The Best Free Tools for Getting a Small Congregation Found Online

We sell services that help congregations online, so you might expect us to skip this list. We'd rather y'all have it. A congregation that sets up everything below, in about the order we'd do it, has done more than most. Some will find it's all they need for now.

1. Google Business Profile

If y'all do only one thing on this list, do this one.

When someone searches "church near me" or "church of Christ in [your town]," the map listing that shows up comes from Google Business Profile. It holds your address, service times, phone number, and photos. It's often the first thing a stranger sees, before they ever reach a website.

Many congregations already have a listing they didn't create, built from old information. Claim it, correct it, and add a few recent photos of the building and the people. Then put a reminder on the calendar to check it twice a year, especially when service times change.

Time: About an hour to set up, plus a few days for Google to verify you.

2. Apple Business Connect

This is the same idea for Apple Maps. Anyone searching from an iPhone, or asking Siri for directions to a church, is likely seeing Apple's listing, not Google's.

It's free to claim. You'll need to show that you're connected to the congregation, the same as with Google.

Time: Under an hour once you have an Apple ID to use for it.

3. A YouTube channel for your lessons

If your preacher's lessons are being recorded, put them somewhere a stranger can find them. YouTube is owned by Google, and its videos show up in regular Google searches as well as on YouTube itself.

Title each video with what a stranger would type into a search bar. "What Happens When We Die?" will be found. "Hope Series, Part 4" won't.

Time: Fifteen minutes a week once it's set up.

4. A Facebook page

Most of your members are already on Facebook, and that matters more than it sounds. When a member shares a post from the congregation's page, it reaches their friends and family, people the congregation would never reach otherwise.

Use it for what's happening: a gospel meeting, a short clip, a new Bible class starting. Keep it current. A page with nothing new since spring tells a visitor the congregation might be gone.

Time: Twenty to thirty minutes a week.

5. Google Forms

This one surprises people. A free Google Form can be a simple Bible study request, an online visitor card, or a way to ask a question without calling the building.

Link it from your Facebook page and your Google listing. Plenty of people who'd never pick up a phone will fill out a short form at eleven at night.

Time: Thirty minutes to build one.

6. Canva's free plan

For a gospel meeting announcement or a simple flyer, Canva's free plan is enough. It has templates, so nobody needs to be a designer.

One caution: keep it simple and keep it looking like you. A flashy template can make a small congregation look like something it isn't.

Time: Fifteen minutes per graphic once someone gets the hang of it.

Where free stops being enough

These tools cost nothing, but they still take time. The one thing none of them can do is keep themselves current. That's still somebody's job.

Some things free tools don't cover well:

• A website y'all own. Every tool above belongs to another company that can change its rules. A website is the one place nobody else controls, and it's where all of these other listings send people.
• Consistency over years. Setting this up takes a weekend. Keeping it going for three years is the hard part, and it's where most congregations fall off.
• Reaching people who don't know to look. Everything on this list helps people who are already searching for a church. It does much less for the person who isn't.

If y'all can keep the six tools above current with the people you have, you may not need anyone's help for a good while. We'd be glad to hear it.