At a Kenyon Institute session last week with religious professionals, two things became clear.

First, we need to be using social media to deal with a reality that we have been slow to grasp, namely, that we can’t survive by just opening the doors on Sunday. We need to reach a much larger audience of potential constituents, and social media are a cost-effective and high-impact way of building that audience.

Second, current members will push back. They already want 110% of a pastor’s time devoted to them. When the pastor takes a lead in a growth and development strategy based on social media and diverse ways to cultivate prospects, they will lose some control over the pastor’s availability.

As students thought through what an effective social media strategy could accomplish for their congregations, they immediately saw the potential for conflict.

Longtime members don’t usually value growth, especially when it brings in new constituents who are likely to be younger, browner, less affluent and less traditional than themselves.

Established members want complete access to their clergy, perhaps even control of what they do. These control battles have a long history. An energetic growth and development strategy will require limitations on clergy availability and fewer constraints on their work.

The center of attention will shift, too. Most longtime members want to tell their institution’s story, especially its history, its facilities, and its leading families. Growing congregations don’t focus on history, facilities or leading families. They focus on the pastor and on mission as two pathways toward faith.

The “face” of a congregation needs to be its key leader, not its handsome edifice. Prospects will ask whether they can trust the leader and find his or her message inspiring. They won’t ask what the congregation did fifty years ago or why the liturgical space is the way it is.

Social media will put the pastor out front. Instead of trying to reach people through a traditional church newsletter describing institutional activities, the pastor will be posting, blogging and writing essays — on many subjects, but in the consistent voice of the author and focused on the reader’s needs and interests, not on the church as institution. Those lay leaders who have worked hard to keep their clergy in line will find this public presence threatening.

Some of my students were nervous about this conflict. My suggestion was to share with key lay leaders the Why of doing social media, namely, that their congregations will die unless they reach larger audiences. Then explain it to the whole congregation.

Conflicts over growth and control will never go away entirely. Clergy will need to develop their skills in dealing with conflict.

About the Author

Tom Ehrich is a writer, church consultant and Episcopal priest based in New York. He is the publisher of Fresh Day online magazine, author of On a Journey and two national newspaper columns. His website is Church Wellness – Morning Walk Media