With the number of Coronavirus cases on the rise across the globe, churches are increasingly relying on live streaming to broadcast their worship services. There is probably not a single ministry right now that is not feeling the effects of COVID-19, everyone is learning to do ministry differently to keep the church communication with their congregation running. One area that has felt the most impact is church communication and there is a huge amount of pressure for the church to communicate more effectively with their congregation than ever before. And live streaming is an excellent way for churches to reach out to people due to the church closures and attend the service live from the comfort of their homes as it happens.
Impact of Coronavirus on church functioning
The COVID-19 has posed significant challenges for the global communion of churches due to sudden church closures. According toFaithlive’s new survey data, the majority of churches across the globe, while the majority of churches are returning to in-person gatherings imposing significant challenges for leaders to maintain church unity within their congregations.
Hence, churches need to re-evaluate the way they worship, gather, and disciple their congregation. Even after the church has opened, many pastors find it challenging to bring their congregation together as the pandemic has imposed strict restrictions and regulations on the number of attendees.
For this reason, church leaders are turning to the best live streaming software for churches that features a set of comprehensive tools to help them ensure that they are well equipped for digital worship and setting up a vibrant online congregation. Churches need efficient live streaming solutions for conducting live Sunday worship, organizing online giving, community outreach, online discipleship, and more.
Why use a church live streaming software to broadcast your services?
To broadcast your church services live without any restrictions, you have to consider building your own online video platform. A live streaming platform will give your team full control over your church broadcast as well as additional features and functionalities to engage your online audience.
With a church service streaming platform, you can perform the following.
Publish sermon and testimony videos
Using the best live streaming software for church, you can create a video library with your Sunday services, sermon videos, and testimony videos. Considering the fact that most churchgoers lookup for a church website first, it is probably a good idea to have a platform for hosting your church services.
Engage online worshippers
If you are brainstorming about how to stream church service, it is important to have a live video platform so that you can make your congregation feel like they are actually attending your services. This is a great opportunity for pastors to connect with their congregation after the sermon to interact with the audience and to establish a connection with the members.
You can incorporate other media
With a live video platform for your church in place, you can add additional media content like sermons, special teachings, a specific style of worship, gospel music, etc. besides the normal Sunday service.
Receive donations and tithe
In a church, over half of the people would like to give to their church online. While social media live streaming platforms don’t provide secure ways to receive online donations and tithing, church live streaming platforms do. So, if you want to accept tithing from your church community online, having your own live video platform will help you to set up a secure way to receive offerings from your congregation.
Privacy and security
When you are looking for how to stream church service, one important thing to consider is the security of your live streaming platform. When making your church service available to a worldwide audience, you don’t want any intervention from any third-party with ill intentions. By using a church live streaming software, you can ensure your church live streaming platform with the best security features like password protection, geo-restrictions, AES encryptions, etc.
Getting started with church live streaming
Though the live video is spontaneous, you need to spend significant time preparing and organizing your content to get the most out of the live church streaming experience.
Here is a short guide that helps you to get familiar with the steps you need to follow to meet your goals.
Research and planning
To start with, you must brainstorm about how and what you are going to live steam and what strategies you can adapt to drive the messages you want to share. Live videos are spontaneous, but to ensure success, quality it is important to do some planning and preparation to make sure everything goes well.
Choose which programs in your church are best suited for live streaming. The easiest way to start is to live stream your Sunday service. However, you can offer more value to your congregation if you consider adapting more programs for live streaming. For example, the pastor can consider offering a series of sermons directly to the camera to interact with the congregation in real-time. Or you can consider live streaming special programs in the church like baptism, marriages, special occasions, etc.
Set your expectations and goals
Before even buying essential live streaming equipment, set your expectations and goals regarding how you want your church live streaming and what you want to achieve with it. By setting your goals, you can also measure how well church broadcast services are working in favor of your church.
For example, are you aiming to expand your reach from 100 viewers to 1000 online viewers every week? Or do you want to increase your church membership or online tithing? Or you just want to increase engagement with your current congregation. Whatever your goals are, set them before getting started with live streaming. By setting the goals and using analytics, you can determine how valuable live streaming actually is for your church’s needs.
Choose the right church live streaming equipment
The first step for a church live stream is to have the best live stream setup for church, for successfully broadcasting your church services live. There are a plethora of options to choose from and it all depends on how much you are ready to spend. For example, you can stream your services with just a smartphone or with an HD camera if the budget allows.
