Pastors and Social Media

Daniel Yang is a church planter in Toronto. I’m excited about his work at Trinity Life Church, and have been impressed by his use of social media.

I’m grateful that Daniel was willing to answer some of my questions. I hope you read the interview, but if you do nothing else, skip to the last question and pray for Daniel, Trinity Life Church, and other church plants in Toronto.

Some pastors are suspicious of social media. Why should pastors use it?

I would say that some suspicions are quite valid, actually. For instance, it’s a temptation for social media to be used in a way that can puff up a leader or an organization’s ego. And sometimes what people perceive from social media is quite different from the actual leader or organization. I remember John Piper taking time off twitter to check his heart. I hear Mark Driscoll is doing the same as well.  But with that being said, I think it’s great for leaders to share with their community practical things like what they’re learning, reading, attempting. I love learning from other pastors and planters via their Twitter feed. I’ve filled up my Kindle with great books that I probably would’ve never found on my own.

What advice would you give to a pastor who wanted to use social media effectively?

Let your spouse be your Twitter ghost writer! You’re less likely to tweet your foot in your mouth! But in all seriousness whenever I tweet, blog, or update a Facebook status I ask if what I have to say is genuine and edifying. Occasionally I will chime in on what’s going on in the sports world or complain about the TTC (Toronto transit!), but by in large I treat social media like an extension of my personal ministry. You’ll see pictures of my family because I’m a proud husband and papa first and foremost. You’ll see updates about Trinity Life Church because that’s the flock God’s stewarded me to care for. You also see a lot of quotes or thoughts from what God is teaching me.

But one thing that is healthy to do, because it keeps social media in perspective, is to do regularly fasts.  Read my blog on my 40 Day Internet Detox.

What mistakes should they avoid?

Social media doesn’t show how “successful” your ministry is. Spend more time with people than with Facebook or Twitter. Update your family more on your thoughts than you do your followers. My 9 year old could care less what I’m tweeting and how many likes I get. Keep social media in perspective. Jesus knew it’s possible to appear vibrant on the outside (social media), but dying inside (spiritual integrity).

How much of a budget do you need to promote posts and events on Facebook?

Trinity Life has no media budget. We’ve tried some things to test the waters. It confirmed a lot of the things other churches told us about promoting posts and events. In all practicality, if you’re going to promote a post or event – make sure your post and event is worth promoting and make sure that you already have some sort of fan base in order for it to work. To be honest, we’ve only tried a few times and none of our promotions have been wildly successful.

How can we pray for you and for Trinity Life Church?

Pray that we will continue to love our city and the people of Toronto. Pray that dividing walls would come down. Pray that the seeds of the Gospel would take root and that generations and nations would be changed. Pray that the dream for TLC is to see the Kingdom come and all churches in the GTA flourish. Pray that our little church would be swallowed up by God’s power and presence and a great movement of churches all around our city.

Thanks, Daniel.

Find out more about Daniel at his website or on Twitter.