I speak with Australian church leaders regularly and one of the most common things I hear is this: "We've thought about starting a podcast but we don't know where to begin."

The good news is that starting a church podcast in 2026 is significantly easier and more affordable than most people think. You don't need a professional studio. You don't need expensive equipment. And you don't need a team of tech-savvy volunteers to make it work.

What you do need is a clear starting point — and that's exactly what this guide gives you.

Why Every Australian Church Should Have a Podcast

Before we get into the how, let's talk about the why — because I think this is where a lot of church leaders get stuck.

As a pastor you spend 15 to 20 hours every week preparing a sermon. That's one of the most significant investments of time and energy in your entire church calendar. And in most churches, that sermon is heard once by the people who show up on Sunday and then it's gone.

A podcast changes that completely.

When your church has a podcast, your Sunday sermon becomes available to anyone, anywhere, at any time. The person who missed church because they were sick can listen on Monday morning. The new Christian who is hungry to learn can work their way through your entire back catalogue. The person who stumbled across your church online but isn't ready to walk through the doors yet can hear your pastor's voice and teaching for weeks before they ever visit.

And here's something most churches haven't considered — podcasts are searchable. When someone opens Spotify or Apple Podcasts and searches for "anxiety" or "faith" or "parenting" or "grief," your podcast can show up. Not because you paid for advertising. Just because you uploaded your sermon.

That's free outreach that keeps working long after Sunday is over.

What Equipment Do You Actually Need?

This is where most churches overcomplicate things. Let me give you the honest breakdown.

The Minimum Viable Setup (Under $200 AUD)

If you're just getting started and want to test the waters before investing more, here's what you need:

• A decent USB microphone — The DJI Mic Mini ($86-150 AUD) is excellent for beginners. It plugs straight into a phone via USB-C port and sounds far better than a built-in microphone or a phone recording.
• A free recording app — Your phone probably has one built in, but you can also get something like Audacity.
• Great sound quality — Acoustics matter more than most people realise. A room with carpet, curtains and soft furnishings naturally absorbs echo and produces cleaner audio than an empty church hall. But if your church is a large school hall, don't worry, tools such as Auphonic can clean your sound up so it is easier to listen to.

The Video Podcast 

If your church is ready to for video there are a couple of options:

1.  Use your phone — if you have a modern phone such asn the iphone 15 pro or newer you can probably capture video in 4K and 30fps on the device. You can zoom in to 5x using the optical zoom (don't zoom more otherwise it switches to digital zoom and the visual quality will go down).
2. Use a professional camera — something like the Sony ZV-E10 II with the Sony E 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 OSS lense should work well. 
3. Quality sound — you could use the sound set up from above. Otherwise a Rode Wireless Go II should plug straight into the camera.
4. Editing — you will need to edit the video with the audio. Make sure the audio lines up and has been run through something like Auphonic for cleaner sound quality. You can edit the video using iMovie, or something such as Descript or DaVinci Resolve.
5. Upload to your platform — video podcasting is currently only available on Spotify, but should soon be available on Apple Podcasts as well. But the best place for your video is going to be YouTube.

The Simple Option Many Churches Miss

If your church already records sermons for your website or livestream — which many do — you may already have everything you need. A clean audio recording from your existing setup can go straight to a podcast host with minimal additional work. You don't need a separate studio recording session. Just repurpose what you're already capturing.

Choosing a Podcast Host for Your Church

A podcast host is the platform that stores your audio files and distributes them to Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, and every other listening platform. The best free host is Spotify for Creators. Completely free with no storage limits., Spotify also hosts podcasts as video and is the number one platform for podcast listeners.

