in ministry. There are always going to be those people who “don’t do the computer”. I have found that they often feel left out or disconnected by those of us who are interacting daily on FB. We need to be sure to include them or remember to give them a call and let them know important information or news, etc.
Great article! I’ve seen Facebook abused as a stalk tool and as a time waster (read Farmville). This article provides a helpful corrective.
Here’s another helpful article on how pastors can use Facebook: http://www.sharefaithblog.com/2010/04/pastoral-counseling-on-facebook/#m…
Thank you for the great article. I have quite the horror story from this past year regarding facebook and ministry. It has to do with things intentionally and maliciously being taking out of context. I won’t share it here, but it was used (among other things) as ammunition in an attempt to remove our pastor and divide our church. It has horrific. But praise God, we are almost on the other side of it.
Thanks, Tim.
“And make sure you are not using it to disincarnate yourself, to remove your physical presence from people’s lives.”
This goes for all of us. As technology advances, we hold the potential for socially annihilating ourselves, sweeping ourselves away from the vulnerability of face to face contact. There is nothing quite as endearing as the familiar smell of an old friend, the observation of a new crease in the forehead or the humble confession of standing in the need of prayer.
These things were never meant to be shared virtually. The first two are impossible, the last: a warm body with a heart that cares matters.
Great post!What do you think about “de-friending” someone that has been asked to leave the church through the last step of church discipline?? It’s an awkward situation but I’ve felt like it’s the right way to proceed. Thoughts?
It’s okay to judge people who play farmville, right?
Good points made. (Especially the Farmville one!! My wife and kids spend a huge amount of time playing around with that.. But they enjoy “planting” vegetables for their grandma that is 4-5 hours away.. Keeps them connected.)
I do think your comment “it is a tool that is far more often used to waste time than to redeem time.” is false. I head up the social media for my church and we have seen a large majority of people finding our church for the first time on Facebook either through their connections or through our pastor. So there is massive redeeming value in Facebook if used correctly.
Don’t completely disregard it as just a waste of time to play games and etc. Never before have people had the level of access to one another and to their pastors. A pastor has the opportunity to show that he is a real live person, that does real life stuff.. Not just preach on Sundays.. Let people see the real you, messed up and everything.. And if you get a massive score on Bejeweled share it with the world!
I can attest to the Farmville comment…unfortunately from experience…lol. Good post.
I am happy to see some explicit treatment of this subject because I agree with both the observation that Facebook is now a ubiquitous communications medium and that it is used more often to waste time than to redeem time.
My concern is that the Facebook model of relationship building is very self-focused. If you do not wish to engage in the inevitable unpleasant details of relationships with the real and sinful people around you, you can ignore them or respond selectively or de-friend them. This runs counter to the gospel’s teaching that we should be purposeful and self-sacrificial in our relationships with others as we are the body of Christ and the visible expression of his love to them on earth. Between that and the recognition of my own tendency to waste time on the internet, I am hesitant to embrace Facebook, even as a “ministry” tool.
Just say no to facebook! Just say NO!
I`m attending a large church where Facebook and Twitter and e-mail are a large part of communicating. It is not an improvement over a face to face encounter but, sadly, it becomes a nessesary evil in the world we live in. Sometimes there is no other way to contact staff, pastors, or members. Even baptisms are covered on Facebook. I sorta miss the old days when you just talked to one another.
Great compilation of key thoughts about ministry and Face book. You hit a good balance between using it as a tool to enhance ministry and ways to avoid it hindering ministry.
Teens tell me that email is for their grandparents; texting, IM, Facebook is the only way they communicate.
I’ve found out people are in the hospital through Facebook before I got a phone call or email. Folks have showed up to a service just because I posted about the message topic the Saturday before on Facebook.
Thanks!
Great post!What do you think about "de-friending" someone that has been asked to leave the church through the last step of church discipline?? It's an awkward situation but I've felt like it's the right way to proceed. Thoughts?
