Small to midsize churches face a universal struggle when it comes to social media content creation. Ask any church communications team member or pastor about their social media presence, and you’ll likely hear a sigh of frustration. It’s rare that I hear a church say they feel great about the quality and quantity of their social media output.
The core problem is straightforward but challenging: Most churches have limited time, budget and staff resources, yet they face increasingly high expectations for quality content that engages their congregation and reaches new people. The bottom line is churches understand the importance of social media, but struggle with consistent execution.
The AI Opportunity
Churches are uniquely positioned to benefit from AI content tools in ways other organizations aren’t. Why? Because they already produce one excellent piece of core content every week: the sermon.
This weekly sermon is an existing content gold mine waiting to be repurposed into dozens of social media assets. Each message contains powerful moments, quotable lines, scriptural insights, and stories that can be transformed into various content pieces throughout the week. What churches lack isn’t content; it’s an efficient way to extract and repurpose what they already have. Here are some ways you can repurpose a sermon for social media outreach:
1. Short Video Clips/Reels
One of the most powerful ways churches can repurpose sermon content is by identifying impactful moments and converting them into short video clips for reels on platforms like Instagram or Facebook.
These brief videos (usually 15–60 seconds) capture attention-grabbing moments when the pastor delivers a particularly powerful point, shares a compelling illustration or offers a profound insight. The visual and auditory combination of these clips drives significantly higher engagement than text alone, and they’re much more likely to be shared with others.
Social media platforms are prioritizing this style of content, so if engagement and reach are your primary purpose for social media, it’s crucial that you prioritize it.
2. Quote/Text Images
Another effective approach is transforming memorable sermon lines into shareable graphics. These quote images capture attention because they are visually appealing.
They serve multiple purposes: They provide congregation members with easily shareable content for their own social networks, reinforce the sermon message throughout the week, and create visual touchpoints that help people remember the message. When designed well with consistent branding, these quote images also help strengthen church identity.
Although the sermon’s purpose is never about the pastor, using their face on the image is an effective attention-grabbing strategy. If you’re trying to boost engagement with your social media, putting your pastor’s face on some of these images is an effective way to get more attention to the post.
3. Facebook/Instagram Carousels
Carousels are posts with multiple slides that let churches break down sermon content into bite-size pieces. Followers can swipe through them like a mini-lesson.
These carousel posts transform sermons into 4–8 sequential points that either summarize the entire message or highlight the main takeaways. Each slide builds on the previous one, creating a cohesive narrative that engages viewers longer than single images.
Carousels have the added benefit of increasing shares and likes as users swipe through multiple slides, and they’re excellent for educational content that builds toward a conclusion. Carousels can sometimes have some of the best engagement for a church each week.
So, how do you go about creating this kind of content? Here are a few methods that I’ve found effective:
1. Sermon Transcription
The foundation of this AI-powered approach is a high-quality sermon transcription. Without an accurate text version of what was said, it’s difficult to utilize AI to efficiently identify the best content for repurposing. Investing in accurate transcription pays dividends by saving hours of manual work later in the process. Fortunately, several options exist. Here are a few of them:
• YouTube’s auto-transcription is free if you already upload sermons there, but accuracy varies significantly.
• AssemblyAI offers more expensive but highly accurate transcription services that handle multiple speakers and technical terminology well.
• Otter.ai provides midrange options with good accuracy and additional editing features.
2. AI Prompt Strategies
Once you have a transcript, AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude.ai can help extract the most valuable content in the fastest way. Just grab the entire sermon transcript and combine it with one of the following prompts:
For identifying powerful video moments, use the following prompt:
I’m looking for the most engaging 30- to 60-second segments from this sermon transcript that would work well as stand-alone video clips. Please identify 3–5 moments that contain powerful statements, emotional stories or memorable illustrations. Below is the full transcript of the sermon: [Paste full transcript here.]
You can adapt this based on how you want to find specific moments or by asking it to focus on a particular type of moment.
For extracting quotes, use the following prompt:
Please identify 5–10 quotable statements from this sermon transcript that would work well as social media quote images. Look for concise, impactful statements that capture key insights or memorable phrases. For each quote, include the exact text to use and a brief explanation of why it’s meaningful. Below is the full transcript of the sermon: [Paste full transcript here.]
For creating Facebook/Instagram Carousels, use the following prompt:
Please create an engaging 4- to 8-slide Instagram/Facebook carousel from this content. For each slide: 1) Extract a key teaching point or insight that builds on the previous slide. 2) Keep each slide’s text under 40 words for readability. 3) Include a brief, attention-grabbing headline for each slide (2–5 words) 4) Add a short supporting sentence that elaborates on the main point. 5) End the carousel with a clear application or call-to-action. Structure the carousel to tell a cohesive story that follows the sermon’s logical flow. Start with a compelling hook on Slide 1 and build toward a meaningful conclusion. Include any relevant Scripture references where appropriate. Below is the full transcript of the sermon: [Paste full transcript here.]
In my personal experience, Claude often provides better results. But if you are already using ChatGPT and are comfortable with it, that will also work effectively with these prompts.
3. Video/Image Production Methods
With your content identified, you can produce the actual social media assets using:
• Your preferred video editor (like Adobe Premiere, Final Cut, etc.)
• Image creation tools like Canva, Adobe Express
• Your church’s existing templates and branding elements
• For churches seeking an all-in-one solution, SermonShots.com offers a specialized tool designed specifically for this workflow. It handles the entire process from sermon analysis to finished social media assets without requiring proficiency in video or image editing software. [Editor’s note: Author is CEO and co-founder of Sermon Shots.]
Creating engaging social media content from sermons has never been more accessible for small to midsize churches. By leveraging AI tools to identify and extract the most compelling moments from existing sermons, churches can dramatically increase their social media output without significantly increasing their workload.
This approach doesn’t require additional content creation. It simply makes better use of the valuable content churches already produce each week. The result is more consistent social media presence, broader reach and stronger digital engagement with both current members and potential visitors.