In the spring of 2020, churches around the world began to close their doors due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The question arose, “How are we to worship together?”
For many churches the answer was one word. Online. Pastors and church leaders quickly became their community’s tech guru. Churches that already had online streaming began doubling down on investment.
Now the year is 2025, and most churches that began or ramped up their online engagement have not scaled back. Zoom gatherings gave way to posting pre-recorded worships on Sunday mornings. Pre-recording gave way to live streaming. And now, live-streaming is giving way to social media strategy, communication coordination, branding, and more.
Speaking from my own experience as a pastor, the fastest growing parts of my job is content creation for social media and website management. Recently my church went through a self-study examining our programs and engagement with the community. After months of interviews, observation note-taking, site visits, and data analysis, our consultant found that one of our biggest areas for growth was with our “online presence.”
The recommendation was to “discuss enhancing the church’s online presence.” The consultant explained, “Although the pandemic is over, respondents still reported the use of technologies if they were unable to attend Sunday services. Given the missional values of the church, we wonder if it could invest time and energy to extend its dynamic ministries into virtual spaces.” I assume that many churches would receive similar recommendations.
At first I greeted this recommendation with joy. I view social media as a way to reach younger people. It can be a creative outlet beyond sermon writing or planning youth groups. It is one more way to get the message out about our values and mission, upcoming events, and recent endeavors. I knew that it would take more effort and work hours, some extra volunteers, and more. Nonetheless, it seemed worth the effort.
My church uses Facebook and Instagram, both owned and operated by Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta. We try to regularly post a variety of content. But, after a few months of using hashtags for content boosting and geolocation, I was surprised at what was happening. Before I knew it, our page was being recommended next to Christian Nationalist content, homophobic and transphobic posts, anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant rhetoric. If you search “#christian,” much of the content is harmful and dangerous.
Some of the youth in my church began to follow our Instagram page. Some were as young as fifth graders. Obviously, our church Instagram page is public. Still, there was an uncomfortable feeling when I received notification that these children were following.
It has become exceedingly apparent that social media is harmful to the mental health of teens and young adults. The rise in depression, anxiety, suicidality, and self-harm among teens correlates with the advent of social media. An American Psychological Association study recently found that teens spend an average of nearly five hours on social media per day. Among teens who use social media with most frequently, 41% rate their mental health as “poor” or “very poor.” Most disturbingly, the APA found that among teens who use social media most, one in ten report thoughts of suicide and self harm. One in ten.
And what about adults and the broader society? One example is a 2022 an Amnesty International study that found that Facebook’s algorithm in Myanmar promoted anti-Rohingya hate speech and fake information, which led, in part, to the suppression of facts related to the real world violence and genocide taking place in Myanmar. It seems unlikely that the algorithms stoking ethnic division, hatred, and violence are limited only to Myanmar.
Is the internet a new public sector in which the church is called to engage? What was originally envisioned as a digital town square has been overrun with hate speech and x-rated content.
I wonder what a Christ-like way looks like online. I wonder what it looks like to stand on the digital street corner preaching good news. This is a real ethical dilemma knocking at the church’s doors. How can the church engage a world that is growing ever-more dependent on technology and the internet if we don’t engage with social media? Can the church stand for justice, mercy, peace, and compassion while also engaging with social media? The God of the universe is certainly still God in the Metaverse.
I still operate the church Facebook and Instagram. But I do so trying to hold all of these complexities in my heart. I’ve come to pray this prayer adapted from Psalm 19:
May the words of my mouth,
And the meditations of my heart,
And the content of my creation,
Be acceptable in your sight.
Lord, my rock and my redeemer.
Amen.
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Free to Be Faithful: Stepping Forward Together With Courage and Conviction
The Institute for Christian Studies and the Reformed Journal present a personal conversation with Nick Wolterstorff and Kristin Du Mez.
Saturday, May 3, 7pm, Eastern Avenue Church, Grand Rapids, Michigan
Free event, but you must register
Register here to attend this event in person
Register here to participate online via Livestream.
2 Responses
As you point out, the dilemma is that those searching for Good News will also stumble across that hate speech and x-rated content. But the good side is that those searching for hate speech and x-rated content might also stumble across the Good News of Jesus through your online content.