A decade ago, most churches relied on traditional ways to share information with members and friends: Announcements in church or in the Sunday bulletin, fliers posted on bulletin boards in the fellowship hall, perhaps a newsletter or website, or maybe even the occasional email to congregants.

Those worked but were mostly one-way communication – church leaders gave the information, and “receivers” had to make a phone call or email back for more details.

Social media both solves and exacerbates the communication issue. The key is connecting.

Facebook, Instagram, and even TikTok are viable platforms for many churches to build community. They not only can help spread the word about your church and its good works, they also can boost stewardship.

In 2023, First Presbyterian Church in Greer, South Carolina, launched a fall campaign called “Grateful Living, Faithful Giving” on Facebook, Instagram and their website. Their outreach included bright graphics and brief, fun videos, many of them involving music.

“Prior to last year, we had primarily used traditional methods of reaching out to our congregation during stewardship. This included booklets with artwork from our children and written pieces from adults, members speaking from the pulpit, a narrative budget page, and so on,” said Maggie Wentzky, director of operations at First Presbyterian in Greer.

“In 2023, the theme that we had for stewardship lent itself well to social media posts. Although having a variety of styles of content was helpful in reaching more people, it did take a lot more time to create different items. This year we are doing fewer posts and trying to use the same content across platforms where we are able, simply to save time.”

Social media “has proven a great way to connect to our congregation,” Wentzky said. “We saw an increase in social media participation from our current followers. The posts we made during stewardship received a lot of feedback through likes and comments, both on social media and in person.”

What you didn’t see in First Presbyterian Greer’s social media campaign were any 20-minute lecture videos, or long PowerPoint decks. The messaging was clear, cheerful, colorful and direct.

Rev. Will Shelburne, senior pastor at First Presbyterian Greer, said the late 2024 campaign featured four in-worship moments for stewardship. These reach many of the group who would have been touched with traditional methods before, he said.

“When we send out communications about stewardship we try to send them via Facebook, Instagram, and Constant Contact. We have a fair number of people who engage with email, but not social media. In 2023, we had more total posts for stewardship that were spread out from September through mid-November. We did have a significant increase in pledges from 2023 to 2024, but it is obviously hard to quantify the impact our use of social media had on this,” he said.

Their church has about 400 active members with an average weekly worship attendance around 175. Of those members, Wentzky ballparks that 60 percent use social media in one form or another. Interestingly, their Instagram followers account for about 60 percent of church membership, primarily people under 55.

Here are a few keys to remember with social media:

1. Be consistent in your postings and in your messaging. Social media won’t work for you if you share things once a month. I’d say a minimum is three times a week. These can be from the small scale – “remember Wednesday is Kirk Night and we’ve got spaghetti for all!” – to the bigger picture about mission work, upcoming retreats or meetings of the session.
2. Be conversational. When someone comments on your post, thank them, or answer their question with more detail. Remember, this is supposed to be a conversation, not a lecture.
3. Ask your followers to share your message, especially those that deal with the larger community and aren’t specific to your church. For instance, if your church hosts a cold-weather shelter for needy families, that is something people outside the church membership should know.