Every Australian church runs events. Easter services, Christmas carols, community barbecues, Alpha courses, parenting workshops, grief support groups, school holiday programmes. These events are some of the most effective tools a church has for connecting with people in its community who don't currently attend.

But most churches promote their events the same way they've always promoted them: a post on Facebook, a notice in the church bulletin, and word of mouth from existing members. These strategies reach people who already know you exist — but do almost nothing to reach the thousands of people in your local community who have never heard of your church.

Digital tools change this completely. With the right strategy, your church event can be promoted to people in your local area who are specifically searching for what your event offers — for free, using the Google Ad Grant — before you spend a single dollar on paid advertising.

In this post I want to walk you through a practical digital promotion strategy that any Australian church can implement for their next event.

The Foundation — A Dedicated Event Landing Page

The most important thing you can do before you promote any church event is create a dedicated landing page for it on your church website. Not a post on your events page. A dedicated, focused page whose only purpose is to inform interested people about the event and invite them to register.

This page needs to answer every question a person from outside your church community would have: What is it? Who is it for? What will happen? When and where? How much does it cost? How do I register? Is there parking? Is it suitable for children?

A well-designed event landing page removes every barrier between curiosity and registration. A vague events page creates friction and loses people who were genuinely interested.

Using the Google Ad Grant for Event Promotion

The Google Ad Grant's real power is in its ability to show your church's content to people who are actively searching for relevant topics — not just people who follow you on social media.

For event promotion, this means you can target keywords that people actually search for that relate to what your event offers. A grief support group can target "grief support [suburb]." A parenting workshop can target "parenting advice [city]." A Christmas carol service can target "Christmas carols [suburb] 2026." An Easter service can target "Easter church service [city]."

These are real searches, by real people in your community, who are looking for exactly what your event provides. With the Google Ad Grant, your church's event landing page can appear at the top of those results for free.

The Social Media Event Campaign

Social media event promotion works best when it builds progressively in the weeks leading up to the event, rather than hitting followers with a single promotional post one week out.

Here is a simple four-week social media campaign structure for any church event:

• Week 4 — Awareness: Introduce the event concept without a hard sell. "We've been thinking about loneliness in our community. Did you know that [stat]?" Create curiosity about the topic your event addresses.
• Week 3 — Interest: Share a story or testimonial related to the event topic. "Last year we ran a grief support group and this is what one participant said." Make it human and specific.
• Week 2 — Desire: Detail what the event actually involves — the programme, the speakers, the atmosphere. Answer the practical questions. "Here's what to expect at our parenting workshop."
• Week 1 — Action: Direct promotion with registration link. "Registration closes Thursday. Book your spot now." Create genuine (not manufactured) urgency.

The Email Component

Your congregation email list is one of the most underused event promotion tools available to most churches. The people on your email list have already expressed interest in your church — they are warm leads for your events.

Send at least three emails about any significant church event: an announcement email four weeks out, a reminder email two weeks out, and a final reminder with a registration link one week out. Each email should speak to a slightly different aspect of the event — not just repeat the same information three times.

If you have segmented your email list (for example, by people who have attended previous similar events), send targeted emails to those segments with more specific invitations.

After the Event — The Follow-Up Sequence

The event itself is not the end of your digital promotion strategy — it's the beginning of a relationship. Anyone who attended your event and isn't yet part of your church community should enter an automated follow-up sequence similar to your newcomer funnel.

A post-event sequence might include: a thank-you email sent the morning after, a link to resources related to the event topic, an invitation to your regular Sunday gathering, and a personal follow-up offer — "If anything at the event resonated with you and you'd like to chat further, I'd love to grab a coffee."

Let Us Manage Your Church Event Promotion

At DEO Ministry, building and managing digital event promotion campaigns — including landing pages, Google Ad Grant keyword campaigns, social content, and post-event follow-up sequences — is part of our Growth and Harvest Packages. We've helped Australian churches fill events with people from outside their congregation who found them through a Google search.

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Written by Daniel Jackson — The founder of DEO Ministry and a commissioned elder at Soma Blue Mountains. He holds a Master of Divinity from Christ College Sydney and a Master of Arts in Theology from SMBC. He has helped scale businesses to over $1,000,000 in annual turnover and is passionate about helping Australian churches use digital tools to reach more people with the gospel.