A growing number of pastors are building audiences that outsize their churches — on their own names, not the church's account. It's working. It's also making a lot of comms directors nervous. Here's how to think about it clearly.

The Trend
Individual pastors and Christian creators are increasingly taking teaching, apologetics, and evangelism directly to their own social platforms — building personal followings that sometimes dwarf their church's own accounts. It's part of a broader shift where faith content is discovered through individual voices, not institutional pages.

The Translation
This isn't a content strategy question — it's an identity question. A personal brand can reach people your church account never will, because people follow people, not institutions. But every minute invested in "pastor as creator" is a minute not invested in the church's own presence — and if that pastor ever leaves, the audience often leaves with them, not the church.

Verdict: Worth It — with guardrails
If your senior leader already has the bandwidth and genuine interest to show up consistently as a person online, it's worth backing. The upside in reach is real. But it needs to run alongside — not instead of — a healthy institutional account, and there should be a clear, upfront understanding of who "owns" that audience if that leader ever moves on.

One Move
Have one direct conversation with your senior leadership this month: is personal branding something we're intentionally building, or something that's just happening by accident? Accidental is the risky version — intentional is the one worth investing in.

If you feel like you need more hand-on communicaitons coaching, just reach out! We can start a consulting and/or coaching relationship that fits your church culture.

Until next week,

Josh
The Church Comms Guy

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