By Larry D. Witzel
Unpublished manuscript (July 7, 2023)
School of Communication and the Arts, Liberty University

Abstract

While the use of YouTube by evangelical churches exploded during the pandemic, much of this use was directed at members by putting the weekly worship service online. However, the use of YouTube by a church for localized evangelistic purposes remains much more limited. This paper describes the experience of a pastor in Columbia, Missouri, in using YouTube advertising for evangelistic purposes. He created short talking-head videos on evangelistic topics, such as salvation or other biblical concepts, and purchased pre-roll advertising on YouTube to gain views in the geographic area around his church. He then transitioned this advertising into an invitation to an evangelistic series held at his church, and found that not only did his advertising strategy lead to increased attendance by young adults, but it also was a foundation for life change and engagement with the church through membership. The result was an effective method for promoting a pastor, a church, and an evangelistic event that could be used effectively by other churches.

Keywords: church advertising, YouTube advertising, church marketing, evangelism

Citation

Witzel, L. D. (2023, July 7). The use of YouTube advertising by churches for evangelism [Unpublished manuscript]. School of Communication and the Arts, Liberty University.