A few weeks ago a church leader was lamenting to us about not knowing what to caption their church’s social media photos with. They proceeded to share that they had thousands of high-quality photos of their people at the ready. They lacked only the knowledge of what to say.
Click here for the video version!
Now, to us, this felt like meeting a unicorn!
We’ve encountered many churches who are not on social media of any kind. This happens. Churches lack time, money, and skills to add this (necessary) activity to their to do list.
We’ve encountered many churches with dormant social media accounts. We get it. Even churches with good intentions find their time and energy being pulled elsewhere.
We’ve even encountered churches that actively use social media, but their feed looks more like a collage of text-driven images than anything. We know! Canva graphics are fun, taking photos of yourself and others while preaching doesn’t work, and you have a lot of announcements to share with people.
But for us to come across a church:
- With an active presence on social media
- With members’ photos ready to be shared
- With their only need being caption ideas!?
Well, this was a new one for us!
And we couldn’t resist giving an answer to hopefully help other unicorns that may find themselves in this same situation. We have even compiled photo examples of real churches actively doing this well.
Disclaimer: Speaking of these churches, EACH of these churches gave us their permission to highlight their photos. We aren’t just showing you random photos from the web without permission. Thank you to your Instagram communications folks AND your willing parishioners!
What Not to Do:
Before we get to our seven examples, here is an important message of what NOT to do with the photos you take of your people:
Use Every Single One as an Invitation Post
Key words: “Every Single One”
Invitation posts are okay. You are communities doing great work; you want people to join in on that.
But not every post on your Facebook or Instagram needs to be an invitation to them. In fact, we would argue that most of your posts should not be.
See, invitation posts ask something of people.
“We invite you to worship.” Read: we are asking you to leave your home/log on and spend your time with us.
“We invite you to give.” Read: we are asking you for money.
“We invite you to attend our Bible study.” Read: we are asking for your presence and participation.
“We invite you to tell a friend about VBS.” Read: we are asking you to help us advertise.
We understand that not all of this invitation is self-interest, but it still requires your reader to provide some effort.
Instead of asking something (time, money, energy) from your followers and members, try to use your posts to give them something.
Each of the following posts provides value to readers in some way. Maybe one way won’t work for your congregation, but another will. Use what is helpful and learn from what isn’t.
Okay, enough talk. Let’s dive in!
Method #1 Share an Event Overview
Church name: Tryon Presbyterian Church
Location: Tryon, North Carolina
Instagram handle: tryonpresbyterian
Photo: Small group together on the lawn
Let’s start with a simple one, shall we?
A gathering. A small group gathering outside. A year ago this would have been one of the most basic activities a church could partake in, but these days it could very well be the most happening thing you have going on!
Tryon Presbyterian called their get together, “Kicking the Covid Cootie Blues.” Fellowship, prayer, and seeing other human beings ITF – what more could you ask for!?
The best part about this type of post is that it doesn’t ask a single thing from the viewer. There is no call to “join us next time!” or “email this person if you want more info!” They simply provide outsiders a little peak in to what is going on in their community.
Regularly making these type of posts means that those outside of your community will feel more and more included, increasing the likelihood that they just might stop by sometime.
Now, that’s in no way a promise that you will see new membership just by posting some event updates, but it certainly provides people a way to get to know some of your faces and happenings… maybe even Jesus in the process.
Method #2 Highlight At-Home Faith Formation
Church name: St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church
Location: Edina, MN
Instagram handle: @ststephensedina
Photo: Members attending church via Zoom
Even as some churches make moves toward in-person events and worship, it is always good to remind your people how they can engage their faith at home.
Providing an example from your congregation is even better!
We absolutely loved this post example from St. Stephen’s Episcopal. Not only do people love to see faces, but they really love to see youth faces. Not only do they really love to see youth faces, but they really really love to see those youth faces enjoying some faith-filled activity.
Whether it’s worship, fellowship, or faith-filled conversation, consider ways your people can share their at-home experiences with God with your community.
Perhaps there are elder members who say a special prayer every morning. Maybe there are young adults who have a sacred space in their home. Find ways to highlight these at-home experiences.
If we can be church online, we can most certainly be church in our own homes as well! Many thanks to St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church for the important reminder that #worshipisworship.
Method #3 Reiterate your beliefs, mission, or welcome!
Church:Christ Church Cathedral
Location: Houston, Texas
Instagram handle: @cccathedraltx
Photo: Two people overlooking a city from behind
In this photo, you will see two youth looking out over the city with shirts reading “God is in the midst of the city.” Christ Church Cathedral uses this photo op to share their beliefs and welcome.
For this church, this is an opportunity to clearly affirm that “all races, ages, socio-economic statuses, sexual orientations, and gender identities” are welcome.
You might think this sort of post is unnecessary.
“People know who we are already.” “We’re a church – of course all people are welcome!”
The fact is: people need to hear your beliefs, mission, and welcome over and over. And over.
Highlighting any of these things on a weekly or monthly basis may seem redundant to you as a behind-the-scenes leader, but to those who are just discovering you it may be the first time they ever read these words.
Even your most involved members need to be reminded regularly of the community’s mission and what they stand for. Not only does this reinforce what they are part of, but it gives them the words to share this message with others in their lives too.
