Does Your Youth Ministry Social Media Have A Clear Purpose?

Do you post because you have to, or do you post with purpose?

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It's that time of the week again when you look at your youth ministry page and realize that you haven't posted anything on your social media account. You've been super busy this week with meetings and planning programs that it slipped your mind to put something out there.

Do you:

a) Post nothing

b) Post the cliché 'We can't wait to see you at (Totally awesome youth event that I've spent so much time planning for) this week!

c) Post a Bible verse that is most likely taken way out of context and has a totally different meaning from when it was originally written. But it doesn't matter because your Bible College homiletics teacher isn't following you

At this point, I would argue that posting nothing would be your best option. And instead of going through the same routine, what if you sat down next week for 10 minutes and thought through why you're actually doing this in the first place?

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Social media is a complex beast that has revolutionized how we live. Chances are you were never taught in Bible College how to use it properly. You may have questions like 'What does each social media platform offer?' or 'What kind of content should I be posting?' or maybe 'Should I be using one or multiple platforms? There are thousands of more questions and things to consider, but you have to start with 'Why use social media in the first place?'

You shouldn't be using it just because your students are using it. You shouldn't be using it just because you can promote your events on it. We have become so accustomed to social media that it has become second nature to us. Of course, our church has a social media page. Of course, our youth ministry has an Instagram account, how would our students know what was happening without it?

There is a much deeper and more meaningful approach to why you should be using social media. On these apps that so many of us spend way too much time on there is an opportunity so powerful, but it often gets missed because we're so used to it being with us.

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Discipleship and evangelism.

Two essential practices of the Christian faith.

Instead of looking at social media as a bulletin board of your youth ministry's events, what if you turned it into a resource page that will both disciple your students as well as reach out to the hurting youth community in your area? We need to shift our thinking as youth pastors to look at social media as a tool at our disposal to further disciple and teach from. There is so much potential within the different platforms to engage with our students in a unique and personal way if done properly. Professors in Bible College were always saying how we need to engage with our students and further them along in their discipleship journey far past the 1-2 hours a week that they are in our program for. Social media can do exactly that.

Why wouldn't you post a one-minute video of yourself summarizing your past message?

Why wouldn't you post a carousel (multiple images) explaining what biblical obedience looks like?

Why wouldn't you post a reel with a worship song for your students to listen to?

Why wouldn't you repost a Christian influencer's video on why rest is important?

Why wouldn't you post a verse and the context of it?

All of these post ideas provide a resource or learning opportunity for your students through social media. The options are limitless once you realize the power of using social media as a tool for discipleship instead of a calendar for your youth ministry. Instead of sitting there wondering what you'll post this week, you'll actually start to write down ideas and create a content calendar for it. There is so much to unpack once you begin, and I hope that as you begin on the journey you'll continue reading more blogs as I begin to write about what that looks like practically. This is the foundation of what a healthy youth ministry social media page looks like, understanding what the purpose of it really is.