If you don’t have a church podcast, why not? As long as you have the ability to record, I cannot really see a downside. Podcasting has grown exponentially over the last 5 years and without a doubt there are many people within your church that listen to podcasts on a weekly basis.
This would be a great resource for your church to have. You could direct new believers to past sermons on certain topics or if you are in the middle of a series and someone misses a Sunday, they can still stay connected to what is happening at your church. Church members could easily share sermons that they think might be helpful to friends or family. I am aware of a number people in our church that listen to Pastor’s sermon again during the week, just incase they missed something the first time. We also have people who live in remote areas that rely on listening to our weekly podcast (as well as other churches) to encourage them in their faith.
The really cool thing about podcasting is that it doesn’t have to cost you a cent to host one online and upload it to Apple iTunes or Google Play. I have listed a few options that you might want to consider using below.
This is one of the more costly options because they offer the ability to livestream as well as host video content but if you are only interested in uploading audio then you can use sermon.net for free. They have a 2GB a month limit for their free accounts (the average sermon audio file should only be 50MB). They are geared toward churches so their interface is more suitable for listening to sermons. For example, they have interactive Bible that listeners can use to look-up scriptures while they listening to the sermon. But the reality is, most people will be listening to your messages through apps on their devices. They do offer easy-to-follow instructions on how to upload your podcast to iTunes. We used these guys for around 5 years and I definitely recommend them.
SoundCloud was initially created as a space for aspiring musicians and singers but it has been co-opted a bit by podcasts. This is a great platform with a broad reach. You can easily upload your sermons to SoundCloud and then embed them into your website or share them on social media. They also make it simple to submit your podcast to Apple iTunes or other podcast apps. The only catch is that free accounts are limited to 3 hours of uploads on their platform (depending on you pastor, that could go pretty quick) and then you have to go Pro which is $16 AUD a month. Still not very pricey.
Another great option is to host your own, especially if you already have a WordPress or Squarespace website. One of the reasons we chose Squarespace as the platform for our church website was because it gave us the ability to host our own content. This feature is free and very easy to use. The links that I have provided above for WordPress and Squarespace are to the help pages where they show you step-by-step how to start your podcast as well as submit it to iTunes and other platforms. This gives you even more control of your content by allowing you to host everything on our own website.
I’m sure there are other options but these are the 3 platforms that I have used in the past and can recommend. I hope you do consider starting a podcast for your church. You will not regret it!