How to Distribute Your Podcast to All Major Platforms

Once your podcast host is set up, distributing to all major platforms is straightforward. Here's how it works:

• Spotify — Connect directly through your podcast host's dashboard. Approval usually takes 24-48 hours.
• Apple Podcasts — Submit your RSS feed through Apple Podcasts Connect (podcastsconnect.apple.com). Approval takes 1-5 business days.
• YouTube — Submit your RSS feed through your YouTube Studio. Please note, this will not import the video automatically if hosting on Spotify.
• Amazon Music and Audible — Submit through the Amazon Music for Podcasters portal. Free and straightforward.
• iHeartRadio and Pocket Casts — Most podcast hosts submit to these automatically. Check your host's distribution settings. You can go here for iHeartRadio and here for Pocket Casts.

Why Show Notes Matter More Than Most Churches Realise

Show notes are the written description that appears alongside each podcast episode on your host and on your website. Most churches treat them as an afterthought — a two-sentence summary of the sermon topic.

But well-written show notes do three important things:

They improve your discoverability. Search engines can't listen to audio. They read text. Detailed show notes with keywords related to your sermon topic — grief, anxiety, faith, prayer, community, parenting — help Google and podcast platforms understand what your episode is about and show it to people searching for those topics.

They give listeners a reason to visit your website. When someone discovers your podcast on Spotify they have no way to find your church without a link. Show notes that include your website, your location, and a clear invitation to visit give interested listeners a path to connect with your community.

They serve as a written resource. Some people prefer reading to listening. A well-written set of show notes that summarises the key points of a sermon gives those people a way to engage with your teaching even if they never press play.

At DEO Ministry we write show notes for every episode as part of our Growth Package — including a dedicated show notes page on your church website that builds your SEO with every episode you publish.

How the Podcast Fits Into Your Broader Content System

One of the questions I get asked most often is "how does the podcast fit with everything else we're doing?" The answer is that the podcast is the audio backbone of your entire content system.

Here's how it works in practice. Your pastor preaches on Sunday. That sermon becomes:

• A full length video on YouTube (video podcast)
• A clean audio episode on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and all major platforms (podcast)
• Show notes published on your website (SEO content)
• Three short form clips on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube Shorts (social media)
• A blog post based on the sermon's key ideas (written content)
• A weekly congregation email linking to all of the above (engagement)

The podcast is one piece of that system — but it's an important piece because audio is the most consumed content format in Australia after video. People listen while they drive, exercise, cook and commute. Your sermon can be with someone for 45 minutes of their week without them even sitting down.

If you want to read more about the full content system, I've written a detailed guide here:

How to Turn One Sunday Sermon Into a Week of Digital Content →

How Long Does It Take to Set Up?

Here's a realistic timeline for getting your church podcast live from scratch:

• Day 1 — Order your microphone, create your Spotify for Creators account, record a test episode with your pastor to check audio quality and record a trailer episode (1-3 min).
• Day 2-3 — Create your podcast artwork (Canva has excellent templates and is free for non-profits), write your podcast description, set up your show on Spotify for Creators upload your trailer episode.
• Day 4-5 — Submit to YouTube, Apple Podcasts and other platforms.
• Day 7-10 — All platforms approved and live. Upload your first 3 real episodes.

From the day you order your microphone to your first episode being live on Spotify and Apple Podcasts is typically 7-10 days. That's it.

Do You Need to Do This Yourself?

The honest answer is no — and for most churches, trying to do it yourself is actually the biggest barrier to getting started.

The technical setup is manageable. But the ongoing production — recording, editing, writing show notes, uploading, distributing, creating the show notes page on your website — takes consistent time and attention every single week. For a church with a small staff and a busy pastor, that's often the thing that means it never quite gets done.

At DEO Ministry, podcast setup and weekly production is included in our Growth Package. We handle everything from the initial platform setup to editing each episode, writing the show notes, publishing the episode, and creating a show notes page on your website — every single week. Your pastor records the sermon as normal and we take it from there.

If you'd like to find out what that could look like for your church, book a free 30-minute strategy call. We'll talk through your current setup, what equipment you have, and what a podcast launch could realistically look like for you.

Book Your Free Strategy Call →

Written by Daniel Jackson - The founder of DEO Ministry and an elder at Soma Blue Mountains. He holds a MDiv from Christ College Sydney and a MATh 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.