Content creation runs the internet. From YouTube videos to Instagram reels, content is king.
Most businesses and brands create content to get potential customers, clients, or sales.
Churches create content to get potential visitors, mostly through social media platforms.
While that is a great avenue, there’s a form of content creation that churches often forget about.
Blogging.
I know that sounds archaic, but blogs are still a thing—and when done right, church blogging can play a vital role in driving church growth and reaching more people. Find out more below.
What is blogging and how does it work?
Blogging is the process of creating content in written form and publishing it on a website. The published result is normally called a blog post or an article.
The content can be about anything. Some blogs are random thoughts, and other blogs are strategically written to draw traffic to a website. The strategically written blogs (conducting keyword research and writing useful content with those keywords) usually appear at the top of Google search results. It was written with intention.
If you are reading this blog post right now, it’s because you most likely were googling something related to: church blogs, church growth, church websites, SEO (Search Engine Optimization) for churches, etc. It’s because I’m intentionally writing these posts to help pastors, creative directors, and leaders grow their churches through web design.
You see, I’m a website designer—I specifically design websites for churches. Most people don’t know anything about me and my business though. For more people to know about me I need to advertise, make cold calls/emails, or put out content.
I’ve done a mix of all, but I’ve found that putting out content (blogs) has been the most beneficial. Advertising and cold calling require a lot of trust. Putting out content builds that trust.
By blogging, I’m able to help people who are building a website for their church, looking for tips to improve their online presence, or simply needing encouragement as a leader—for free.
Sounds like a bad idea for a business right?
People actually prefer this.
The more content (useful content) you provide usually results in more (more views on YouTube, more followers on Instagram, more email subscribers, etc.).
Writing blogs for your church can result in more visitors coming to your church. And this is ultimately what most churches want—more visitors.
Getting more visitors is the first step in following the mission of making disciples.
Church blog post ideas
Now that we know what blogging is and what it can do for your church, it’s time to start writing.
But what should you write about exactly? Check the list below. Make sure you read to the bottom as I reveal the best thing to blog about that no church is doing.
1. Repurpose weekly sermons into blog posts
Each week your church has a sermon that is usually streamed live and posted on Facebook, YouTube, Subsplash, and your church’s website. Some churches even turn the sermon into a podcast and also post sermon clips on Instagram and TikTok.
These are all great ways to repurpose sermons. Putting a weekly blog post about the sermon is another way. There are apps like Sermon Shots, that can do this effortlessly using AI.
You can also accomplish this for free in other ways but it requires a small amount of time.
- Use transcript from YouTube - Go to the sermon video on YouTube and grab the transcript. Copy it and paste it into ChatGPT and ask it to write a blog post based on the following transcript. Make sure to review it for accuracy and grammar. You should make the blog post title different from the actual sermon title. Instead of calling it, ‘The Book of Romans Chapter 12,’ call it ‘How to be Transformed by God,’ or ‘3 Ways to Renew your Mind.’ A title like that is more likely to be found on Google and clicked on.
- Use the pastor’s sermon outline - Take the outline that your pastor writes each week and summarize it in a blog post format manually, or use ChatGPT to summarize it in a blog post. Just make sure that it makes sense. AI is powerful, but it does make mistakes.
- Reach out to your church community - You might have a journalist, someone who is great at writing, or an expert at SEO who attends your church. You could get them to jot down notes each week during your service and submit a blog post.
2. Create short and powerful devotionals
People love doing devotionals. The Bible app is full of them. Your church can post a short daily or weekly devotional on its blog. It can be a verse of the day and a quick word of encouragement, or you can post one of the points that was made during the sermon from Sunday.
3. Encourage people by sharing testimonies
Your church is full of people who have a story to share. Oftentimes a lot of people never get to hear those stories.
A person at your church could be struggling with porn, while another person could be 3 years porn free after being addicted to it for 10. Why not ask the person who overcame it, to share it in a blog post? Their story could be life-changing for the person who is currently struggling.
Writing blog posts about people’s testimonies can cause many people to be encouraged and other people to begin a relationship with Jesus.
4. Answer common questions about the Christian walk
When it comes to our Christian faith, so many people have questions.
Can Christians drink? What does the bible say about tattoos? Is it wrong to divorce your wife? Is homosexuality a sin? What does seeking first the kingdom of God mean? How much should we tithe?
The list goes on. People want to know things. The Bible is a big book, and it’s not always easy to find the answers. Make it easier for people to find the answers to these questions by writing blog posts about them.
5. Write fun and relatable everyday life content
A church blog doesn’t always have to be about deep topics. You can have some fun topics too. Here are some examples:
- The 10 Best CHH Songs Right Now
- Latest TikTok Dances to do with your Family
- 10 Recipe Ideas to Cook for the Next Potluck
- 20 Movies to Watch with your Family
- 5 Workouts to Try for Beginners
6. Focus on local content to attract visitors near you (My Favorite)
As stated before, blogging can drive more traffic to your church’s website, which can cause more people to visit your church.
While the 5 ideas above this one are great to have, a good portion of the people who stumble upon those blog posts probably won’t be located near your city.
The people who are searching for local content will most likely be located in that area. And it’s way easier to rank for local content because you’re not competing against the world, you’re only competing against people in your area. So what does local content actually look like?
One day I was randomly searching for churches in my city (Richmond, VA). As I was scrolling down the list of churches on Google, I saw a blog post link from a moving company—it was titled: Churches in Richmond VA Guide.
