It’s a new year with new social media trends,And I am lovin’ them!

And guess what? I confess this is a little new for me…

Because it's not my generation that's driving the trends anymore on social…it’s Gen Z.

And what they're choosing to emphasize is really energizing me and giving me new vision for what churches can do online.

I can't wait to share it all with you in this post. 2024 is going to be a great year for social ministry.

New Lingo

Now, the first thing you need to understand is a new bit of social media lingo that really got popularized last year.

The term is photo dump.

If you're already familiar with this term, you might be thinking, "C'mon, Brady. Obviously, I know what a photo dump is."

If you don't, though, allow me to explain.

A photo dump is a collection of images meant to communicate an overall story or mood together.

Very popular on Instagram and TikTok.

And the idea is, more than just a single shot, this series of images can paint a fuller picture.

My understanding is that initially, the idea of a photo "dump" was just to open your camera roll, grab a bunch of your recent shots, and dump them all into one post.

No single image there was worth a post on its own because they were just throwaway shots that you grabbed here and there, but together, they showed off what life for you has looked like lately.

Of course, once this format took off, it ironically, yet predictably, became a lot more curated and premeditated.

(...and if you're thinking right now, "Brady, my church doesn't have nice photos. We're not like that. We don't have people that can do that." Just promise me, don't worry about that right now. I will get to that later in the post.)

The Big Question: How does this apply to churches?

As you surely know, if you've followed my content for any length of time, I ask two questions when assessing a creative trend and considering if it would make sense for my church:

Question #1:

Does this align with my church's creative DNA?

Question #2:

Does this align with our missional purpose?

The sweet spot is when you can answer 'YES' to both questions.

I'm highlighting THIS trend in THIS post because our answer here should be a resounding 'YES AND AMEN' to both questions.

Let me explain…

3 Reasons This Trend is a Perfect Fit for Churches

Reason #1:

We've all heard it said before, "The church isn't a place, it's the people."

Theologically, we have the concept of Imago Dei. The fact that you and I are each made in the image of God.

So, when we capture photos of the people in our churches and post them on social, that is, in essence, the purest way of embodying our church online.

Reason #2:

In sociology, there's a term called 'the third place.'

Perhaps you're familiar with it.

The idea is simple - basically, you and I all have two social environments: home, the first place, and work, the second place.

The idea of the third place in a person's life and the broader culture is a place where

• You can find community

• You can see familiar faces

• Encounter new people

• And, most importantly, a place you choose to go to, not a place you visit out of obligation.

Examples of third places would be:

• Cafes

• Gyms

• Community Centers

And for centuries, one of the most critical 'third places' in society has been churches.

So when people who have yet to visit your church in person go to your social accounts and website and see photos of church life, pictures of your people interacting with each other and worshipping and serving…

They instantly get a feel for what your community is like.

Then, for the people already part of your church, when they see these posts on their phones throughout the week when they're in the grind of the day-to-day…

It's a beautiful reminder of that third place that is so important to them and their family.

It’s a chance to experience some of that sacred community even as we are scattered during the week.

Reason #3:

Two letters: AI

It’s pretty apparent now that we are in the midst of this movement toward artificial intelligence in so many different areas of our lives.

The antidote for too much of that?

Real, human connection.

I believe that the church should be on the frontline of that.

As one of the most essential third places in society, we find real, sacred human connection when we’re together.

That's what we do.

So, How Do We Actually Do It?

I hope I've cast the vision for you so you're as excited as I am about this direction.

But how do we actually do it?

• I've got a formula for you.

• I've got examples for you.

• I've got a series of downloadable cheat sheets for you.

But before we get to that, I want to be clear: the photo dump trend is just one expression of this bigger idea.

So, I tried to develop a broader and better term for this kind of social media post that encapsulates everything we're trying to do with it.

The word I landed on is PORTRAITS.

Portraits of the people in our church.
Portraits of humanity.
Portraits of the image of God.

The great thing is there are so many different creative expressions of this.

A photo dump is one example, but the possibilities are limitless.

That being said, every PORTRAIT can be distilled down to three key elements.

The 3-part formula for a PORTRAIT:
The Shot + The Script + The Sound

Those three things make the PORTRAIT. Because it's more than just a photo, a PORTRAIT is more thoughtful than that. More compelling.

So, let's get to our first example of a PORTRAIT.

Take a look:

Let's hold that example up to our formula…

The Shot.

Here, we have a series of images of church life: worship, kids ministry, preaching, and community. In just a few seconds, we experience the essence of this church's in-person reality.

The Sound.

Here, we love to piggyback off trending sounds on social platforms to help with overall distribution. But also to provide that emotional element.

The Script.

