For many communities of faith, one of the most visible acts they see their leader do is preach a sermon. As many church folks know, there is much more to a pastor, priest, or minister’s job description. Nonetheless, it remains one of the focal operations a leader engages in.

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With such an emphasis placed on this weekly message of Good News, it only makes sense that churches would repurpose it throughout the week. To do anything but this would neglect:

• those who were not able to be in the exact space and time to hear it
• those who heard it, but need some reinforcement
• those who were in the right space and time, but not the right mindset to receive it

We, at Digivangelism, believe that your leaders’ hard work is valuable. It also has helpful uses besides a once a week listening session. The below methods for repurposing sermon content will:

• encourage community building throughout the week
• share the message with those who didn’t or couldn’t attend
• provide everyone access to the message long after it is shared
• help listeners share the Good News with others

Sounds pretty worth it, doesn’t it?

We think so! Let’s get to it.

1. Video Summary or Sneak Peak

Five minutes or less.

That’s all your leader would need to give this practice.

Recording a brief preview before offering a message might just give your members the extra encouragement to show up or log on that week. It also offers them a heads up about the upcoming topic so that they can better invite those who need to hear the specific message.

A post-worship recording can be just as helpful.

These offer reinforcement to everyone who was able to make the live recording as well as access to the core of the message to anyone who might have missed it.

This video might even offer an opportunity to add something that was not or will not be in the message. This could be an extra story to lead into the message or even something you missed in the initial offering.

The recording process can be an easy upload to your Facebook page, Instagram story, or IGTV. You may find that you reach different demographics through each of these channels.

2. Create Sermon Quote Graphics

This can be a fun one!

This is a great option for outsourcing if you can find a willing participant. Especially if you have one or two helpers with some creative flair.

Thanks to Canva, creating free graphics is easier than ever.

The trick to this method is being able to pull out a few important pieces of information from the sermon.

It might not make sense to quote certain parts of the message. For example, a part of a story that only those who heard the message in its entirety would understand.

But maybe there’s a short 1-2 sentence phrase that holds a striking point, even without the extra context included.

Keep an ear out for 2-4 of these that you can make into visual graphics and then share throughout the week. When you post, reference the message, preacher, or topic in the caption. This helps your post go from a random quote shared out of context to a shareable piece of content shared with love and meant to impact lives.

3. Create Discussion Questions

This is yet another responsibility that can be shared with someone other than the leader of your community.

Discussion questions are a great way to encourage congregational engagement of the sermon topic.

While questions and discussion can and should certainly occur within in-person studies or after/within worship, they are also great ways to continue the engagement online throughout the week.

Sharing conversation in this way invites everyone in, whether they were in the room for the initial message or not.

Depending on your church size, Facebook Groups may be an ideal location to hold these discussions.

If you have smaller groups, texting groups or video apps like Marco Polo may be another way to share in more intimate reflection between those who are already connected.

Disclaimer:

Whenever you invite people to share their thoughts and opinions from the safety of their computer screen, it is helpful to consider how you might need to moderate conversation to keep it focused and respectful.

If your conversation takes place at a specific time each week, make sure you have a trusted leader or two available to be the “on duty” administrator.

If your discussion happens at will throughout the week, be sure to have multiple people helping keep tabs on everything so that this responsibility does not become a burden to only one or two leaders.

4. Bible Study

Whether your Bible Studies are online or in-person, they remain fantastic opportunities to engage with the material that will be preached in an upcoming message.

Yet again, this practice can actually be effective either before or after the message being offered.

If held before the message, the Bible Study can act as a wonderful trial for the leader to answer all sorts of questions:

• How do your people engage this topic?
• What questions do they have?
• Does the passage and/or message theme make sense to them?
• If not, what areas need to be leaned into the most?
• What about this topic excites them?
• Does any of it overwhelm them?
• What connections are they drawing to the life of the community?

Having the experience of this type of conversation before preaching will help your leader better address the needs of your people.

Engaging deeply with the topic prior to worship will also serve your people.

After your study together, they will likely have much more prior knowledge than they would have had otherwise. And be more likely to draw connections.

Held after the message, the Bible Study offers a safe (hopefully!) space to discuss further anything that listeners heard. This might mean sharing their own reflections, connections, and even questions along the way.

5. Record Your Sermon Video or Audio

Last, but not least: record it.

There are many churches who already successfully offer a video option of their services or sermons each week online. Sometimes it is streamed live, other times it is posted as a recording.

For those who are not yet doing this, know that it does not need to be a difficult process to set up and record a Facebook or YouTube live video during the sermon. Recording and posting it later can be even easier.

This can be done through a phone propped up on a table with no other glamorous equipment and still be extremely effective.

Generally, as long as people can understand you preacher’s words, it is “good enough.”

Which brings us to our next option: podcasting!

It might be worth checking in with your folks online to see who would prefer video messages to audio ones. For some communities, having the audio would be just as – if not more – useful.

Audio is often easier to consume while completing another task you were going to do anyway:

• Walking
• Reading
• Driving
• Gardening
• Dishes
• Cleaning

If you are already planning to record a video, consider stripping the audio and posting both the video and the podcast for a few weeks. You can always see which option is getting more plays and scale back on the less-used one.

Your leader could easily wear a mic during their sermon without it being a bother or distraction to anyone involved.

This has the potential to reach far more people with your weekly message with minimal additional effort.

We brought the knowledge – now it’s your turn to bring the action.

Don’t be overwhelmed by all the options (because, actually, there are only 5!).

Pick the one you think your people and followers are most likely to respond to well. Commit to trying it out consistently for at least two months before deciding whether or not it is a practice you will keep.

For more digital ministry tips and suggestions, follow us on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, or even TikTok!