To get the sermon across in a professional set up, you basically require church video equipment like a camera that has recording capabilities with an HDMI output. This is enough if you have a restrictive budget. Additionally, if your budget allows and you want to experiment with high-end video production, you can consider one of the top camcorders that capture video in ultra HD 4k quality. The next essential gear is a microphone that is necessary for a better sound recording. You may need an external microphone to connect to your camera along with a small mixer designed specifically for streaming live videos. This comes in handy in case you want to add multiple audio sources so that you can monitor the tones and volumes.
Other essential church live streaming equipment are:
Good lighting setup
Tripod
HDMI cable
HDMI extender (If your camera is apart from the camera or encoder)
Encoder to compress the raw video content so that it can be transported quickly over the web.
Video Switcher (If you are using multiple cameras)
Choose the best live streaming platform
You need a powerful live streaming platform to host your online church services. To begin with, you can always choose social media platforms like Facebook, YouTube or Instagram if you already have an active presence on these social platforms.
This makes sense not only because these platforms are free but because so many people are actively using it. For example, in the second quarter of 2020, Facebook reported over 2.45 billion monthly active users, according to Statista.
With over 2 billion monthly active users, YouTube live streaming is also another option that many churches take advantage of already. However, all of these free social live streaming platforms won’t replace the immense advantages of streaming your church service on your own live streaming platform.
If you want to build your live church streaming platform, that too on an affordable budget, the most viable option is to consider using a readymade script that is easily available in the market. These readymade live streaming solutions come with all essential features to stream your services to your congregation, monetization options, access to source code, and lifetime support. You can easily conduct Sunday services, bible studies, host prayer meetings, sermons, live stream gospel, conduct Sunday school, and offer all church-related services in your church live streaming platform.
Start slow and grow
When it comes to church live streaming, it is recommended to start slow and grow with time. Do your research to gain insights on best practices when you are just getting started with live streaming. You can decide to stream the entire Sunday services or just choose to broadcast our preaching or special sermons alone. Or if there are announcements you would like to give to your church members or specific issues you want to address if any, you can consider broadcasting your church programs live to potentially reach a global audience.
Test it out
Before you actually go live practice what you are planning to deliver, especially if you are live streaming your church service for the first time, that too to an exclusive live audience. Make it a practice to test the quality of your live streaming set up by checking the audio and video quality and other aspects to make sure everything is functioning well. Unless you test it out, you would never know how the audio, video, light, and background noise works. Check different camera angles and adjust the lighting to understand what works and what doesn’t.
Spread the word through social media
If a church service is broadcasted live on the internet and there is no one to watch it, it won’t make any impact. Your congregation can tune in to your online church services only if they know when and where to find it. So make sure to put in some work to spread the word through social media to increase the exposure. Share the information about your church live broadcast on your website, social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc.
Make your online audience an integral part of your broadcast
As you have chosen the right gear, live streaming services, announced the live stream on your website and social platforms, now you are ready for action. The faces in front of you are the top priority. When you are streaming your church services, make sure you address your online audience and make them an active part of your service. An occasional nod to the camera and acknowledgment of your online congregation can go a long way.
Conclusion
The COVID-19 pandemic has really challenged many churches but it isn’t stopping them from preaching the word. While it is a learning curve for all churches, they are getting started with live streamingto minister to the people and connect with the church community. Live streaming comes in handy when it comes to spreading the word about your church services online and encouraging more people to join your community. Many churches have tried church live streaming and in turn, have experienced a decreased number of leaving members.
Live streaming not just engages the congregation who cannot physically attend the sermons, but they also bring the church straight peoples heart and inspire them to join your live services. To start with live streaming your church services, it is not mandatory to invest in a high quality set up. Just make sure you use a professional quality live streaming solution that comes with feature-rich functionalities that helps you to live streaming your church services efficiently. With a great live streaming solution in place, you can end up bringing in thousands of people around your online church services regardless of what gear you use. If you are looking for the best church live streaming software to broadcast your live services, we are here to guide you through the process. Get in touch with us right now!
Churches run regular events for sermons, prayer services, and bible study. So why would a church broadcast live when it already provides these events onsite and offers members a physical place to connect with god. On top of that, most churches put their service on YouTube after they record it during the service and it works fine. While many churches are big proponents of live streaming in the first place, others think live streaming is not essential.
However, as the COVID-19 spread forced church closures to practice social distancing, the number of churches taking their Sunday service online is increasing. If you are reading this blog, you might probably be interested in learning how to live stream your church service from your own website. Having a custom church platform to allow your viewers to access your worship services and events goes a long way in growing your congregation beyond the walls.
