What do you get when livestreaming your church services? The answer is a whole lot of people who have never been in attendance! It’s no secret that livestreaming has done wonders for churches looking to grow their congregation.
But, it can be hard to know where to start with livestreaming.
That’s why we created this blog post – so you could learn more about how to livestream for church and the 5 things you need to know before getting started.
What are the main benefits of live streaming for churches?
Livestreaming is a cost-effective way to reach people who might never be able to attend your church in person. For example, watching live sessions makes it possible for people with disabilities to engage and participate from the comfort of home.
Another benefit is that livestreaming allows churches and other religious institutions with limited space or are not accessible by public transportation to connect with the community they serve.
It serves as a powerful evangelistic tool that can be used to attract new members who might have never been exposed to church before, leading them on an exploration that can lead to conversion and faith in Christ.
Finally, livestreaming worship services provide churches with a new way to worship and connect. The experience of live streaming worship can be different from the typical in-person church service because it offers viewers an opportunity to share prayer requests, testimonies, or spiritual thoughts as they are happening via social media or text message – all while watching your worship online.
Is it time for your church to start livestreaming?
Livestreaming might make sense for your church for the following reasons:
- You want to ensure everyone who can’t attend church because of location still feel connected to the congregation.
- Your goal is to reach out to new members who might not be church regulars.
- You’re recruiting for new members, and livestreaming is a great way to find them.
- You want to livestream a special event like an Easter service or your pastor’s sermon on Sunday morning.
Here’s a tip. If you’re not sure if livestreaming would be best for your congregation, try asking yourself these questions:
– What is your goal with livestreaming?
– Who are our worship service attendees, and what is the size of our congregation?
– What would be most effective for you as a church in terms of audience engagement, outreach, or fundraising potential with livestreaming worship services?
The answers to these questions will help you figure out if worship services as a live stream are best for your church.
Five Things Churches Need to Know Before Starting Livestreaming
1. What channels to broadcast your church live stream?
- Social media channels: Social media is a great way to engage with existing church members as well as people who are interested in what you’re doing but not yet members of your church. It’s also a good outreach opportunity if you want to reach new audiences outside of the congregation. The most popular social media channels for a church to live stream are YouTube, Facebook, Twitter.
- Your church website: Another great way to engage with members and people interested in what you’re doing is through your church’s website. It can be an easy place for them to find livestream information, videos of previous live streams, a blog post, or other content about livestreaming church events.
- The more channels, the better because it helps extend the reach of your live stream. You can use software to stream to multiple social media channels and your website simultaneously, which will be covered later in this blog post.
2. What live stream hardware do you need?
The live stream equipment needed for churches will vary depending on the size of the church, how many events you stream, and what live streaming software you use. As a general rule, churches will need:
- A video camera that records in HD quality
- Microphones to live stream with voice over and commentate on live events
- A high-speed internet connection – we recommend at least 20 Mbps download speed.
- Computer with internet access and power to run the live streaming software.
3. What live stream software or services do you need?
There are many other options, but these two seem to be the most popular livestreaming software for churches and events of all sizes.
- OBS Studio is a free open source live streaming encoder that helps you produce pretty amazing live streams. OBS Studio also allows you to record your video, connect to any live streaming or video conferencing platform, and use any digital camera for live streaming. Unfortunately, OBS Studio doesn’t allow you to live stream to multiple services and websites at once.
- castr.com is one live streaming software that many churches have been using. It allows you to stream to multiple social channels and stream to your own websites simultaneously.
- If your church has a website, you can use Castr’s embeddable player to stream your live video on your website.
- If your church does not have a website, you might consider using Castr’s multistreaming feature to help you stream to multiple social channels at the same time.
- The best way is to use OBS and Castr together. Use OBS to record video and broadcast it to Castr, then use Castr to restream to multiple social channels and websites at the same time.
4. What kind of content do you want on your live stream for church?
- The content may be different for every community. It could include announcements, worship with a sermon, bible study, or discussions about faith and community. It is worth discussing with your community what they would like to see on a live stream as it may change the best way to produce this.
- Or it could be a testimonial from someone in the community, telling how they found their faith.
5. How to get more viewers for your live stream?
- Add a livestream button on your website
- Promote your live stream on social media channels
- Reach out to local influencers in the church space for coverage of live streams. They could share via their Facebook page or Twitter account. A shoutout from someone influential will always garner more attention.
- You can also choose to promote the live stream on community bulletin boards, postcards, and newsletters.
- Encourage people in your community to share their excitement for upcoming livestreams by sharing it with others through word of mouth or social media posts using hashtags (#livefromchurch)
Key Takeaway:
- The livestreaming revolution has started at churches across the nation. Churches are live streaming events, sermons, and more with increasing frequency.
- Producing live streams requires investment in equipment to get a quality stream for viewing on various devices or platforms.
- Livestreaming software such as OBS and castr.com makes it much easier to reach more viewers for your live stream.
- Promote your live stream content through social media channels and reach out to local influencers about sharing your livestream events. Encourage people watching your livestream event to interact by commenting or using hashtags (#livefromchurch)
The future looks promising for livestreamed church events! What are you waiting for? Go livestream today! 😉
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