Creating a social media policy for your church

Social media has become part of everyday life and is now an important means of communication for most people, with churches around the country making use of it to connect with their communities and reach people in new and exciting ways. 

But the digital world can pose difficulties and encourage negative engagement too. We’re often asked about best practice and social media policies for local churches.

Creating a social media policy for your church is a good way to support and protect your clergy, staff and volunteers as they use social media, while communicating to them the standards you’d like for them to uphold in their online engagement – whether that is while using your church’s social media accounts or in their own personal online activity.

Here are some pointers for creating a social media policy that will help you clarify expectations, create an online environment where people are treated with dignity, and encourage people to think carefully about the impact online engagement can have.

Explain how your social media policy ties into your church’s values 

Upholding your church’s values in how staff and volunteers behave online is vital. It’s important to acknowledge that everyone engages differently online and the purpose of a social media policy is not to stop people from expressing themselves, but to uphold values such as truth, kindness, integrity and compassion in the digital world. 

You may wish to use our Digital Charter and social media community guidelines, which we created to encourage positive engagement online, and adapt these for your own use. You may also want to encourage staff and volunteers to sign the version on our website. It can be helpful to communicate expectations and what may happen if these aren’t met.  

Communicate trust 

We wouldn’t assume that staff and volunteers will behave irresponsibly on social media, so in your policy you can explain that this is to make expectations clear, and not just highlight the negative aspects of online engagement.

One of the joys of social media is that it has so much potential to foster interesting and fruitful engagement, help your church reach people – both in your local community and beyond – and help build and nurture relationships. The digital world is now an integral part of our lives and all we do as a national Church. So it’s important to highlight all it has to offer while recognising that balancing our personal lives and views with our work and volunteering responsibilities requires some thought.

You could explain as part of the policy that in navigating this, you trust that staff and volunteers will apply the same common sense, kindness and integrity to online interactions that they would use when speaking to someone face to face. This is particularly important when thinking about expressing opinions in a conversation or on a topic that has the potential to become heated, as can often be the case with interactions online.

Explain the wider context

The views that staff or volunteers express online may be taken as representative of your church, diocese or even of the wider Church of England. In a world where content posted online can easily be seen by people everywhere, saved and/or reproduced, it’s important to consider how it could be perceived or used. 

Cover all bases 

Make sure your policy is comprehensive and gives examples, so that everyone is clear on what the policy means. Here are some areas you may wish to cover and expand upon:

• Not sharing content that is sexually explicit, inflammatory, abusive, threatening or otherwise disrespectful. 

• In your online engagement as a church, the safety of children, young people and vulnerable adults must be maintained at all times. Obtaining consent when you wish to feature images or videos of people in your congregation on social media is important, and you could add in some information here about safeguarding processes and your processes for recording consent.

• Treating others how you would wish to be treated and assuming the best in people is a cornerstone of positive online engagement. Remind people to think about whether a conversation would be best to have in person, or the tone they might use.

• The importance of not misleading people about who you are and making sure all you post online is factual.

• Acknowledging the work of others. Respecting copyright and always crediting people whose work you have referred to or used is vital (our guide to using images online is a helpful resource to refer to). 

• Why it’s important to seek guidance from a member of clergy or other senior member of staff before participating in social media discussions as a church when the topic being discussed may be considered sensitive.

• Always following the rules of the social media platform you are using.

You may want to add some examples of ‘dos and don’ts’ to help underline the above. 

Let people know who they can come to for advice 

Who can staff or volunteers talk to if they have a concern about something they have seen on social media, if they would like to understand more about something or ask for advice? Make it clear who can help so that people will never be unsure about how to proceed when facing a difficult situation or needing help. Tricky situations online can escalate quickly, so it can sometimes be important to take swift action.