Pastor asked, “Is it his job?”
The world was changing at a rapid pace already. Then 2020 hit us, and turned everything upside down.
It’s a unique season for the church.
2020 has brought significant challenges to the church. A lot of these challenges are forcing us to make huge changes that when we look back, might actually have been the best thing for us.
We are now living in the era of the digital pulpit.
Pastors everywhere have had to adjust to preaching with audience that consumes the message from their phone and not from a pew. Everything is online only right now.
But when you think about it, we were already in a digital pulpit era before 2020. Most churches just hadn’t implemented an online strategy yet.
Your congregation is online everyday. In fact, Facebook alone takes up 22% of the internet time Americans spend on mobile devices everyday. (SOURCE) This doesn’t include any other social media platforms.
This is a golden opportunity for your church to be a blessing to people everyday of the week, not just Sunday.
I am not talking about posting your sermon or service everyday, but what I am suggesting is taking all of the hard work you put into that sermon series and using it to speak into the spiritual journey of your people every day.
You can do this by converting your long-form content (sermon/series) into bite-sized devotional material.
Here are 3 ways you can use your sermon series content as daily devotionals material.
Post each of your sermon points as a devotional
Let’s say you have three points in your message. You can post each point as an individual devotion.
VIDEO: This can be a highlight of one of your points to post on social media. This video should be 1-2 minutes long. You could just as easily post a selfie video extrapolating your point for a more personal feel.
BLOG: You can also take your notes from each point and create a blog. Make it 500 words or less. If you don’t have notes that would work, upload the audio of your sermon to REV.com and they will send you a transcript word for word of your message. Use that as the first draft of your blog(s) to edit.
GRAPHIC: Post a graphic of your point. For example: Even when we don’t know why we are suffering, we should trust God no matter what.
Your sermon points by nature should be sticky and concise which makes them great for social media!
Post Passages from Your Sermon
This is one of the easiest wins. You can highlight the passages used in your sermon in a variety of ways.
Graphic: Post portions of your passages daily. Or if you are using multiple passages, post one per day as a graphic. You can do this pretty easily using free software like Canva.
Reading: Chances are, your people already have the YouVersion Bible App. You can share a passage directly from their app to virtually anywhere.
Listening: The Dwell Bible listening app is a beautiful experience. You can also share Bible passages directly from their app to your social profiles.
Share Illustrations from Your Sermon
Nothing is quite as powerful as a good story or illustration. A great illustration can go a long way in helping you communicate abstract concepts from the Bible.
Here are a few ways you can share illustrations from your sermon:
Selfie Video: If you have a personal illustration, you should record from your phone to share as a devotional moment.
Email: Think people don’t read your emails? They will if you open with an impactful story. Write an intriguing subject line and then open your devotional email with an illustration. Your words could be the first thing someone reads on a Monday morning. What a great way to impact the start of their week.
The bottom line is this, putting a sermon together takes a ton of work. Don’t let that work just be used in a physical setting when your congregation lives in a digital world. Use your sermon content as devotional content for your people to consume daily. This will help them in their spiritual walk and it will continue to build trust and influence online with your congregation and community.