Curious as to why a moving company would be talking about churches, I clicked on it. Scrolling through the post, it finally hit me—the purpose of the post was to provide useful information about churches, while subtly mentioning that they are a moving company.
When people are thinking about moving they tend to do research on: schools, jobs, neighborhoods, things to do, churches, etc.
So while some people simply wanted to know the best churches in Richmond, others were looking because they were planning on moving soon. They read the article and find out that this is a moving company and decide to reach out to them.
From writing a simple article about churches in Richmond, this moving company is able to gain potential customers. The same can be achieved for your church.
It takes a lot to go to a new church. It can be nerve-wracking because you don’t know anybody and you don’t know what to expect. A lot of times there needs to be some level of trust to decide to step foot in a church. Being a local guide to the community can build that trust.
Here are some ideas for local content to blog about:
- Best restaurants in [Your City]
- Best coffee shops in [Your City]
- Best neighborhoods in [Your City]
- Best hotels in [Your City]
- Things to do in [Your City]
- Events in [Your City]
- Parks in [Your City]
- Barbers in [Your City]
- Thrift stores in [Your City]
- Museums in [Your City]
There are countless things you can talk about. Just make sure that you mention that you aren’t affiliated with any of the companies—that you’re simply being a guide.
Make sure you are being authentic too. If you don’t know anything about the museums in your area, don’t make a blog post about it. The good news is that you have a lot of people at your church that can provide useful information. Do random surveys with them and use that information to help you write your blogs.
Also, don’t forget about the most important part when it comes to writing these blog posts—getting people's contact information. More on that below.
Use church blogging to get contacts
If you put out all this content but don’t have a way of getting people’s information, all of this is a waste. A way to get people’s information is by offering something for free.
It can’t just be anything though, it needs to be something that is irresistible; something of value.
Businesses use this approach all the time.
Get 20% off your order when you sign up for our rewards. Get a free chicken sandwich when you download our app. Get a $50 rebate when you buy today.
Businesses do this so they can get your email address, phone number, mailing address, etc. You can accomplish the same thing on with a church blog.
I’m going to use the giving tool, Tithe.ly, to explain this. One of their best-performing pages is a blog post titled: 33 Bible Verses About Healing. At the time of writing this, they have 4 ways to get a reader’s information. All of them lead to an irresistible offer.
- Free online giving tools for your church - this is located in the middle of the blog post. The reader has to provide their email address in order to receive it.
- Free ebook about social media strategies - this is located to the right on the desktop and at the bottom on mobile devices. The reader has to provide their email address in order to receive it.
- More free resources - this is located below the free ebook graphic. It leads to other free ebooks. The reader has to provide their email address in order to receive it.
- A free resources form - this is located at the bottom of the blog post. The reader has to provide their email address in order to receive it.
These are all subtle ways to get people’s email addresses. The reader gets the irresistible offer and Tithely gets an email address—which is an extremely valuable asset to have.
Tithely can now sell their product to you. If you enjoy their free resource, the chances of doing business with them increase. The free resource allows you to build trust with them.
This is exactly what your church should do. So what irresistible offer can put out on your website?
Irresistible offer ideas for your church blog
- Turn sermon series into ebooks - Take a four-week sermon series and turn it into a short 20-page ebook. Make sure you give it a title that grabs people’s attention like: How to Overcome Addiction, 5 Tips to a Better Marriage, How to Love My Neighbor When They Get on My Nerves, etc.
- Create a 5-day devotional - Create a devotional that automatically gets sent to the reader for the next 5 days.
- Do seasonal giveaways - This always gets people’s attention. Dave Ramsey is known for doing this. You can giveaway a small vacation, TV, speakers, etc. Make sure you actually follow through with your offer when someone wins.
- Bible study guide - Create a free guide on how to study the bible
Research keywords to boost SEO
Another important step is to research keywords. Simply writing about anything isn’t effective. You want to make sure people are actually searching for what you are writing about.
There are a lot of tools that can help you with this. From free tools like Google Keyword Planner or WordStream, to paid tools like Semrush, SE Ranking, or Ahrefs—all of them provide valuable information.
You want to choose keywords that aren’t difficult to rank for (keywords that have a score under 40). You also want keywords that have a decent amount of people searching it monthly.
I personally use SE Ranking (this is not an ad). Here are some local content keywords that I would go after in my area.
- best burger in richmond va - this averages about 2.4K monthly searches and it has a keyword difficulty rank of 37
- best steak in richmond va - this averages about 590 monthly searches and it has a keyword difficulty rank of 8 (really easy to rank for).
- family things to do in richmond va - this averages about 480 monthly searches and it has a keyword difficulty rank of 5 (another easy one).
Make sure to strategically place the keywords in blog post; don’t over do it (header tags, first paragraph, last paragraph).
Conclusion
Blogging is an often overlooked yet incredibly powerful tool for church growth.
By creating intentional, high-quality content, your church can build trust, connect with your local community, and reach people who may never have stepped into your building otherwise.
Whether you’re sharing weekly sermon summaries, testimonies, devotionals, or local guides, blogging provides an opportunity to serve your audience and draw them closer to Christ.
With a little strategy—like researching keywords, repurposing sermons, or offering irresistible resources—you can turn your church’s blog into a meaningful avenue for ministry.
So start writing today, and watch how church blogging can transform the way you reach people in your community.
Evan Smith is the owner of Two Ten Creatives, a creative design company specifically for churches. He strategically finds ways to bring more visitors to churches by designing church websites and focusing on local SEO. He is a follower of Jesus, a husband, and a father.