Sometimes, in a PORTRAIT, The Script is overlayed on the actual imagery, like it is here, "See you Sunday." Sometimes it's in the caption. But we want that written, verbal element combined with the inspiring visuals.

Ready for another example?

The Shot.

Here we've got just one still photo of a person worshipping.

The Sound.

Is the narration of God being great.

The Script.

Is the stylized on-screen captions.

The difference between this PORTRAIT and the previous example is this PORTRAIT is about encouragement and a reminder of God's goodness.

For people going about their week locked in the grind of work and family and making ends meet, it reminds them to trust God because he's brought them this far.

Pro Tip: We could put that line of encouragement on any stock photo.

BUT…

When paired with an image of a person you recognize, the content's power and potency goes way up.

Because you're reminded not just of God's promise but of the fact that you are living out that promise in a community of people on the journey with you.

You are not alone. There are people you can rely on just as those people rely on you.

And if there's any challenge I can give you this year, especially to make PORTRAITS work, it's this:

Don’t spend another year relying on mass-produced templates and stock photos.

Your church’s social presence should look like YOUR church.

Don't get me wrong, stock imagery and templates are undeniably helpful.

I'm not saying never to use them again, not at all. They’re super helpful in so many contexts. But for many of our churches, it's all we have.

And in 2024, we need to take steps toward more meaningful and substantive social ministry.

You might still be thinking, "Brady, we don't have photos like this. It looks great, like what you're showing in these examples, but we can't do that stuff."

Trust me, I hear you.

Again, I promise we'll get to that later in the post.

Before that, though, let me show you another example.

I love posts like this for Saturdays, the day before church.

Add a caption something like "The best day of the week is tomorrow."

This leads me to the 3 Categories of Content for PORTRAITS.

We've already discussed the 3-part formula: The Shot + The Sound + The Script.

Let's talk about the 3 types of PORTRAITS overall.

The 3 Types of Portraits

#1: Photo Dumps

You just saw examples of this, and there are limitless expressions of this type of portrait.

But at its core, it's simply a series of photos of church life.

#2: Encouragement

This is where you remind people of God's promises.

Taking His Word, combining it with visuals of His bride, and sharing that Good News for the whole world to hear online.

We saw an example of that type of PORTRAIT with the post that had the on-screen text and narration that "God is great, it's that simple."

The key with this category is there is almost always some kind of on-screen text or narration in the sound.

In contrast, a photo dump is really just the photos.

#3: Fun

The entire purpose of this kind of post is to bring some levity to the social feed.

And we all could use that. I am so thankful for Gen Z on this front.

Because they are bringing a sense of humor to church social media feeds.

When I tried to bring humor to my church’s feed in 2010, I got brought into the office of the senior leadership, and they were like…

Here’s a great example.

This is the Elevation Youth account.

They took one of their church's worship songs and turned it into a Spongebob version, and it got 100,000 likes. Why does that matter?

Because people like having fun. Fun is good.

Now, how might you do something like this for your church? Here's a fun post highlighting a group of volunteers in your church. Take a look:

You could pair that post with the caption, "We love our worship team!".

It shows love to people who give their time to your church.

But it's fun also.

C'mon, church, have some fun.

Those are the three categories for PORTRAITS:

Photo Dumps, Encouragement, and Fun.

My hope is that those three categories, paired with the three-part formula, help give you a clearer picture of how you can begin creating PORTRAITS in your church and what elements are needed to make ones that really serve their purpose well.

To help with that, I've put together a series of cheat sheets with all this information.

Finally, let's address the elephant in the room…

How do we take these photos? Maybe you don't feel your church is equipped to do it.

To go back to the concept of photo dumps, those are very often just shots taken on phones.

This is a good reminder that the device in your pocket is more than capable of capturing photos for this use. You don’t have to mess with any fancy settings. Just leave the settings on auto. Trust me, you don't need to be an expert.

With that being said, I have another idea for you.

Introducing PORTRAITS by SocialSermons.

Here's the concept at its simplest:

Every 90 days, we will send a professional photographer to your church for an in-person photo shoot capturing church life on a Sunday morning. We will then use those photos to develop your church's custom social media PORTRAITS.

Sound too good to be true?

Get this: every example you've seen in this video is from a church where we sent a photographer to them and then used those photos to develop those posts.

All these photos are from one Sunday we sent a photographer to their church to capture pictures.

PORTRAITS by SocialSermons is a new offering for 2024.

In case you didn’t know, SocialSermons is our custom social media service for churches.

And we're really excited to add this new product to what we do.

Of course, download the cheat sheets below if you haven’t already and thanks as always for your time, attention, and trust. We'll talk real soon.

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