Church communication is NOT all about the tools. It’s more about content. It’s like saying that every church needs a Sunday service but not creating engaging components in the service.
Your church needs to build content regularly that engages your congregation and attracts your community (when they are considering a local church).
How does someone in a church communication role do that?! That’s the issue. Most churches have content creators (Pastors, Teachers, Deacons, etc.) so Communicators need to repurpose and edit existing content. Then the original content will be familiar once they attend.
A sermon is a piece of important content that should be extended as part of your church social strategy. Here are 5 ways to repurpose a sermon on your social channels — to encourage engagement and attraction:
- Create a takeaway that will drive people to the sermon. Write a summary post that, when read, it makes someone want to hear the sermon (or attend next week). EXAMPLE: Struggle with negative thinking? Pastor Smith nailed it with 3 tips from 1 Peter 5:8. Watch Here (Link)
- Create a short video clip with illustration setup. Most sermons have a pinnacle illustration or story that sets up the problem or the solution of the sermon. EXAMPLE: Have volunteers, while sitting in the service, tap their phone stopwatch and using those numbers, make suggestions for illustrations. Get them to send you start/end times for easier video editing. Get them to rate them from 1-10 for impact (so you can choose whose to use). Who knows, there may be several!
- Capture a quick testimonial of big takeaway. Watch the congregation for someone who seems intent on the sermon. EXAMPLE: Ask them after the service (in the parking lot or foyer) if they could be recorded for a brief takeaway for why they enjoyed the service. You could even ask someone before the service to prepare for the video afterward.
- Design a graphic for sermon points. Listen for the major sermon points and create graphics so they will remind those who attended and still make sense for those who didn’t. EXAMPLE: Negative Thinking? Be Watchful for Positive Things (overlay on an active preaching picture). For the post? Want to hear more of what Pastor Smith said? Watch/Listen to this point at 0:23 (link).
- Shoot a followup video from the Pastor. Shoot a quick video with the Pastor after the service. Ask them about one or two points. Or ask for a big benefit for listening to the sermon online. EXAMPLE: Hey Church! I struggle with negative thoughts like I’m sure you do. Today 1 Peter 5 spoke to me about 3 solutions for us and we talked about them in service. We had 4 ask for prayer but I’m sure many of you want to too. Click on the link and let us know how we can pray for you (link). Or post below and I’ll personally pray for you this week. Next week? We’ll be talking about How to Guard our Hearts. I’ll see you then!
