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Instagram has proven to be a major player in the social media world and an extremely valuable tool for ministry. Since we are such a visual culture, this is a great avenue for sharing your church’s story that goes beyond traditional text posts. Here are twenty creative ways that I’ve seen churches utilizing this great network. My hope is that you will be inspired and perhaps add them to your social media strategy. Enjoy!

1. Promote Your Service Times

2. Advertise Your Sermon Series

3. Show Newcomers What Services Look Like

4. Announce Your Volunteer of the Week

5. Share Testimonies From Your Congregation

6. Promote Your Online Stream

7. Highlight Moments From Your Service

8. Share Encouragement

9. Promote Upcoming Events

10. Set Up A Photo Booth In Your Lobby

11. Promote Outreach Opportunities

12. Show Ways To Get Involved

13. Introduce Your Staff

14. Provide Shareable Invite Cards

15. Share Your Church’s Vision

16. Showcase Your Various Ministries

17. Share Your Worship Setlist

18. Share Quotes From Your Sermon

19. Highlight Water Baptisms

20. Show What’s Happening In Your Kid’s Ministry

Do you have any other ideas for using Instagram at your church? Let us know in the comments below!

Kendall Conner

What do you get when you combine production, design, and communications together with a passion for the Church? It turns out, this is the precise formula to make up Kendall Conner. For over 20 years, this Christ-led creative has been bridging the gap between media and ministry. In addition to serving as the creative pastor in his local church, he is the Chief of Operations for Church Motion Graphics, a ministry-focused design studio that serves thousands of houses of worship around the globe. Kendall specializes in equipping church media leaders and volunteers to utilize creativity in their services to share the hope of Jesus.

19 Comments

  • Rachel says:

    I *wish* you could manage multiple instagram accounts more easily from one device…. that is probably the biggest reason I haven’t put our church on the instagram bandwagon.

    • Kendall Conner says:

      And everyone said AMEN!

    • Genyfer says:

      I know this was posted a year ago, but I just want say that I thought the same thing when thinking about putting out church on Instagram. Its a pain! BUT if your church has wifi and someone willing to donate an old smart phone that they don’t want anymore, you can use that for the church’s social media. Just a thought :)

    • Amanda says:

      Hello from 2016! They just released this feature! :)

  • Greg says:

    Fabulous ideas. I’m seeing a lot of pre-made graphics uploaded as images. How do you do that? Is there an app that allows you to upload a JPG or something?

    • Kendall Conner says:

      Hi, Greg –

      Most people are making these in Photoshop on their computer then uploading from their phones. However, I’ve people use different apps on their phones. I personally pre-make my images in PS and then schedule them with Latergramme.

      I hope that helps!

  • greg says:

    Great. That helps! Thanks Kendall!

  • Sonia says:

    I love the idea of #14 – shareable invite cards- but does Instagram allow followers to “share” a photo? I can’t figure out how to do this. Followers can “like” the photo but not sure that would be effective in getting potential guests (who do not follow the church on Instagram) to see it. How do you post a photo that is “shareable”?
    I’m thinking that church members could direct message a photo to some of their followers that they want to invite, but I think they can only direct send their own photos, not someone else’s.
    Thanks!

  • Hadahsa says:

    Love this article, thanks so much. One thing I was wondering was how often should one post on a church Instagram? What do you suggest?

  • Craig Taylor says:

    So – what size do you create these as? We don’t have Photoshop. I generally make things in my Keynote program on my Mac and they have to squeeze/stretch them for things others than computer screens. I know. But it’s the life I live for now.

  • Good Samaritan says:

    Those are actually great ways to enlarge the flock. But some say that “know thy followers” is the main rule of growing big on instagram: iconosqure.com is amazing for statistics, but it only gives you information. When you revealed followers’ statistics, you then have to deal with ghosts, unfollowers etc. With of fast-unfollow.com you can get rid of them asap – and it’s possible to make 4000 unsubscriptions per day. It saves me hours every day, you should try it as well, especially if you are just as me trying to maintain at least 1:1 following/follower ratio. Anyways thanks for the article, the advises seem really reasonable.

  • Trevor says:

    Greg –
    I don’t know how to use Photoshop, but I’ve been able to use 3 things to make decent graphics to post on Instagram:
    1) Canva.com (free, web-based, plus there’s an app available too)
    2) Word Swag (paid app)
    3) Font Candy (paid app)

    Those 3 things are very simple to use and extremely effective for quickly creating images with text that will help you keep people in the loop.

  • Charlie says:

    An entire article on instagram with no mention of #hashtags??? #church #howothersfindyou #lookingforachurch #insertyourchurchnamehere

  • Jessica says:

    It’s not a good idea to share pictures of kids on social media–particularly not if you don’t have media clearance, but I’d hesitate even with that.

  • Benjamin Koskinen says:

    Love these tips. From what year is this published? I might use them potentially in reference to my exam with many other church tips and ways to grow on social media platforms.

    It only shows which month it was posted, not what year. A strange thing to hide if U ask me.

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