Church of England social media guide 2026

The Church of England is the largest church network in the UK, with around 16,000 parishes covering virtually every community in England. Each of those parishes is different: different size, different tradition, different congregation, different relationship with social media.

What they share is a particular set of structural realities that shape how communications work. The PCC (Parochial Church Council) governs the parish. The incumbent - vicar, rector or priest-in-charge - leads it. The person managing social media is almost always a volunteer, often without a clear brief, often working across one or more of the parish’s social media accounts without much coordination with the wider church.

This guide is written for that volunteer. It covers the CofE-specific context, the practical platform choices, what to post, and how to handle the particular features of Anglican parish life that other church social media guides simply do not address.

The CofE context

A few things about Church of England parish life that directly affect social media.

Multiple services, multiple congregations. Many CofE parishes run several services on a Sunday - a traditional sung eucharist, a contemporary family service, an evening congregation. These may have quite different characters, different age profiles, and different relationships with social media. The parish Facebook page needs to speak to all of them without alienating any.

The liturgical calendar is the content calendar. The Church of England follows the Common Worship calendar, which means there is always something coming up: Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Candlemas, Ash Wednesday, Lent, Holy Week, Easter, Ascension, Pentecost, Trinity, Harvest, Remembrance, and the rich calendar of saints’ days and festivals in between. This is not a problem for content planning - it is a solution to it. You always know what is coming.

The incumbent’s role. In most CofE parishes, the vicar or rector has significant influence over the church’s public voice. Before setting up or significantly changing a social media presence, it is worth a conversation with your incumbent about tone, content and what requires approval before posting. This conversation is easier to have proactively than reactively.

The PCC’s role. Major decisions about communications - setting up new platforms, significant changes to how the church presents itself online - may need to go to the PCC. Check your church’s existing policies and raise it at a PCC meeting if appropriate.

Which platforms to prioritise

Facebook is the primary platform for most CofE parishes and should be your first priority. The age profile of the average Church of England congregation makes Facebook the platform where you will reach the most existing members. It is also the platform that prospective visitors use most often to search for a local church.

A well-maintained Facebook page with current service times, recent photos and regular posts will do more for your parish than any other single social media investment.

Instagram is worth adding if your parish has a younger congregation, an active youth group or families with children. It is a visual platform and suits parishes with a strong aesthetic - historic buildings photograph beautifully, and the Church of England has no shortage of those. Keep it consistent and do not start an Instagram account you cannot maintain.

YouTube is particularly relevant for CofE parishes that record and publish services. During and after the pandemic, many parishes developed a YouTube presence for online worship. If yours did, keep it active and make sure you are pointing people to it from your other social media.

Parish newsletter or email list. Not social media in the strict sense, but worth mentioning because many CofE volunteers manage this alongside social media. Keep the two complementary rather than identical - social media for reaching out and keeping people connected day-to-day, the newsletter for more substantial parish communication.

What to post

Service times and any changes. Especially important for CofE parishes where there may be multiple services, shared ministry arrangements, or services that move between churches in a benefice. If the 8am Holy Communion is cancelled on a particular Sunday, post it. If the family service is moving to 11am for Advent, post it early and post a reminder.

The liturgical calendar. Advent Sunday, Ash Wednesday, Good Friday, Ascension Day, Pentecost, All Saints: these are moments when people who are not regular attenders may be thinking about church. A post acknowledging these occasions, welcoming people to whatever you are doing, consistently extends your reach beyond your regular congregation.

Saints’ days and feast days. The Church of England’s calendar is rich with occasions that are worth marking on social media: Candlemas, St George’s Day, patronal festivals, Mothering Sunday (note: Mothering Sunday, not Mother’s Day - a distinction worth maintaining). These are occasions that distinguish CofE content from generic church social media and connect your parish to something wider.

Photos from services and events. Real photos of your congregation in your church building are your most valuable content. The architecture alone is a draw for many people. A photo of a packed nave at Christmas or a flower festival in summer tells a story about your parish that no words can.

Pastoral and community content. Funeral notices (with family consent), welcoming new members, celebrating significant milestones in the congregation’s life. CofE parishes are embedded in their local communities in a way that few other institutions are. Social media that reflects this connection tends to resonate well beyond the existing congregation.

The CofE-specific content calendar

The occasions below are specific to CofE parish life and worth planning content for. Many of them are not covered by US-focused church social media tools.

Advent Sunday, Christmas services, Epiphany, Candlemas, Shrove Tuesday/Pancake Day events, Ash Wednesday, Mothering Sunday, Palm Sunday, Holy Week services, Easter Day, Ascension Day, Pentecost/Whit Sunday, Harvest Festival, All Saints Day, Remembrance Sunday, patronal festival, and any civic services your parish hosts.

For post ideas for UK church occasions throughout the year, see the UK church calendar: social media post ideas for every occasion.

CofE parishes are subject to UK GDPR in exactly the same way as any other organisation. The Church of England has its own data protection guidance for parishes, available through the Church of England website and your diocesan office. Your diocese may also have a data protection officer who can advise.

For the practical day-to-day implications for social media - photo consent, posting about individuals, what requires a policy - see church photo consent and GDPR and GDPR and church social media: complete guide for UK churches.

Working with your diocese

Your diocese may offer communications support, training or resources for parish social media. This varies significantly between dioceses - some have active communications teams who provide templates and guidance, others have minimal resource. Worth a quick check with your diocesan communications officer before building everything from scratch.

The Church of England’s national communications team also produces resources and guidance that individual parishes can use. Check the Church of England website under Resources for Parish.

A note on tradition

CofE parishes span a significant range of tradition: broadly catholic, central, broadly evangelical, charismatic. The tone and content of your social media should reflect your parish’s actual tradition rather than a generic Anglican middle ground.

A broadly evangelical CofE parish will post differently from a high church Anglo-Catholic one. Both are valid. The mistake is producing content that tries to appeal to everyone and ends up speaking to no one in particular.

Know your parish, know your congregation, and write for them.

ChurchReach works for Church of England parishes alongside evangelical and Free Churches. Templates built for UK occasions including the full CofE calendar, scheduling, and graphics tools that do not require design experience. Start a free trial at churchreach.co.uk.