(By Thomas S. Rainer) “It’s not fair I lost my job,” the pastor told me. “My church members post a lot worse things than I do on social media. It’s a double standard.” He’s right. It is a double standard. But it’s reality. And, with greater frequency, more pastors and church staff are losing their jobs because of what they post, particularly on Facebook and Twitter and, to some extent, their blogs. By the way, churches will not always tell the pastor the specific reason for the firing.
But, once we begin to infuriate our church members with our posts, many will find a myriad of reasons to give us the boot. I recently recommended a pastor to another church. I think very highly of him. Indeed, the search committee chairman seemed genuinely enthused when I recommended him. He contacted me a couple of weeks later with this comment: “We can’t consider him. He’s just too snarky and sarcastic on social media.” READ MORE
