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Brett D. Henderson
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The Digital Ministry

Reaching The Ends Of The Earth Without Leaving Home

You livestream the service, post the sermon clip, and put the announcements on a story. Engagement comes almost entirely from people who were in the building on Sunday. That is broadcasting to the found. It is where most churches land, because it is the only version anyone showed them. The mission field moved online. Most churches followed it with a camera and stopped there.

  • Length13 chapters
  • EditionExpanded & revised
  • FormatsKindle, paperback, hardcover and audiobook
  • SeriesStandalone · not part of The Shepherd’s Path
  • Written forPastors and ministry leaders
Kindle Paperback Hardcover Audiobook

The expanded and revised edition: thirteen chapters, now in paperback and hardcover as well as Kindle and audiobook. A standalone book, separate from The Shepherd’s Path series.

Trusted by

  • Outreach Magazine
  • The Salvation Army
  • Christian Academy
  • Converge
  • Deeper Bible College
  • Gospel eBooks
  • The Unstuck Group
  • Kailua Assembly of God
  • Impact Church
  • Golden Gate Assembly
  • City on a Hill Church
  • Generation Church
  • Church Tech Today
  • The Summit Church
  • First Assembly of God
  • Williamsburg Christian Academy
  • Oakdale Christian Academy
  • Church of God Mission International

The Problem

What most church digital ministry actually is

Each problem below has a chapter, and the book is available now in Kindle, paperback, hardcover and audiobook.

You Livestream The Service And Call It Digital Ministry.

Livestreaming serves the congregation you already have. It serves the found. Reaching the lost is a different job, and confusing the two is the default failure.

Chapter Four: “Reaching the Lost Online: Digital Evangelism That Works”

You Post Consistently And Nothing Happens.

Consistency against the wrong thing produces nothing at scale. The chapter is about stopping, which is most of the work.

Chapter Eight: “Pruning: Church Growth Strategies That Start With Subtraction”

You Have Heard About Free Google Ads And Cannot Tell If They Fit.

About half the book is Google Ad Grant strategy for churches: when the free ads help, and when paying for ads is the better choice.

Chapter Nine: “Google Ad Grants for Churches: When Free Ads Help & When to Pay”

You Need To Hire For This And Have No Idea What To Look For.

Two chapters on exactly that, written for church budgets.

Chapters Ten and Eleven: “What to Look for in Church Volunteers & Digital Staff” and “How to Staff Church Communications Without an Agency”

You Cannot Tell What AI Changes For Your Church.

Written by someone who builds with these tools every day.

Chapter Thirteen: “AI for Churches: What to Use, What to Avoid, What Not to Fear”

Digital Feels Risky And You Could Not Name The Risk.

The exposure is real and worth naming precisely, which is what makes it possible to decide what is worth it.

Chapter Six: “The Risks & Rewards of Church Social Media”

Thirteen chapters. The first half establishes the ground; the second half is operational. Full contents below.

What This Book Argues

  • Why the scale of the need online is larger than most church leaders have actually reckoned with, and what that implies about where effort should go.
  • Why the digital world is a place to do ministry: the difference between broadcasting a service and doing ministry where people already are.
  • Digital evangelism and digital discipleship: reaching people you have never met, and growing them once they come.
  • How Google Ad Grants for churches work in practice: when the free ads help, and when paying is the better choice. About half the book is Ad Grant strategy.
  • A real strategy for reaching people outside the building.
  • Pruning and decision-making: how to stop doing the digital work that is producing nothing, which is usually most of it.
  • What to look for in the person who runs it, how to staff it at realistic church budgets, and how to train them.
  • What AI changes for a church: what to use, what to avoid, and what not to fear.

Inside The Book

The complete table of contents of the expanded and revised edition. The first half establishes the ground; the second half is operational: strategy, pruning, Google Ad Grants, staffing and AI.

The Digital Ministry

Thirteen chapters, from how many people are searching for a church online to what AI changes.

