Social Media

LCA social media

The Lutheran Church of Australia (LCA) uses these social media to help us communicate with you and the people in your world and to help you engage with us.

• LCA Facebook
• LCA Instagram
• LCA Twitter (which typically we use only during Convention of General Synod)

On our LCA social media sites we hope you will find encouragement, inspiration and refreshment. We also want you to feel safe among our Lutheran community of members and friends. To achieve this, only our LCA Communications staff can make posts. You are able to comment on most posts but please abide by the aims of our social media sites; that is, to be encouraging, affirming and supportive and to build each other up in the body of Christ (Ephesians 4:12).  

Our social media sites are not the places to discuss or debate issues before our church. You will find other places where you can do that. They are also not the places to engage in one-to-one sparring; if you want to have a private conversation with someone, you will need to do that via another method or forum. 

All comments you make on LCA social media sites must comply with the LCA Social Media Policy and with the LCA Standards of Ethical Behaviour, which are based on Colossians 3:2-4: Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has  a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

We will hide or delete comments that we deem do not comply with these standards. We will allow two hidden or deleted comments per person; after that, we will ban the person from the page. We will not enter into any conversation or correspondence about hidden or deleted comments or about our reasons for banning people from our sites. Everyone is welcome to join us, but we expect that you will respect and care for everyone else with whom you share our social media sites. 

Thank you for understanding that we need to apply these standards in order to keep people safe on our social media sites, where we want to see God’s love coming to life in what we share and how we treat each other. 

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Your social media

Navigating the world of social media is tricky. Most people know by now that you never, ever, put anything on social media (even on your private or closed-group page) that you wouldn't want the world to see. You also know how easily you can harm the name of the Lutheran Church (and worse, the name of Jesus) if you post inappropriate material on social media. But there are also other things to consider:

• Does your congregation need a social media presence?
• If so, who will be responsible for the content?
• How do you keep your people, especially children, safe on social media?
• How can you guard against inappropriate content being posted?

To give you some guidance, LCA Communications keeps abreast of changes in legislation around social media, and is constantly researching the best practice on social media. We have a Social Media Policy, which is relevant to all agencies, including congregations, of the LCANZ. As you prepare procedures and guidelines for your own agency or congregation, you might find the Churchwide procedures helpful. Please don't hesitate to contact us if you need some more guidance.