But, the first obvious question that comes to our mind is how much it will cost to create a live church streaming website. This blog is a comprehensive live video streaming setup guide in which you will be exploring the essential things you need to stream your church services live and the overall cost for the same. Let’s get started.
Reasons Your Church Should Be Live Streaming
Even if things go well for your church, if you are not live streaming, you are missing out on the opportunities to grow your church. In fact, as more people get to see your service online, the more likely they are to visit your church.
Before going into how much does it cost to live stream, let’s explore the benefits of live streaming your church services.
Reach a Global Audience
Live streaming your church services reaches a global audience outside the physical walls of your church. One of the main benefits of live streaming your church service is allowing members who cannot make to your service a chance to be a part of it. Homebound church members whether they are unwell or physically challenged can attend church service live from the comfort of their homes.
Communities and people who are not in the local vicinity of the church can also benefit from live streaming of your church services and sermons rather than missing out on the service completely. With live streaming, the worship community can come together to hear the message from the comforts of home.
Attract New Members
The live stream setup for the church has become the new front door to attract new members. When a church streams its services online, it invites new members to join the service to see how the sermon resonates with them. Live streaming not just attracts new members, but also keeps your members connected to your ministry when they can’t be there in person.
Leads to Greater Engagement for Church Members
When everyone watches your service at the same time, there are more opportunities for fostering interactions and engagement. If you take your church service live, participants can react to specific moments and everyone can comment and interact with other people’s comments in real-time. Members of the church who are traveling or who have moved away can tune into your live videos and experience being part of the church community.
Every year, churches would host several important events like holiday concerts, bible studies, weddings, baptism services, and more. Sometimes, church members who want to be part of these special moments won’t be able to make it to your church. If you host live broadcasts of such events, it would be easy for everyone to be a part of those important moments despite their physical distance.
Opens Channel for Donations and Giving
With live broadcasts of their church services, churches can encourage the viewers to make donations or contributions to the collection. It’s easier for the viewers who are willing to give donations when they are on the church website.
Essentials Required for Church Live Streaming Setup
If you have decided to dive into how to set up live streaming for your church, you need to consider investing in essential equipment. Starting out, you can live stream your church service with a minimum setup that goes along with your budget. Here is what is needed to live stream church service in high-quality.
Camera
The camera is one of the most important live streaming church service equipment as it is essential to shoot live videos of great quality. There is a rich assortment of church live streaming equipment from which you can select either more affordable or high budget cameras. It mainly depends on how much you are willing to spend. To stream your sermons live, you basically need a camera that records in HD and features an HDMI output. This is enough if you have a restricted budget but you can invest in a camcorder or a camera that costs over $1000. If you want to go ahead with high end live video production, it is recommended to invest in a camera that captures 4k videos up to 30 fps.
Webcam: Cheapest cameras that must be connected to a laptop or desktop.
Camcorder: Designed for shooting videos. Pick one with HDMI or WI-FI capabilities.
DSLR: Specially designed for best quality professional photos and videos.
Action Camera: Designed for more active video shooting. It gives more stability and is essential for live streaming if the pastor moves around often during the service.
Lighting
No matter how well your camera works in low light conditions, your videos can still end up suffering the quality. This is where investing in a lighting setup may come to your rescue. Arrange a church live streaming setup where there are a few lighting sources in the center of the platform where the pastor stands. If there are more people you want the camera to capture, you must install multiple lighting sources or use adjustable lighting that can be controlled from a single system.
Church Streaming Encoder
Another essential tool required in a live streaming setup for small churches which is required to transfer the information to a communicable format. Based on your unique requirements and purposes. You must choose between a hardware encoder or software encoder which we will be discussing in the upcoming section.
Live Streaming Accessories
In addition to the recording and lighting equipment, encoder, several other accessories are required to go live with your church services.
Microphone
The microphone is a piece of essential equipment required to make sure the congregation can clearly hear worship.
While your camera might have an inbuilt microphone, it is recommended to invest in a separate microphone so that you can ensure the audio delivery is prompt.
Tripod
To make your camera stay steady you need to use a tripod to ensure video stabilization.
HDMI Cable
HDMI cable ensures the video is smoothly fed from the camera.
HDMI Extender
If your camera is apart from the PC or encoder, you might need an HDMI extender as well.
Video Switcher
If you are using multiple cameras, a video switcher is essential to switch between multiple cameras.
What is Video Encoding?