  1. How Many People Are Searching for a Church Online Right Now
  2. Technology in the Church: How We Got Here
  3. Understanding Church Technology Before You Buy Any
  4. Reaching the Lost Online: Digital Evangelism That Works
  5. Digital Discipleship: Growing People You Have Never Met
  6. The Risks & Rewards of Church Social Media
  7. Building a Church Marketing Strategy for People Outside the Building
  8. Pruning: Church Growth Strategies That Start With Subtraction
  9. Google Ad Grants for Churches: When Free Ads Help & When to Pay
  10. What to Look for in Church Volunteers & Digital Staff
  11. How to Staff Church Communications Without an Agency
  12. A Church Communication Strategy You Can Train in a Month
  13. AI for Churches: What to Use, What to Avoid, What Not to Fear

Who This Is For

Pastors Whose Digital Effort Is Producing Nothing
You have the accounts, you post consistently, and nothing happens. Chapter Eight is about stopping the right things.
Churches Weighing Google Ad Grants
Chapter Nine sets out when the free ads help and when paying is the better choice, and Ad Grant strategy runs through the rest of the book.
Leaders About To Hire For This
Chapters Ten and Eleven cover what to look for and how to staff it, written for church budgets.
Churches That Livestream And Stopped There
Livestreaming serves the congregation you already have. This is about the people who are not coming.
Leaders Trying To Work Out What AI Means For Them
The final chapter is written by someone who builds with these tools daily.

Not For: readers wanting a social media tactics manual. Platforms change; the book is about the decisions underneath them.

The Mission Field Moved. Did Your church?

Thirteen chapters on doing ministry where people actually are: digital evangelism, Google Ad Grants, staffing and what AI changes. Available now in Kindle, paperback, hardcover and audiobook.

Kindle Paperback Hardcover Audiobook

The Plan

Three steps, in this order

The mission field moved online. Most churches followed it with a camera and stopped there. Getting past that takes three moves, and the first one is subtraction.

  1. Stop what is producing nothing

    Pruning is most of the work. List every channel you post to, then find the ones that only ever reach people who were in the building on Sunday.

  2. Pick one place outside the building

    Digital is a place. Choose one place where people who do not attend already spend time, and do ministry there.

  3. Put one person on it

    One named person owns it. Two chapters cover what to look for and how to staff it at a real church budget.

The second half of the book is operational: strategy, pruning, Google Ad Grants, staffing, and what AI changes for a church.

What readers say

A powerful, Modern Missions plan to reach those ONLINE searching for Christ, healing and hope.

The Digital Ministry shows how the church as a whole - is missing out on an incredible missions opportunity. It explains how to incorporate a DIGITAL missions program in addition to the traditional in person / travel missions. I was blown away by how many tens of thousands search DAILY for “who is God”…. and we, the church, COULD BE reaching these searchers with a powerful digital ministry. This is a modern way to reach the hurting and the lost.

In addition, I enjoyed the interactive videos that open by scanning the QR codes in the book. Well done. I have been on extended foreign missions the traditional way but see this as an equally beneficial way to reach the lost - especially since non-profits can get a Google grant! Every church missions program should read this book.

— Melanie Griffin, Amazon review

Need to read for pastors

Amazing resource for churches today, especially with all the COVID stuff going on. The internet is an obvious asset if we take advantage of it, but most of us don’t know how to deal with the particulars of marketing. Knowing how to get your site seen is a matter of whether you know how or not. This book teaches you how. What’s the advantage? Getting the gospel out to the world - and that’s a worthy reason to read this book.

— Elizabeth Florida, Amazon review

A powerful and well written research work, and clarion call about the digital ministry.

This e-book by Brett Henderson is a clarion call for the church to wake up and occupy it’s place in the digital landscape. He has a compelling message for every minister who wants to reach the untold millions out there , and he shares the exact strategies of how to get the job done. I will call this e-book the digital interpretation of the great commission in Matt 28:19. Every minister should get this book! - Pastor Victor Ayodele

— Ayodele, Amazon review

Launch notice

Hear when The Shepherd’s Path lands.

Seven books for church leaders, including one on church marketing. The list hears about each one first, at launch pricing.

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Before you start

Questions leaders ask first.

Is This Part Of The Shepherd’s Path?

No. The Digital Ministry is its own book. It was written and published before The Shepherd’s Path existed as a series, and it stays standalone.

The series has its own book on church marketing, The Shepherd’s Path to Church Marketing, which is in editing now. This is the one you can read today.

Is It Out Of Date? It Was First Published In 2021.

This is the expanded and revised edition, published in paperback and hardcover in September 2026. It adds a chapter on Google Ad Grants for churches and a closing chapter on AI.

Platform specifics still move constantly, which is why the book is built around decisions: how to choose, what to stop, who to hire.

Is There A Print Edition?

Yes. Paperback and hardcover are both available, alongside Kindle and audiobook.

Do I Need A Budget For Any Of This?

No. The staffing chapters are written for churches that cannot hire an agency, and the strategy chapter assumes you are choosing a few things to do well.

Do I Need To Read Anything Else First?

No. It stands on its own.

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