Numerous churches are poorly led, have pastors who have committed moral failures or otherwise need to be accountable. On the other hand, there are wonderful churches that are doing fantastic work, but are still being harassed by online trolls. I’ve consulted with hundreds of churches over the years, and sadly, online trolls are a common enemy shared by some of the most effective churches in America.
In most of these cases, at least one disgruntled ex-church member or staff member has decided to launch a social media feed and, in some cases, a blog to criticize the church. There are many reasons: some were offended by the pastor, others don’t like the church’s teaching, a few feel they were taken advantage of, and still others are convinced they’ve uncovered secret wrongdoing within church leadership.
Key question
But the question is – whether it’s true or not – is a social media platform or a blog the place to air the dirty laundry?
Before Facebook, gossip was a similar option, but thankfully most just left the particular church. In my case, over the years, there have been plenty of churches and pastors I disagreed with, but I didn’t gossip or launch a social media campaign to complain. Instead, I decided to either pursue it with church leadership or just move on.
But maybe “moving on” is the problem for these critics. They just can’t let go of the hurt or the feeling of being offended. One of the things people often forget is that in most cases, it wasn’t the church that hurt them — it was one or two people.
Having been on the inside of many of these situations and read the critical posts, I can say the vast majority aren’t acting out of a Biblical perspective; they’re simply acting out. Because they feel they were wronged, they’re lashing out at the church or the pastor.
But in the same way, I advise against online campaigns against Hollywood, the gay community or anyone else. I would say the same thing to people who launch online campaigns against churches: They make little to no impact and do nothing for the cause of Christ.
Besides, think for a minute: Someone who feels wronged by a local church or pastor and invests the incredible amount of time it takes to create a blog and fill it with criticism, or do the same with a social media platform — and keep it going for months or years – probably has much bigger problems in their life.
Practical tips
If you’re a pastor or leader in a church who’s undergoing this kind of online criticism, here are my suggestions:
1. Before you react, consider the source. There’s a difference between the occasional online critic and a troll. Most pastors know these people because, in many cases, they’re ex-church members. So you may see a post — or even criticism — from a church member who has an innocent question you can easily answer, solving the problem. So, know the difference.
2. If it’s a troll, ignore it. I tracked one online troll who had positioned himself as a theology cop and had been ripping into a local pastor for months. He only had five followers on Facebook (probably his family), so he had little to no impact.
3. Don’t help him by responding. Remember — when you respond on a social media platform, you’re sharing the troll with all your followers. So don’t help promote them by replying.
4. Stop reading it. I know some pastors who dwell so much on the criticism that it derails their concentration. Eventually, they become depressed and lose focus.
Stop obsessing over the 3% who are critics and start feeding the 97% who aren’t. Particularly with social media platforms, trolls are easy to block.
Today, we live in a culture of victimization. Some people have essentially discovered their identity in being a victim, so they’re willing to invest a great deal in expressing their victimhood. So stop reading the criticism and start leading the congregation. The dog may bark, but the train keeps on rolling. Church doctrine, theology and moral living are critically important, but never forget that there are legitimate ways of correction within a church.
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was originally published by philcooke.com.