Video encoding or video transcoding is the process of converting a given video stream to a digital format that is compatible with most web players and mobile devices. This is because different video players, browsers, and digital devices play videos in different formats. Your camera records that happen in your church with the top video quality. However, the resulting video streams would be larger in size and this raw content needs compression. That is why you need a video encoder. It ensures that video files are optimized so that they can be transmitted quickly over the web. The most significant point to keep in mind is that each video format comes with its own specifications like video codec with H264 and H265, WMV, HEV, WebM, VP8, VP9, and audio codecs like MP3 and WMA.
Now that you have a better understanding of video encoding and the purpose of an encoder, let’s take a close look into 2 different types of video encoders: Hardware and software encoders.
Hardware Encoders
Hardware video encoders are dedicated processors that leverage a designed algorithm to encode video and data into a streamable format. These encoders come in both small and portable sizes, and large fixtures. Considering the higher price point, only professional broadcasters use hardware encoders. They are highly specialized for encoding, and have a lot of advantages over software encoders.
With that said, the live video quality of hardware video encoders is generally constant. There is not a lot of room to modify the video quality. Not just that, hardware encoders take time to design, build, and manufacture which makes hardware variant very rigid compared to the flexible encoding software.
Software Encoders
Software video encoders are programs that run on your desktop, laptop, or any other digital devices. These encoders are very simple to set up and it is a way to change the aspects of the codecs to get the video quality and bitrate according to your requirements. You can easily update the software to a new version when the new updates become available. Software encoders are mostly used by beginner live streamers due to its affordable cost and customization features. OBS Studio, for example, is one of the free and popular open-source encoders. Adobe’s Flash Media live encoder is also a great option for beginners.
Do You Need Hardware or Software Encoders to Live Stream Your Church Services?
If you are looking for the best church streaming encoder and are confused between hardware or software encoders, the ultimate goal should be to choose the best possible option for the budget you have.
As both hardware and software encoders come with its own advantages, affordability plays a significant role in the decision making process. When compared to software encoders, hardware variants are expensive and you might also have to invest in additional tools to fill the gap due to the lack of functionality. While software encoders are affordable, high-end variants can also become quite expensive. To run the software encoders, you might even need a dedicated computer.
Another major benefit of software encoders is there are good free software encoders like OBS studio, which is beneficial for beginner churches. Whereas there are no free hardware encoders. Hence, it is recommended to choose a reasonably priced software encoder and a decent computer that showcases high performance. While a hardware encoder is mainly for professional broadcasters, software encoder is more flexible, less expensive, simple to use, and a winner in most scenarios especially for people who are just starting out with live streaming.
Live Church Streaming Service on Social Media
The most significant thing you want to figure out when learning how to live stream church service is to choose the right platform. To allow people to view your church sermons online, you will need a live streaming platform. When it comes to the free live streaming platforms, there are many free social media platforms out there but they are not exclusively for churches. The most relevant social media live streaming platforms include Facebook Live and YouTube Live.
Facebook Live
Facebook Live allows you to set up live videos including church services, sermons, bible studies, and special church events. If you already have a large Facebook following, it is a great option as it is free. Another major benefit is that live videos on Facebook would always be on autoplay mode, meaning your live church service starts directly playing when users are scrolling through their homepage, making it easy to get them hooked. Being one of the domain live streaming platforms on social media, live content of all types perform the best on the platform.
YouTube Live
The live streaming service of YouTube is another popular live streaming platform choice after Facebook. As it is one of the most popular and largest video streaming platforms where most users spend hours browsing videos, it makes sense to choose YouTube Live to stream your church services live.
While the free service works great the platform also offers dedicated support with paid services. Free platforms like these social media platforms are a great way to test it out when you are starting. However, if you want to bring in a professional touch to your live videos, nothing can beat the benefits of designing a dedicated space for streaming your live church services, and that makes our next point.
Live Church Streaming Service on Your Own Video Platform
As free social media live streaming platforms are not very effective when it comes to streaming your church services live, the best option is to learn how to set up streaming video for churchon your own platform.
If you want to build your live church streaming platform on a budget, the most viable option is to consider using readymade solutions that are easily available in the market to build your own website. This readymade solution helps to create a live streaming platform for your church in simple steps and in an affordable manner.
Features
After deciding on the important aspects of how to stream church service online, the next thing you need to decide is the features and functionalities of your church live streaming platform. Here are some of the essential features you must consider adding to your church live streaming platform.
