The Short Answer
Most churches I work with start at $500 a month, paid straight to Meta. At $10 to $15 for each planned visit, that is 33 to 50 people raising a hand. If nobody calls them, 3 to 10 walk in. If one person on your team calls them before Sunday, 10 to 25 walk in. A church spending $1,500 with nobody calling lands at 10 to 30, which is about the same.
The first question every pastor asks
It is always the budget. How much do we need to spend? I understand why you ask that. That money came out of an offering plate, and you will answer for it.
So here is the number. Most churches I work with start around $500 a month. It goes directly to Meta and it never touches my account. In most cities a lead costs somewhere between $5 and $20, and the number I aim for is $10 to $15 for each planned visit.
I do not have a percent of your church budget to give you. I have looked for one and I do not think it exists. What I have instead is a second question, and it changes your results more than the first one does.
Who on your team is going to call these people?
The math at 4 budgets
A planned visit is a person who filled out the form and said they are coming. It is not a person in a seat yet. With automated texts and emails only, 10 to 20% of them walk in. When somebody calls them before Sunday, 30 to 50% walk in, and I have seen it reach 80%.
| Monthly ad spend | Planned visits | Walk in, texts and emails only | Walk in, with calls |
|---|---|---|---|
| $500 | 33 to 50 | 3 to 10 | 10 to 25 |
| $1,000 | 67 to 100 | 7 to 20 | 20 to 50 |
| $1,500 | 100 to 150 | 10 to 30 | 30 to 75 |
| $3,000 | 200 to 300 | 20 to 60 | 60 to 150 |
Read the 2 bold cells. The church at $500 with a caller and the church at $1,500 without one end up in nearly the same place. One of them spent $1,000 more a month to get there.
Same ads and the same city. The difference is a phone.
Put your own budget in and flip the calling switch on and off.
Open the CalculatorWho makes the calls
It takes one person on your team. They do not need any experience. We train them on what to say and when to say it.
The text and the email go out the second somebody registers. Those run on their own. Then your person calls every registrant before the weekend. They are not selling anything. They are a real person from your church welcoming somebody by name.
Here is how I split the credit when a campaign works. About 10% is the ad settings. About 40% is the video or the flyer. The other 50% is what happens after somebody raises a hand. Most churches put all their worry into the first 10%.
What $15 a day did in Northampton
Pastor Nick planted his church in Northampton, Pennsylvania in January 2026. We started running his ads around the end of June at about $15 a day.
He had 8 first-time adults in week 1. Inside 3 to 4 weeks he had passed 30 first-time guests. We only count adults, so the kids who came with them are not in that number. One Sunday 10 guests walked in and 3 of them gave their lives to Christ.
He said something on camera that I have not been able to shake. He said your church might be the best kept secret in your town. You can preach with fire. If nobody in your city knows you exist, they cannot come.
Want to know what a first-time guest is likely to cost in your city?
Book a Strategy Call The call is free and runs about 30 minutes.The ones who do not come this Sunday
Not everybody who registers shows up that week, and that is fine. Some visit that same Sunday because your ad found them at the right moment. Some take 3 to 6 months. Some take over a year, and they walk in on the week something in their life breaks and they remember your name.
Every one of them is on your list the whole time, getting your texts. That is why I call this a system and not a campaign. The $500 you spent in March is still working in October.
Questions pastors ask
How much should a small church spend on Facebook ads?
Most churches I work with start around $500 a month, paid directly to Meta. At $10 to $15 for each planned visit that brings 33 to 50 people a month who say they are coming. How many walk in depends on your follow-up more than your budget.
What percent of a church budget should go to advertising?
I do not think a correct percent exists. A church with one person calling every registrant will get more from $500 than another church gets from $1,500. Settle who is making the calls first, then set the budget.
Do Facebook ad results get better if we spend more?
Yes, planned visits rise with spend at about the same cost each. But doubling the budget without anyone calling is the expensive way to grow. Adding calls roughly triples how many people walk in on the budget you already have.
Disclaimer. The results in this article belong to the specific churches and events named and are not a promise of what your church will experience. Growth depends on your city, your budget, your follow-up execution, and how consistently your team works the system.
I am an associate pastor at River Church Baltimore and the founder of Church Amplified. I have personally spent over $1,000,000 on my own ads, and I run Facebook and Instagram ads for Spirit-filled churches across the United States.