Church live streaming can bring brand new dynamics to the way you spread the Gospel. It can expand your reach and create unique ways for your members to stay engaged when they are out of pocket with travel, new kids, sickness, or other reasons that could lead them to miss your church service.
But, where you begin is important. Before you run to the nearest tech store and buy all kinds of equipment, there are a few key things to think through to make sure you are on the right trajectory for Church live streaming. Let’s dive in and look at a few.
Obtain Church Support
Obtaining support may seem like a crazy idea if you are reading this article, but truly take a step back and make sure your church is on board for live streaming your services. You don’t want your church members to be in the dark and push back if they have concerns or are not on board. After all you may need their financial support to make it all happen.
If you want to know whether your members will support this endeavor, try holding an informational meeting and gather their thoughts. Be sure to start this meeting off with top reasons why your church should be live streaming so they can get a good picture of how it will work and why you want it to work. Let them see your heart behind live streaming, and be sure to point out all of the positive benefits to your church. After you have the church’s support, things will begin to move a bit more smoothly.
Get Creative
Whether your church is already on board or whether you are ramping up ideas to pitch to them in your informational meeting, getting creative with church live streaming content, setup, and process can make a huge impact. What does it mean to “ get creative?” It means to think of other ways church live streaming could make an impact for the sake of the Gospel using unique and targeted content. Don’t limit your thinking to simply live streaming your church service once a week.
What if you could live stream more events going on in your church? For example, do you have weekly men’s and women’s bible studies? Why not start live streaming a couple of those to help men and women who may not have the ability to travel to your church. Live streaming can also be used to equip missionaries in the field too. Missionaries can learn from your bible studies and can promote your bible studies or classes to the people they are trying to reach. What a great opportunity for your church to not only share the Gospel message with those locally, but also share the Gospel with those around the world! Jesus said it best when he said, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations …” (Matthew 28:19) What an amazing opportunity you have to help make disciples by simply live streaming the truths coming out of your church!
Another way to be creative with live streaming is taking it to social media. Social media has a unique platform to live stream smaller events and pieces of information. Have your pastor hop on your church’s Facebook or Instagram accounts and live stream as they attend happenings around your church. As they personally live stream at those events, they can provide a unique perspective because it’s a personal touch. This type of live streaming provides a glimpse into the everyday life of your pastor and makes him or her more approachable in the process.
Your pastor or other church member can also provide weekly encouragements to your church via social media live streaming too. Imagine your staff hopping on your church’s social media account every Wednesday morning to provide a quick mid-week devotional for all members. This type of encouragement may resonate well with members of your church who are struggling to get through the week and rely on Jesus in the process.
Ultimately, the goal is to think outside the box with different ways church live streaming can help those around you. It doesn’t have to be complicated and the ideas are endless. Try asking your congregation for ideas too! The more ways you can think of to spread the Gospel message, the more opportunities people have to hear the good news.
Set Your Goals and Measure Your Results
After your church is on board and you’ve thought of all the ways you can use Church live streaming, the next step is to set your goals and expectations. Setting goals early will help make sure you are on the right track as you begin and travel through this process. Here are a few goals to get you thinking in the direction:
- Increase those who watch your church’s sermon by 100 views (this includes both those in attendance in person and online)
- Increase online tithing by 10 percent
- Increase church engagement or involvement by 20 percent
- Partner with 5 missionaries to help equip them in their field
- Live stream at least one new event or class every other month
After you have your goals and expectations set, it is important to consistently look at your analytics to make sure you are running in the right direction. If you see one of your goals isn’t becoming a reality as quickly as you would like, try tweaking it. Goals don’t have to be set in stone. They can ebb and flow just like other goals your probably have at your church. As long as you are pushing your church to be better and more intentional with your Church live streaming, you can’t go wrong.
Choose Your Equipment
After you have the support you need and your goals set, the next step is to find the right equipment you need to get the job done. If finances are a big concern for you, try asking your church members for financial donations or even digital donations to help get the job done. This not only helps people feel a part of your church, it can help you get the equipment you need too.
The first piece of equipment you need to look into is the camera. This is the most importance piece you’ll need to purchase because this is what grabs the quality video for you to live stream. Here are the top camera options whether you are a novice or expert in this digital field:
Novice option
This camera is a great option for anyone just starting out in the Church live streaming world. It is easy to use and has the capabilities of providing quality live streaming videos.
Price: $799
Intermediate option
Moving to the intermediate level, this camera is a good option for people who are more familiar with technology. It connects well with microphones and has the capability of providing quality video even in low light situations. The top handle on this camera makes it easy to carry around and stabilizes it more too.
Price: $1,799
Expert option
This is one of the top camcorders for you to use for your Church live streaming needs. It captures video in UHD 4K up to 30 frames per second. It has an amazing ability to zoom without sacrificing the quality of the video alongside many other professional features including dual recording and built in ND filters.
Price: $2,998
Accessories
After you have chosen your camera, you’ll need other accessories to go with your camera/camcorder such as:
- Tripod
- Microphone for your pastor if your camera allows it
- HDMI cable and HDMI extender (optional)
- Video switcher (if you plan to use multiple cameras or video feeds)
- A video capture card for their computer (necessary if using RTMP software to run video feed from external camera to computer)
- Any sound equipment you might need, such as microphones or sound boards
You can find each of these items sold online that meets the needs of whatever your budget may be.
Lighting is the next step alongside your camera setup. Try starting with this easy tip: Create a 3-point lighting system. You need two light sources 45 degrees in front of the subject and one light source behind your subject. This helps ensure the lighting is properly placed so viewers can easily see who is talking on your Church live stream.
Once you have the lighting and camera setup, you need to make sure you have a video encoder. When you record something with your camera, the file is too large to simply live stream it straight from your camera. A video encoder compresses this raw video content so that it can be quickly transported from the camera to the web for live streaming. To help you find the best software, check out this RTMP encoding software. It’s easy to install and use!
Try It Out For Free
After you have looked into all the options for live streaming at your church, you are ready to start the process! If you want to try out an easy to use platform, check out our Churchstreaming 30 day free trial. You can stream your service during the 30-day free trial with full functionality, so you can get a realistic feel for what it means to live stream at your church. You’ll also find other tips and tricks for church live streaming with a team of people ready to help you, and answer all of your questions about equipment, process, and content, and push you to get the job done!
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