I would talk to church leaders about that. I can see the value in doing it, but I don’t know that it’s a necessity. There is such a vast difference between friending someone on Facebook and being a friend to them in real life. Defriending them is more like taking their number of speed dial than it is “refusing to have anything more to do with them.”
Mike said, “It’s okay to judge people who play farmville, right?”
Mike,
You might reread Tim’s comment. Tim critiqued or ‘judged” Farmville, not the people that play it.
“Don’t Play FarmvilleJust don’t. It’s stupid and it will make you stupid.”
So yes, Tim’s comments are perfectly justified—and should be taken to heart.
So true Donna. Our youngest son has an AST (Autistm Spectrum Disorder) and though he uses the computer for lots of things, because of his particular disorder he doesn’t communicate well with others. So he doesn’t use FB. BUT…his friends do and unfortunately the youth group he likes to go to uses FB almost exclusively for event information. They haven’t listened to our concerns regarding this so more often than not he (my son) doesn’t go to do things because no-one thinks to invite him with a good old-fashioned phone call.
I was wondering how long it would take for someone to play the “thou shalt not judge” card…
Mike, isn’t your telling others not to judge a bit judgmental?
Oh well. I guess I can’t judge farmville players…
Please tell me it’s okay to hate the Yankees. Don’t take that away from me:)
Interesting question, and one without historical precedent (since online social media haven’t existed until recently).
I think your response to the question depends on your definition of church discipline. Or rather, what you believe is the heart behind church discipline. If church discipline is simply a distancing of the church from an erring individual, then de-friending him on Facebook makes sense.
But I believe that the purpose of church discipline is not merely punitive, but also redemptive. When Jesus says to treat a disciplined member as a “Gentile and a tax collector,” I don’t believe he means to shun him - I believe he means to pursue him with the gospel and assume he is not born again.
And if that is the case, de-friending him on Facebook is not only unnecessary, it may even give the inaccurate impression that the church has “washed its hands” of him, when in fact the church should be pursuing him as an unbeliever and inviting him into fellowship with Jesus Christ.
The second issue - and perhaps the more obvious answer - is that the local church does not speak or act in unity on Facebook. In other words, a corporate action (such as discipline; or ordination; or appointing a pastor) does not take place outside the confines of the assembled church. Thus a church can corporately discipline a member, and still pursue him evangelistically on a person-to-person basis, and thus on Facebook as well. (But of course an individual’s interaction/relationship with the disciplined member should be consistent with the church’s corporate action toward him; if an individual continues casually buddying around with him with no regard for the church’s disciplinary action, perhaps the church’s testimony is weakened. Perhaps.)
How’s that for a long answer?
The greatest benefit of facebook to us has been in reaching people outside the church. We have plenty of communication tools for the congregation, from newsletters to email to announcements to bulletins to posters. Vehicles that reach people who don’t go to church, or may be considering ours for a visit, are rare and valuable. Maybe 30% of our fb friends attend our church. The rest are scattered here in this city and also around the world.
It does challenge you when it comes to content, because you can’t just type a blurb about the upcoming picnic as your status.
Kyle: “is that the local church does not speak or act in unity on Facebook. ”
Not yet, maybe.
Also would add that we have a lot of pastors and people in professional ministry as our friends. I have found that a few encouraging words or a short prayer can be very supportive of people in a very difficult job. I am not a pastor, but sometimes I pastor pastors :)
I think Facebook draws out more kooks that anything.Here`s what happened when one person decided to “defriend someone; http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/man-holds-girlfriend-captive-facebook-p…
Just say no to the telephone. Just say NO!
“It’s stupid and it will make you stupid.”
Very nice.
Great great article. I’ve learned so much from it. Nice compilation of thoughts! :D
Thank you so much for writing this! Needed to be said (and I needed to read it as well).
Having your pastor on Facebook is like having your boss on there. It’s sort of endearing, but it’s so easy to imagine bad stuff coming from it.
Don’t Play Farmville
Just don’t. It’s stupid and it will make you stupid.
Classic. I’m still laughing.
thanks Tim,I just (finally) joined facebook last week so these are timely thoughts for me to ponder. I held out for a few years but decided I wanted to be more connected with social media.
