Church Social Media Policy: A Simple Template You Can Adapt

This template is a starting point, not legal advice. Your denomination, insurer, or local laws may have additional requirements. Adapt it to your church and have leadership approve the final version.

Why a policy helps

A social media policy doesn’t slow things down. It does the opposite. When everyone knows the rules, volunteers can help with confidence, leaders can say yes quickly, and nobody has to guess in the middle of a hard moment.

It also protects people: the families in your pews, the students who help, and the church’s witness in your community. (For why this matters, see is social media bad for the church?.)

Keep it short enough that people will actually read it. One or two pages is plenty.

What the policy should cover

1. Purpose
2. Who can post and approve
3. What we post, and what we never post
4. Privacy, consent, and minors
5. Comments, messages, and prayer requests
6. Account security
7. Music and copyright
8. Crisis and sensitive situations
9. Staff and volunteers’ personal accounts
10. Review

The template

Copy this, replace the bracketed parts, and remove anything that doesn’t fit your church.

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[Church Name] Social Media Policy Approved by [leadership body] on [date]. Reviewed annually.

1. Purpose Our social media exists to [share the hope of the gospel, encourage our church family, and invite our community to know us]. Everything we post should serve that purpose.

2. Who can post and approve

• Official accounts are managed by [communications lead / role].
• Volunteers, including students, may prepare posts and clips. All content is approved by [designated adult/role] before it is published.
• Only people on the approved list may post for the church. The list is kept by [role] and updated when people join or step away.

3. What we post

• Sermon clips and messages, scripture, prayer, worship (where licensed), church events, stories of church life, and invitations to visit.
• Posts should be encouraging, honest, and respectful, including when we disagree.

What we never post

• Personal prayer requests or private information about anyone
• Children or minors without written parental or guardian consent
• People in vulnerable moments (altar calls, ministry time, grief) without their consent
• Pastoral care moments such as memorials, crises, or counseling
• Political endorsements of candidates or parties [adjust to your context]
• Content that could reasonably be misunderstood without context
• Anything we wouldn’t want a first-time visitor to see

4. Privacy, consent, and minors

• We get written consent before featuring anyone in a close-up, testimony, or story, and parental consent for anyone under 18.
• We don’t tag or name minors.
• When filming services, we favor wide shots of the congregation, and we keep children’s areas off camera.
• Anyone may ask for a photo or video of themselves to be removed. We respond within [48 hours].

5. Comments, messages, and prayer requests

• [Role] monitors comments and messages at least [daily].
• We reply with kindness. We don’t argue publicly.
• Prayer requests and personal needs are moved to private, pastoral care and passed to [role].
• We hide or remove comments that are abusive, hateful, spam, or that share someone’s private information.
• If someone indicates they may be in danger, we follow our crisis steps (section 8).

6. Account security

• All church accounts are registered to a church-owned email address, not a personal one.
• Passwords are stored in [the church’s password manager], and two-factor authentication is turned on.
• Volunteers and students don’t hold the main account passwords. They use their own access in our tools with only the permissions they need.
• Access is removed promptly when someone steps away.

7. Music and copyright

• We only post music we’re licensed to share. Before posting worship song clips, we check our license terms.
• We credit sources and don’t use others’ photos or videos without permission.

8. Crisis and sensitive situations

• If someone discloses that they may harm themselves or others, or that they’re in danger: acknowledge briefly and with care, move to a private message, contact [designated pastor] immediately, and share crisis resources (in the US, the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline; for immediate danger, call 911).
• During a church crisis or public controversy, only [senior pastor / designated spokesperson] posts or comments on behalf of the church.
• Scheduled posts are paused if they would be insensitive given current events.

9. Staff and volunteers’ personal accounts

• Personal accounts are personal, but staff and leaders are visible representatives of the church. We ask everyone to be thoughtful and kind online.
• Adults who serve with minors do not privately message students. Communication happens in group channels that include other leaders, or through parents.
• Don’t share confidential church information or other people’s private matters.

10. Review This policy is reviewed every year by [leadership body], and whenever we add a new platform or a new team.

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Putting it into practice

• Share it. Give it to everyone who posts, prepares content, or moderates, and to parents of students who help.
• Train once. A 30-minute walkthrough answers most questions before they come up.
• Make it easy to follow. When your tools support the policy, people follow it naturally. In WorshipMetrics, you add as many team members as you need and decide who can access what, so volunteers and students can prepare clips in Reels without ever holding the church’s account passwords.
• Revisit it. Platforms change. Review the policy each year.

Related guides

• The guardrails pastors need before students post
• Safeguarding students in church tech
• Can churches post worship song clips?
• The church live chat host guide, including the crisis escalation path

See everything on the social media for churches page.

Next: put names to the roles in who should run your church’s social media?, and see comment section ministry for how to respond.