Homepage
It is the main page of your church’s live streaming platform that your users land first.
Sign Up and User Profiles
Sign up allows your users to register to your platform via email id or social media accounts. After registering on the website, your users must be able to create user profiles on your platform.
Search
The search function allows your users to browse the videos easily to find the published videos.
Secure Payment Gateways
Allowing your users to pay on your live streaming platform through secure payment integrations is essential if you want to accept donations, tithing, etc on your platform.
Analytics
One of the important features you must integrate into your church live streaming platform is analytics and reporting tools. It helps to measure the performance of your live services and analyze how your users engage with your live streams.
Push Messages
Push notification integration allows you to notify your users about new live videos and other important updates.
Real-Time Chat
While watching your live broadcasts, users can share their comments and thoughts with each other.
Unlimited Live Streaming
You can broadcast unlimited live videos from your church live streaming platform.
Dynamic Admin Panel
Another integral feature your church live streaming platform need is the admin panel that helps to moderate content, manage user profiles, handle monetization, delete content, etc. easily and effortlessly.
Cost to Create a Live Church Streaming Service Platform
In this section, let’s look into the most significant aspect of creating a live streaming set up for your church- how much does it cost to live stream your church services?
The overall cost of creating a live church streaming website greatly depends on the development methods you choose to create your streaming website. As discussed, building a church live streaming service using a ready-made live streaming solution can be an affordable approach.
The following are some of the factors that you must consider when calculating the overall cost to build a live church streaming platform.
Live Video Streaming Platform
One of the best affordable live streaming solutions is StreamHash’s church live streaming software StreamChurch to help you live stream your churches efficiently. You can conduct Sunday services, sermons, bible studies, prayer meetings, broadcast gospel music, host Sunday school, and offer all related services to your congregation.
You just need a professional camera, a PC, and a stable internet connection. The software even features OBS integration, making it easy to convert your videos to desirable formats that suit different platforms and devices you are streaming to. If you wonder what is the cost of the live streaming solution, it just costs around $499 for a deluxe variant and $999 for the ultimate package with all essential features, lifetime support, and access to complete source code.
Ready to Start your own Live Church Streaming Website?
To create a church live streaming site, you need to register a domain name for your site and hosting to power your streaming platform. The hosting might cost you around $20-$30 for a year that you need to renew every year to continue enjoying the services.
Server Cost
To host your live videos, you need to invest in a powerful server. The server cost varies according to the RAM capacity you require to host your live videos. The cost of services might vary around $10-$20 per month based on the RAM space you need.
Equipment Cost
The camera is one of the most important church live streaming equipment and there are different types of cameras like webcams, DSLR, camcorders, and action cameras. Pricing for these cameras might range from under $100- $2000. Keep in mind that you don’t have to choose the most expensive or fanciest camera. It is important to purchase what’s right for your church.
The next important element of church live streaming setup is lighting equipment which might cost you $108 for a decent setup and can range upto $500 for a fully functional setup. A tripod is another essential equipment that might cost you around $25 to $300 for a sophisticated device that has built-in bonus features.
Hardware and Software Encoder Cost
As we have discussed in the previous section, hardware encoders feature a higher price and you won’t find any free hardware variants. The cost starts at $100 and might go up to $1000 or more. Whereas you can find free software encoders like OBS studio and premium options like Wirecast and Mix which might cost around $599 and $ 60-$1200 respectively. There are other software that starts at a price point of $99 as well but features vary widely.
Conclusion
The goal of any church is to reach people across the globe and touch lives. Live streaming is all about reaching as many people as possible to spread the gospel. By live streaming your church service and other related events, you can take your ministry beyond the walls of your church connecting with a global audience than ever before. A growing church is a healthy church that is used by God to do great things. If you need assistance on creating a live streaming website to broadcast your church services, get in touch with us.
What happens when the members of your church cannot make it for a service but still want to attend the service? Thanks to technology that allows church members to tune in to church services online with live streaming. Church live streaming is transforming the way congregations practice their faith. Live streaming is an excellent way to connect your worship community across the globe and hear the same message wherever they may be.
What is Live streaming
You probably would be familiar with live streaming, in simple terms, live streaming refers to broadcasting an event in real-time online. So why churches must adopt live streaming? As we already said, there is a limit to how many people can physically attend a service but that finite number can be multiplied exponentially through live streaming.
Even though your church will be attended just by thousands, it will be viewed by millions. It might sound extreme, but such is the power of live streaming, it ensures your sermon reaches millions across the globe.