On a lighter note…I’ve noticed a lot of people are playing these facebook games, and I see the potential for a new area of advancement for the best in Christian subculture, so I think we need a facebook game called…wait for it…
Churchville!It would be a cross between farmville and mafia wars. You would get messages like, “Pastor Bob Smith needs a few more deacons to knock off Jimmy who is resisting church discipline at First Baptist”
I think it would be a ‘hit’!
Great stuff brother,
BUT how about the webteam for a church doing this work behind the world of Facebook? I am the one updating facebook, I doubt my pastor even wants to sign on and check this stuff.
Interesting perspective, and a right one in my mind, but how many pastors are actually or should be actually logging into facebook for this type of love. It’s a very slippery slope.
Well I’ve been defriended and have defriended some folks for the very same reason and personally i havent felt offended for one -when you de-friend someone, the person doesnt really see it, its just that you no longer get the person’s comments and you cant see his personal information or wall. FB doesnt give you an update message on “who” has be-friended you. the second point is your understanding of who a “friend” is on FB - is this an aquaintance or someone who’s a “heart” and “mind” friend. If its the former, its just that you dont have much to do with the person. If its the latter, then you need to have a proper reason for doing it. one of my “friends” kept posting unchristlike messages on FB, and at some point posted wall messages that was satirical to my belief system - though i tried explaining to him the belief, he wouldnt agree - but not just that, it was a joke. Now continuing to “befriend” that person meant that everytime i logged into FB i had to deal with the ordeal or seeing his messages and sometimes replying to it out of sheer frustration - it didnt help me. so i decided to de-friend me in the best interest of both of us. the ultimate question to ask is this: does it glorify God more if you had him/her on your list or not?
Good reminders. I’m still laughing about the Farmville observation! Thanks!
I would recommend the free e-Book, Facebook for Pastors at: http://ministrymarketingcoach.com/2008/04/22/downloads-the-facebook-for-…
Yes - Love the LIKE “if you send me more farmville requests I’m coming to your farm to burn your farm and kill all your animals
There are ways to hide someone’s posts from your news feed without de-friending them. I’ve had to do that only more than one occasion. Sometimes it’s because they post too much and other times it’s because they post to many farmville or other annoying app type status updates.
My wife and I had a chance encounter with another couple last weekend and discovered that they were missionaries to a Central American country. Both admitted being on Facebook and involved with Farmville, her more than him. She recounted the story of how she was able to lead a woman to Christ online through Facebook/Farmville because she had mentioned the fact of being a missionary and it sparked a conversation. Even more wondrous, this missionary had told a group of teenage girls two weeks prior that God could use anything to bring people to Him. God honored that by proving it.
So if Farmville is stupid, then it further proves that “God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise” (I Cor. 1:27).
Good thoughts on the benefits and dangers of Facebook for pastors.
For those interested in a similar analysis, but focused upon the pros and cons of foreign missionaries using Facebook, I have written an article here: http://www.dahlfred.com/en/blogs/gleanings-from-the-field/351-should-mis…
I recommend trying www.socialkik.com to buy Facebook fans, they have been recommended by a lot of bloggers and they can both be trusted. Socialkik can actually add fans to your Facebook page without logging into your Facebook profile, so I guess they send out thousands of suggestions to people in their network until they get 1K, 2K, 5K, 10K or 100K of Facebook fans to join your page, which is totally fine with Facebook terms of use.
“Don’t Play Farmville. Just don’t. It’s stupid and it will make you stupid.”
Um, there are more Farmville users than Twitter users, it’s just a game…http://www.techradar.com/news/internet/facebook-farmville-is-bigger-than…
It’s like saying,”Don’t watch Sports. Just don’t, It’s stupid and will make you stupid”
Every person has their own hobby / things they enjoy in life
And no, I do not play Farmville. I just think that comment was extraordinarily unwise and stupid.
i loved the farmville comment. SO funny. :)
I block *every* single application that I come in contact with on facebook - mainly because I know how easily I will get sucked into them if I don’t. :)
Great post.