My marketing team and I big believers in repurposing content. It allows us to share more content, in formats that match different preferences, is great for SEO and can lead to some surprising discoveries and ideas. The same can be true for Churches. As there is a unique sermon each week, it can provide a resource you can adapt, reuse and share in a wide range of formats. Here are some creative ways you can repurpose sermons.
You don’t have to do it all––these are ideas for what you could do.
Before we start, I just want to make it clear that you probably shouldn’t do every one of these items. Small and medium size churches tend to have limited budgets and volunteers and have to steward their resources. Some of these actions are low effort and cost to run (even if they require some upfront time and cost) while others are more intense.
While there are tools that can help (such as digital transcription services) you need to pick what is right for you. This list is to be taken as inspiration.
1. Live stream
The Covid-19 pandemic forced even resistant churches to start live streaming. I would encourage your church to consider continuing even when things go back to “a new normal”. While the majority of us will be able to meet in person again, some will still be unable to leave their homes for whatever reason. Having access to live streams allow these people to continue to feel connected to the church.
At the same time, that doesn’t mean that a live stream solves all issues for those unable to come to meetings; it’s important for church members to visit when possible. Still, live streaming usually isn’t an excuse to “not meet together” but a blessing for those who are unable to.
Start live streaming on a budget.
2. Publish the audio on website
This has been a staple of many churches for a long time now. But with an increase in live stream videos, it’s important not to neglect sharing sermon audio. There are some contexts, like driving a car, when we can’t watch a sermon but will happily listen for the first or fourth time.
3. Publish as a podcast
Putting the audio on your website is great, but publishing as a podcast provides an easier why for congregants to download and listen to your sermons later in the week. If you submit your podcast to a podcast directory like iTunes and Spotify, you open up the possibility that other people will discover your sermons too.
4. Share the video on YouTube
YouTube is the second biggest search engine in the world and owned by the biggest; Google. If you record a video version of your sermon, you should share it on YouTube so potential visitors can discover it as well as christians half the world away who are looking for the same topic you just preached on.
5. Publish the transcript
Some people (and search engines) prefer to read a sermon rather than watch or listen to it. If you get a transcript of your sermon, either using a church member, paid service, or Computer generated version, you can publish the text version of the sermon as well.
6. Turn the sermon into a blog post
Yes, this is a separate point to the previous one. A transcript is a reproduction of what was said but when you publish as a blog post, you are changing the content into a format better suited to words. If we want to split hairs, you could argue that a transcript isn’t really a way to repurpose sermons where a blog post is, but let’s not get into that.
One option is to adapt the transcription, correcting any errors, cutting out waffle, and making adjustments to better suit the written format.
Another option is to take a sermon outline and key points, and then write a blog post from that outline. This will certainly look different and will probably be a higher quality article over all than adapting a transcript.
7. Turn your sermon text into mini posts
If your church has longer sermons, you might want to consider cutting sections from the sermon and turning each one into its own blog post. There can be some SEO issues with shorter posts but as Seth Godin’s success shows, it can be worth ignoring SEO.
8. Turn sermons and series into ebooks
You can either do this using a sermon series or you can find sermons across series on the same topic. If you have collect the transcripts or made blog posts out of your sermons, you can simply turn these into a collected PDF or epub to download. Make sure you adapt the content to fit the ebook format with an introduction, avoiding repetition between sections and linking chapters properly.
Once made, this can provide a fantastic resource accessibly even without the internet (it still happens). It can also be used as church lead gen following the marketing made simple for churches approach. This is an often neglected way to repurpose sermons.
9. Turn sermons and series into devotionals
Instead of making a resource to consumer in one go, consider make a devotional with chunks from one or many sermons. You could format these as an ebook, an email newsletter, or even using text and chatbots.
One of the great aspects of this way to repurpose sermons is that you can use these years later or even set up automations so congregants can access the devotional as and when they want.
10. Share video clips on social media
Find key parts of the sermon and turn these into sharable video clips for social media. If you don’t record the video, you can add the audio on top of a still image or with a waveform. Some common clips to share include:
- application points
- key takeaways
- illustrations
- the main part of a passage
- questions
- testimonies
11. Share quotes graphics on social
Similar to the last point, you can create quote graphics from your sermon content and share these on social media. Use a tool like canva or WordSwag to quickly turn some text into a standout image to share.
If you are feeling creative, you could create a checklist or question post to share.
12. Add quoteable images to your sermon posts
Quotable images don’t just have to be for social media, you can add them to a blog post or sermon audio page to help highlight key parts and enable people to share them to social media.
13. Share a summary on social media
Instead of sharing a section or different format of your sermon, share a summary of the sermon. This can remind church members of parts they had forgotten as well as entice those who haven’t seen the sermon to watch or listen now.
14. Ask questions on social media or in your online community / small groups
One of the best ways to help turn teaching to transformation is to get members to discuss the sermon and work out how they will apply these truths. Starting discussions and asking questions in small groups or on online communities are a great way to do that.
15. Turn your sermon into an Infographic or sketchnote
A more creative way to repurpose your sermons is to create an infographic or sketchnote. This can help provide a quick overview of the topic and provide a more visual summary.
If you need some inspiration for hand drawn infographics, look at the book overviews from the Bible project as well as Mike Rohde’s sermon sketchnotes.
16. Host a Q & A on the sermon topic
Sermon’s can often be a one way message. Although preachers try to address the concerns of the congregation, it’s impossible to predict let alone address every possible issue in a single sermon.
Hosting a Q & A session (using Facebook Live, Clubhouse or another medium) is a great way to minister to the
Although this involves
Any other ideas?
That’s almost certainly not all that you could do to help your church share its sermons. If you have any other ideas for how to repurpose sermons, share them in the comments below.
Speak your mind...