If you and your ministry are on social media, you need these 10 best ways to stay safe and savvy on social media.

10 Best Ways to Stay Safe and Savvy on Social Media

Social media is a great place for a children’s minister to connect personally with volunteers, parents, and other church members. It gives people a window into your personal life. However, never forget that you’re sharing your personal life with people you minister to. You must tread the line carefully between being open and over-sharing. These 10 guidelines will help you become a savvy—but safe—public figure on social media.

1. Understand social media privacy settings.

The default settings aren’t always set to the most secure options. Spend time reviewing yours so you know who’s able to access your information and images.

2. Consider everything as public information.

People can share your status or even capture a screenshot, so every post you make must be suitable for anyone to read—including kids you’re ministering to.

3. Be careful about sharing posts that appear on your feed.

When you share pictures or e-cards, you also share the name of the group or person who originated them, which may contain vulgar and offensive language.

4. Watch your photos for spam or malicious tagging.

Change your social media settings to notify you any time you’re tagged in an image, and investigate every tag to ensure it meets your public guidelines.

5. Be careful about services such as Spotify and Pandora.

Many times these apps will post your listening activity. And as a leader, children and parents might put more weight on the music you listen to. Do your listening habits reflect the messages you share in church?

6. Stay away from politics.

Yes, you have freedom of speech. No, that doesn’t mean you need to exercise it aggressively on social media. Before you post, consider: Do my words bring unity to this situation, or will they cause more division? Galatians 5:13-15 is a great passage to consider before posting:

“For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love. For the whole law can be summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” But if you are always biting and devouring one another, watch out! Beware of destroying one another.”

7. Never discuss “backstage” issues.

Don’t touch on or allude to internal church discussions on social media unless directed by senior leadership.

8. Don’t bash other ministries, denominations, or churches—local or national.

You may disagree with a church’s philosophy of ministry, but refrain from public ridicule. Others may perceive that you speak for your whole church.

9. If you run a personal social media page and your ministry’s social media page, always double-check which account you’re in when posting.

All your posts must be above board, but double-checking yourself will prevent an “oops” post. Platforms like Facebook give you the option to act as your page, watch your likes, comments, and posts looking as if they’re coming from your church.

10. Conform to your church’s social media policy—always.

If your church doesn’t have one, consider spearheading the initiative. This gives everyone concrete guidelines about how they ought to act.

Dwayne Riner served as the associate kids pastor at The Ark Church in Conroe, Texas. 

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For more social media tips, check out 4 Ministry-Related Social Media Blunders to Avoid and 4 Ways to Improve Your Social Media Presence. Want more articles for children’s ministry leaders? Check these out.