When it comes to social media, pastors need to be not just good but excellent stewards of the use of their time and use of social media. This is true both of personal social media accounts and also your church or ministry accounts. In this blog, I will attempt to suggest some guidelines for pastors.
Choose your friends or peeps wisely. Just because someone wants to be your friend doesn't mean you should hit the confirm button after their request. Has your list grown beyond your ability to follow everyone's news posts and requests? Then maybe you should consider trimming your list, or managing it better so that it is not overwhelming. Some good guidelines for this are found in CR:Consumer Reports at https://www.consumerreports.org/social-media/how-to-manage-facebook-friends-network/.
Limit the time you spend checking your social media accounts each day. Don't feel as if you need to respond to every post. That would be like entering a room filled with hundreds of people and then feeling the need to go to everyone and every group there to interact with them. By the way, social media interactions do not replace the need for face-to-face communication for some people.
Avoid the temptation to express your strong or negative feelings over the internet. Strong emotions require personal contact. Emojis, first developed in Japan as a way to communicate ideas, emotions, and any number of other things or concepts, can be used in positive ways. But, refuse to use words or images to be critical or negative to others in your networks. A happy face beats an angry one any day. J
Posts on your social networks can be used to communicate helpful information to an individual or a large group of people. Have you considered using your social networks to communicate the Gospel, biblical truth, or a devotional thought to your friends? I have a friend who sends me and his other friends some Bible verses to read each day. Several churches and pastors that I follow invite me to watch their streaming worship services each week.
Use your friends' posts on social media as prayer reminders. I prayerfully trust the Holy Spirit to help me select a few to pray for each time I surf my networks for news and updates. The Lord listens to my one-sentence prayers just as much as my 10-paragraph prayers. And I'm so glad that the same Holy Spirit can direct His answers to my posts for prayer in the same way. If you do share prayer requests over the internet, be sure to keep them confidential with no names or other ways people can know who the people in need are.
Try to be a Barnabas when you are on your social networks. In the New Testament, Barnabas was an encourager and a disciple-maker. Consider if there are some ways you can build up your friends on social media. How can you help them to follow Jesus in bigger and better ways that multiply disciples of Jesus Christ.
Don't be surprised that Facebook and Twitter might cancel some of your posts if you are a follower of Jesus or hold to conservative, biblical, or socially conservative views. This seems to be especially true if their rules don't agree with your political, social, or religious views. Some who now share postings on these networks are considering canceling their membership in these social media platforms because of recent moves by their editorial leaderships to censor what they think goes against their views of social and racial justice. Like many others, I am searching for conservative alternatives to create alternative social media use. How about you?
I believe in freedom of speech and freedom of the press. These are Constitutional rights. But I also believe in my right to read, watch, and listen to only what I want and need. Choose your participation prayerfully and carefully.
Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. (Eph. 5:15-17)
[Photo by Adem AY on Unsplash]