It started when my friend Ramon said, “You got to start a Facebook Group for churches doing podcasts.” I reached out to my friend Jake, and we started the Podcasts for Churches Facebook Group.
Little did we realize the need to engage this issue. We recently shared a poll about the biggest hindrance of starting a podcast at the church people serve. People responded by deciding on a format as one of the top issues they face.
When you think about starting a podcast through a church, you have two questions concerning format to wrestle with:
- What format is most sustainable?
- What format can we succeed the most at?
If you’re still wondering if podcasting is worth pursuing at the church you serve, I would encourage you to check out the article, Seven Tips for Starting a Church Podcast.
If you’re past that point and trying to decipher what format to utilize, here are four formats with examples that you could consider for the church you serve.
1. Sunday Recap
Pastors can put anywhere from 10-20 hours of study into a sermon each week. Meaning that 30 minutes for a sermon on Sunday morning only covers a fraction of that preparation. On top of that, when a pastor preaches, many people have follow-up questions or points that resonate in surprising ways.
A Sunday recap format usually gets recorded on the Monday after discussing mainly the sermon and the service from the day before. It engages pastors in a personal way. The two potential challenges include recording consistently and the format can feel very limited in focus on the church context.
The huge potential means making the most of the Sunday sermon with individuals and small groups. The Second Look Podcast from Connection Church in Pottstown, PA does an outstanding job of overcoming these challenges and making this format super practical.
2. Inside Look
The Sunday Recap format creates a clear structure, but sometimes that can feel limiting. The Inside Look format broadens the scope of a podcast. It can touch on a Sunday sermon, but also the life of the church. The interviews focus on the staff and/or leaders of the church discussing various priority themes and topics. Think of this format as a behind-the-scenes creating a great way for people to get to know the church.
Jake McNamara of Compass Church in Naperville, Ill, cofounder of Podcasts for Churches, has an excellent podcast featuring various staff and leaders from the church. They mostly engage the Sunday morning sermon, but in a multisite church, it offers listeners and viewers an inside like into the heartbeat of leaders. Check out Compass Midweek below:
3. Leader/Topic Specific
You might serve as the only staff person at the church. In larger churches, there might be a staff person who understands podcasting and can invest into a specific focus. For example, the student ministry pastor might want to start a podcast engaging parents with topics or even interviews. The online pastor might look to start a podcast to connect the in-person and digital campuses. Classically, the senior or lead pastor starts a podcast hitting on the various themes and priorities for the church.
I would encourage you to check out Rusty George’s Leadership Podcast. Rusty serves as the lead pastor of Real Life Church in Valencia, CA. He interviews various leaders to serve pastors, but each podcasts gives the church a view into the issues and topics he’s processing. At other times, he has connected themes like Easter and Christmas for engaging spiritual practices. As a bonus, his weekly emails connect the dots of the digital content he makes.
4. Interview Focused
An interview focused podcast offers you a variety of topics and guests. The main challenge results in connecting the variety of interviews to the life of the church. The different guests can allow you to respond to current events and topics in real-time. Lastly, you as a church leader can introduce people from inside and outside the church that you want them to become aware of.
This format is what I use for the Why God Why Podcast out of Browncroft. Our specific focus is to respond to the questions that people don’t feel comfortable asking in church. The format has given us the flexibility to engage central and peripheral issues in the life of faith.
Is there another podcast format for churches I’ve missed? Do you have an example of a podcast that a church does that you enjoy? Tell me about it in the comments.