Churches are important non‐profit organisations that are increasingly adopting social media. In order to contribute to understanding of the value of social media as a communications channel for non‐profit organisations, this article examines, and develops a typology of, the uses of social media by two global churches with a strong presence in the United Kingdom, Hillsong, a megachurch, and the Church of England. Informed by previous typologies of the use of social media in both commercial and non‐profit contexts, content analysis was conducted of Hillsong's and the Church of England's social media platforms on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. This analysis provided the basis for the formulation of a typology of uses, the main categories of which are building a brand, building the church community, outreach, and developing spiritual mission. Differences between the approaches adopted by the Church of England and Hillsong are outlined. Suggestions are offered for future practice and further research.

This paper contributes to the understanding of social media strategy by examining how, Hillsong, a megachurch, is using social media. Whilst there, is a growing body of research on megachurches, and on the use of social media by not-for-profit organisations, no prior studies have examined the use of social media in megachurches. The study uses a content analysis of Hillsong's social media platforms on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram, to demonstrate the distributed model of social media presence adopted by Hillsong, and relates this to the various purposes for which Hillsong uses social media. Discussion and conclusions evaluate this approach to social media strategy.