I hear a version of this conversation in almost every church I speak with. It usually goes something like this:

"We've always grown through word of mouth. Our people invite their friends. That's how church works."

And for most of church history, that was true. Word of mouth was the primary — and often the only — way a church grew. Someone came, loved it, told a friend, and the friend came too.

But something has changed. And if your church hasn't noticed yet, it's costing you people you were called to reach.

How Australians Find a Church in 2026

When someone in Australia looks for a church today — whether they're a Christian who has just moved suburbs, someone going through a difficult season, or a curious person who has never stepped inside a church — the first thing they do is not ask a friend.

They open Google.

They type "church near me" or "Christian community [suburb]" or "churches in [city]" and they look at what comes up. They visit a website. They check out a social media page. They watch a video. They form an impression — before they ever speak to a single person from your congregation.

If your church doesn't show up in that search, or shows up with an outdated website that nobody has touched since 2019, that person moves on. They find another church. Or they decide church probably isn't for them after all.

You never knew they were looking. And they never knew you existed.

This Is About Mission — Not Marketing

Here's where some church leaders get uncomfortable. "We're not a business," they say. "We shouldn't need to market ourselves."

And they're right — in the sense that the goal is never growth for growth's sake, or numbers as a measure of success, or a slick brand that obscures the gospel. Those concerns are worth taking seriously.

But consider this. Jesus told a story about a shepherd who had a hundred sheep and left the ninety-nine to search for the one that was lost. The shepherd went looking. He didn't wait for the lost sheep to find its own way home.

A digital presence is how your church goes looking in 2026. It's how you show up in the places where people are already searching. It's not a replacement for authentic community and faithful preaching — it gets people through the door so they can experience those things.

If the gospel is worth preaching, it's worth making sure people can find it.

The Uncomfortable Reality for Most Australian Churches

I want to be honest about where most Australian churches sit right now.

A volunteer built the website five or six years ago and has since moved on. Nobody updates it regularly. The events listed are from last year. The "About" page is vague. A visitor who doesn't already know what to do has no clear next step.

There's no podcast. No consistent social media presence — or there is one, but it's sporadic and inconsistent. The pastor preaches a sermon on Sunday and nobody hears it again.

And the $10,000 USD per month Google advertising grant that Google set aside specifically for registered nonprofits like your church? It sits completely unclaimed.

None of this is the pastor's fault or the leadership team's fault. They're busy doing the actual work of ministry — and that work is hard and important and holy. The digital side has simply never been properly resourced or prioritised.

But the cost is real. People in your community are searching for exactly what your church offers — and they can't find you.

What a Strong Digital Presence Looks Like for a Church

A strong church digital presence in 2026 doesn't mean going viral on TikTok or having a Hollywood-quality production budget. It means having the right foundations in place so that when someone is looking, they find you — and when they find you, they like what they see.

Here's what that looks like in practice:

1. A Clear, Fast, Mobile-Friendly Church Website

Your website is your digital front door. It needs to load in under three seconds, display correctly on a phone, tell visitors who you are and what you believe, and make it easy for them to take a next step — whether that's watching a sermon, filling in a contact form, or finding out when you meet. Google penalises slow, mobile-unfriendly sites — and so do the visitors who bounce straight off them.

2. A Google Business Profile for Your Church

A Google Business Profile is the listing that appears on the right side of Google when someone searches for your church — showing your address, phone number, website, and opening hours. It puts you on Google Maps. Setting one up takes less than an hour and costs nothing. Without it, people searching locally are significantly less likely to find you.

3. An Active Sermon and Content Presence Online

Your pastor spends 15-20 hours preparing a sermon every week. That sermon deserves to reach more than the people in the room on Sunday. A YouTube channel, a podcast, and short form social media clips make your teaching accessible to anyone — at any time, on any platform. People who would never walk through your doors on a Sunday will watch a 60-second clip on their phone at lunchtime.

4. The Google Ad Grant for Churches

If your church is registered with the ACNC you almost certainly qualify for up to $10,000 USD per month in free Google Search advertising. This is Google's way of helping nonprofits reach more people — and most Australian churches aren't using it. With the grant active, your church can appear at the top of Google when people in your area search for community, support, faith, or a local church near them. I help churches access and manage this grant as part of every package I offer at DEO Ministry.

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5. A System for Following Up With Interested People

A digital presence without a follow-up system is like opening a shop with no one to serve the customers. When someone fills in a contact form, registers for an event, or clicks a link from an ad — they need a clear, timely, warm response. An automated email sequence handles the initial follow-up while your team prepares for a personal conversation. No interested person falls through the cracks.

The Compounding Effect of Consistent Digital Presence

One of the most powerful things about building a church digital presence is that it compounds over time.

In month one, your Google Ad Grant goes live and your church starts showing up in search results. In month three, your podcast has regular listeners and your sermon clips reach people who have never heard of your church. In month six, your website ranks organically for local search terms because of the regular content you've been publishing. By the end of year one, you have a digital presence that works for your church 24 hours a day, 7 days a week — reaching people while your pastor sleeps.

Compare that to a church with no digital presence, where growth depends entirely on personal invitations from existing members. Both approaches work. But combined they really help God's kingdom grow.

A Word to the Sceptical Pastor

If you've read this far and you're still not convinced, here's what I want to say to you directly.

I understand the scepticism. I've sat in elder meetings. I've seen well-intentioned digital strategies distract churches from their core mission. I've watched churches chase social media trends at the expense of depth and discipleship.

But I've also watched churches in communities exactly like yours — with exactly your theological convictions and your commitment to the local gathering — reach people they never would have reached through a well-managed digital presence. People who searched for hope at 11pm on a Wednesday and found a sermon clip that spoke directly to what they were going through. People who moved to a new suburb, searched "church near me," and found you.

The digital world is not a competitor to the local church. It's a doorway into it.

You don't have to become a content creator. You don't have to dance on TikTok or master Instagram algorithms. You just need the right systems in place so that when people search for what you offer, they find you.

Where to Start With Your Church's Digital Presence

If you're ready to take your church's online presence seriously in 2026, start with these three things:

• Set up or update your Google Business Profile — free, takes less than an hour, and has immediate impact on your local visibility
• Find out whether your church qualifies for the Google Ad Grant — if you're ACNC registered, you almost certainly do
• Start recording and publishing your sermons — even a simple audio recording published as a podcast is a significant step forward

If you'd like help doing any or all of this — or if you want to understand what a complete digital strategy could look like for your church — book a free 30-minute strategy call. I'll look at where your church is right now, identify the specific opportunities, and walk you through exactly what's possible.

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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.