Method #4 Tell About Your Members
Church name: Little Farms United Church of Christ
Location: River Ridge, LA
Instagram handle: @littlefarmsucc
Photo: member highlight
As we were looking for churches really nailing their caption game, we found Little Farms United Church of Christ. Little Farms features a “Member of the Month” on their church bulletin board. They also share this person’s photo and a little about them on Instagram.
When we let them know about our article, the Member of the Month we asked to feature actually added some advice to you all:
“A suggestion for pictures… We went to my Facebook profile pictures, drilled it down to a few, and Pastor Susan suggested this one because she felt it showed my smile better than the others we were considering. So that’s a suggestion for them in picking a picture of their congregant – go to their natural habitat, Facebook.”
Thanks for sharing, Colleen! We just love this advice. If you are interested in highlighting a member and they are comfortable with you doing so, consider consulting Facebook to find the right image to showcase!
For the good or bad, most of the time there are photos on Facebook of people that they don’t even realize are on there. Usually you can find a great one of someone in their element – whether fishing, relaxing, cooking, or eating!
Adding in a few tidbits about this member makes it all the better. Now that her congregation knows Colleen is one of the Little Farm’s more “avid sports fans,” they have a connection point with her. A member she has never met could easily start a conversation with her asking specifically what sports she loves or about the latest game.
As more members are featured, additional connection points spring up. Before you know it, you have weaved your community even closer together with only a few intentional social media posts.
Method #5 Behind-the-Scenes Pastor Update
Church name: St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church
Location: Edina, MN
Instagram handle: @ststephensedina
Photo: priest and set up
St. Stephen’s is up again because we couldn’t resist sharing this photo of their priest sharing a bit of behind-the-scenes view of their set up for the virtual event they were taking part in.
We love so much about this post:
- The visual
- The pastor being included!
- The checklist of what this priest has at the ready
- The bits of humor mixed into a thoughtful, faithful post
People typically react favorably to posts featuring their leaders and this post was no exception. This increased engagement likely helped St. Stephen’s post perform better in the Facebook algorithm… Meaning: more people “like”ing the post, probably encouraged Facebook to show more people the post.
While churches may care about vanity metrics like *likes*, they do typically care that people see their content. The more eyes on the message that “you are loved,” the better!
In this case, more people were exposed to their leader’s personality and schedule. Some may have learned something about their faith tradition. Others might have been encouraged by seeing their leader’s sacred space set up. Still others might have enjoyed learning that their leader is particularly fond of peppermint tea.
Regardless, connections are made. And connections are what community is all about.
Method #6 Showcase What Matters to Your People
Church name: Center Church of South Hadley
Location: South Hadley, Massachusetts
Instagram handle: @centerchurchsouthhadley
Photo: vigil for racial justice photos
We were thrilled to see Center Church of South Hadley’s photos of their multiple vigils for racial justice. As followers of Christ, speaking out on behalf of the marginalized is within our very bones.
South Hadley’s photos included parishioners holding signs saying:
“All lives can’t matter until black lives matter.”
“Prayer + Action = Change”
“History has its eyes on you.”
This example of these people standing witness is a powerful demonstration of what matters to their people. After a quick skim of their Instagram feed, there is no doubt that this community cares deeply about racial justice.
What does your community care deeply about?
If you cannot think of anything, that might be your first problem!
While we certainly wish every congregation would care deeply about the injustices plaguing black and brown bodies in our world today, it might not be a reality for your church.
If not, consider what is most important to your community and how you might be able to communicate it to those online. We hope you, like Center Church of South Hadley, are able to find something meaningful to put your words, prayers, actions, and dollars behind!
Method #7 The Members-In-Daily Life Post
Church name: St. Peter’s Chelsea
Location: New York, New York
Instagram handle: @stpeterschelsea
Photo: Ryan’s Haircut
This one is good.
St. Peter’s Chelsea in NYC reminded us that it’s okay to share what your members are up to in their daily lives. And yes, we really mean something completely non-faith related.
What updates do your people have? What can we celebrate? Who can you acknowledge?
Did someone just put up a new deck? Did one of your youth get a new job? Did someone take a glorious walk or nap that day?
It may seem little and insignificant. Actually, it may be little and insignificant, but once again, another connection point is offered.
St. Peter’s people might not have realized their member got a haircut had they not made that post. Likewise, your people might not be connected with what others in their community do on a day-to-day basis.
Little posts like these also offer excellent jumping off points for continuing the conversation. Just look at what St. Peter’s Chelsea did with their member post:
“DM us a photo of how you’re spending your days or what’s been on your reading/playing/viewing list!” They even created a church-specific hashtag to go with any and all photos that were sent their way – awesome.
Don’t get overwhelmed by the hashtag thing. If you like the idea, we suggest you start with getting permission to share photos from a few folks and going from there.
Have fun with it, be personable, and invite people to connect further in the comments as they’re willing!
Bonus Method: Share a Lesson
One church we came across has a regular practice of sharing a weekly photo of the Sunday school class along with what they learned that week. They choose not to have their name and photos shared, but we could not resist offering their practice as an option to you all.
Whether it is your kids’ Sunday school class or your seniors’ Bible Study, sharing a brief synopsis of what was learned that day within the small group gathering is a great way to give others a peak in.
Not only does it – once again – build connections between community members, but you never know whom you are reaching in the process.
Could this be the first time someone hears that they are loved?
Could this be the first time someone sees a church that doesn’t reject them?
Could this be the first interaction of someone’s long journey together with you in faith?
We like to believe, especially these days, this type of situation is more likely than not.
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