Free help for churches and neighbors
Have something to share, but no budget?
We build it for you, for free. You keep everything, with your name on it.
Now accepting first projects
Yours could be the first one shown here.
What you get
An online class people can take any time
We do the work
- Turn your lessons into easy steps
- Add video, handouts, or both
- Give it a page people can find
All you do
Teach the way you already do.
Now accepting first projects
Yours could be the first one shown here.
What you get
A simple online shop where neighbors can buy from you
We do the work
- Take photos and write descriptions
- Set up online payment
- Build a shop page in your name
All you do
Keep making what you make.
Some people wait twenty years. Some had the idea this morning. Both are welcome.
What you get
We'll figure it out together
We do the work
- Read every word you send
- Write back within three days
- Suggest what it could become
All you do
Write a few sentences about your idea. There's no wrong answer.
Before I ever loved water, I feared it. I spent four decades learning to love what almost took me. Now that story belongs to anyone who needs it.
Amal Lana, author of The Well Being of Water
Finished work
Surrender to Self
The Well Being of Water · Volume I of IV · Amal Lana
For four decades, Amal Lana's work has centered on touch, movement, water, and creating spaces where people can simply be held. Raised in a Palestinian family and shaped by the traditions she grew up with, she built her own practice over time. She calls what guides her a devotion to Spirit. That practice now lives in a book: thirteen passages, one woman's journey from a childhood fear of water to the pool she built with her own hands.
The book found people she never expected to reach: people who had never heard of aquatic healing, people who recognized their own fear in her story, people who needed to know that the thing that once scared them could become the thing they are known for.
Around the book we built a home for the rest of her work: the Thirteen Waters teachings, a reader's guide for groups, a gentle resource on water and grief, and a wholesale program that puts the book on the counter at the hot springs where her readers already are.
We built the site, the cover, the listing, the email platform, the free resource library, and the wholesale kit. When it was done, we stepped back. Every account is in her name. The work is hers.
Visit thewellbeingofwater.com →
Finished work
Pastor Dana
A word each week, carried to anyone who needs it
Dana has a word each week. A reflection, a prayer, a hymn. Now that word reaches anyone who needs it, on any phone, at any hour, for free.
For the members who cannot make it on Sunday. For the stranger who finds it searching. For the person at 2am who needs to hear something true. The word goes where it is needed.
We built the site, a player anyone can use, text sizing for older readers, and a prayer request line that reaches a real person. When it was done, we stepped back. The word is Dana's.
Visit pastordana.com →
Four kinds of help
What we can build for you, free
Sherwood Digital builds free digital publishing, podcasting, course, and storefront tools for congregations and the people in them. Every project ships in the client's name, at no cost, funded by the community rather than by the client.
Books
The Study
Free book publishing for pastors, teachers, and anyone with a manuscript, a devotional, or a lifetime of notes, turned into a real book with a cover, a listing, and a way for readers to find it.
Sermons and talks
The Sound Room
The word you already give each week, heard on any phone, at any hour. We pick up the recording, set everything up, and post it for you. You never have to become a podcaster.
Classes
The Workshop
What you already teach in person, built into a course anyone can take, whenever they are ready for it.
Shops
The Storefront
A craft, a service, a small trade, given a simple shopfront so a neighbor can find it and pay for it online.
Resource library
Practical and doctrinal, in one place
Short reflections on stewardship and vocation, alongside links to organizations and free texts a congregation can actually use. We index what others publish; we do not host or retell it.
Browse the libraryWhen you write to us, a person reads your message. We write back within three days. You'll be writing to a real person, not a queue.
We take a few projects at a time, because each one deserves everything. If we cannot take yours right now, we will tell you honestly and let you know when a place opens.
Some people wait twenty years before they feel ready. Some arrive with an idea from this morning. There is no wrong starting point.
Sherwood Digital is led by David Zatara.
What every project lives by
These are the rules we hold ourselves to on every project we finish.
How it begins
Tell us what you'd like to share.
A book, a weekly sermon, a class, a craft. Whatever you know or make.
We find it a shape.
Someone real writes back within three days. A conversation, not a form. We figure out together what it needs to become, and we do all the technical work.
It goes into the world. We step back.
The work is yours. Every account, every file, every word.
Give through the church
Every project is free because someone gave.
We never bill the people we build for. Sherwood Digital is affiliated with Digital Lutheran Church, and we accept gifts only through the church.
Give through Digital Lutheran Church
Opens the church's giving page in a new tab A gift goes to the Digital Lutheran Church team. It supports the work and is not a church offering. To support a congregation, give to a church near you. Where gifts go
Questions people ask
Is this really free?
Yes. We never bill the person or congregation we build for. Sherwood Digital is affiliated with Digital Lutheran Church, and the work is carried by gifts given through Digital Lutheran Church. You can read more on our Give page.
Who owns the finished work?
You do. Every account, every file, every page carries your name, not ours. We step back once it's done.
Do we have to be Lutheran to work with Sherwood Digital?
No. Our finished projects so far include a Lutheran pastor's podcast and a memoir from an author outside the Lutheran tradition. We build for whoever has something worth sharing.
What kinds of projects do you take on?
Four kinds so far: books, sermons and talks you can listen to, classes, and small shops, built in our four studios (The Study, The Sound Room, The Workshop, and The Storefront).
I'm not comfortable with technology. Can I still do this?
Yes. That is who we built this for. You bring what you have, a manuscript, a recording, a lesson plan, and we handle the accounts, the setup, and the posting. You never have to learn a new app.
What happens after we reach out?
A real person reads every message and writes back within three days. From there it's a conversation, not a form, to figure out what your project needs to become.
Do you take every project that comes in?
We take a few at a time so each one gets full attention. If we can't take yours right now, we'll say so honestly and let you know when a place opens.
You have something worth sharing.
Tell us about it. A real person reads every message.
Get free helpWe take a few at a time, and we do each one well.
One short update a month. New projects, new resources, nothing else.