Why Your Church Must Live Stream?
In 2016 over 166,700 church services were broadcasted live across 59 countries. As we head to 2020, more and more congregations will join the trend and leverage live streaming to grow their reach worldwide. Observing that their community is spending more time online, churches across the world have started to take advantage of the high tech era by live streaming their services to meet the viewers where they are.
The outreach potential of live streaming is pretty great. While your church members may not find it difficult to attend the church, not everyone will be able to make it. Many people are restricted by location or some reasons. Live streaming efficiently allows reaching people you have never reached before.
Not just people who are willing, you can also reach seekers and their family that has never known god. Church live streaming allows people to join your community in real-time. Watching a church service online is a convenient option for many including old people, sick ones, and a lot of other categories of people. The best thing about live streaming is members can participate even when they cannot attend the church physically.
Strengthen the Church Community
Social media at its very foundation is meant to encourage and establish connections and communication with people. Being a powerful tool to build and connect community church leaders who are serious about strengthening roots within the community prioritize live streaming to spread the message worldwide.
Greater Engagement for Church Members
Watching a church live streaming leads to greater engagements because viewers will be able to clearly see and hear the sermon. Moreover, it is interactive, a live stream on the church’s page gives member’s opportunity to play an active role by asking questions and commenting. Church members who are traveling can tune into the broach and be a part of the community.
Potential Church Visitors Can Discover You
Church live streaming turns every sermon into an opportunity for potential church visitors to discover your church online when someone in your community considers attending your church, your website is going to be their first stop. Live streaming g your church services allows new people to tune in and experience your workshop and listen to your messages. This helps them to know what to expect when they show up in your church. Live streaming helps to increase exposure to your church messages both for people who are intentionally looking for your church and those who stumble on your service online.
Opens Channel for Collections, Donations, and Giving
These days’ online transactions are preferred methods for making and receiving payment. Churches’ can request encouraging viewers to make a donation or contribution to the collection. It is also possible to offer live stream content for online subscriptions. It is much easier to give when they are on your church website.
Connect with the Youth
Besides the committed churchgoers, church live streaming helps to reach people from outside the church community. There are many people who search for churches online that can make them feel a part of communities. It is also a great way to connect with the youth and help them feel connected and supported.
Social media is also a great way to promote your church services and activities. You can embed your live streams directly on Facebook and your website as well. It is the best way to get in touch with younger people and an increasing number of elders who are on social platforms as well.
Share Important Events
Every church, a church hosts lots of important events and moments like holiday concerts, weddings, Easter services, thanksgiving, Christmas celebrations, bible studies, and more. Sometimes, the people who want to be there just can’t make it. Being able to watch the event live allows your church members to share those important moments with the church family despite their physical distance. Your church plays a big role in the lives of your members and live streaming helps them share that with the people they love.
An Excellent Way for Multi-Campus Churches to Thrive
If you have a multi-campus church, church live streaming allows all your campuses to benefit from the same service. This is a great way to share valuable resources ensuring that your limited staff and team members are making the biggest impact possible. If you have enough staff, live streaming is not a necessary element, you might just want to share the sermon across campuses. But, the benefits of live church broadcasts for multi-campus churches with limited resources can be great.
Church Live Streaming Basics
Before you start church live streaming, it is important to think where live streaming is right for your church, how to do it and the costs involved. While the cost varies greatly depending on many factors, it doesn’t cost much to get started.
Something that people never talk about is how church leaders, band members, choir members, and church members, in general, feel about having themselves streamed online.
It is also important to discuss this with everyone to ensure that live streaming suits you.
Your church must invest in live streaming only if
You want to expand your church to reach worldwide
Church members find it beneficial
It doesn’t strain your church budget
It helps you reach specific church goals
While some churches see an increase in reach and online giving after implementing live streaming, every church can’t expect the same results. In fact, a brand new church might find it more beneficial to simply upload sermons on their website to build a following before starting with live streaming. The key to success with live streaming is setting goals and knowing how to measure the results to see if live streaming is effective and if not, how to improve it.
Setting your Expectations and Goals
Before you even invest in your first price of equipment required for church live streaming, set realistic expectations and goals. Why because you need realistic ways to measure how good live streaming is for your church services. For example, do you want to expand your reach form 100 members to 1000 online viewers every week? Or do you want to increase online tithing by 20%? Or are you looking to increase engagement amongst your current church members? Whatever your goals are, make sure you set them before starting with live streaming. In this way, you can determine how valuable live streaming actually is for your church’s needs.
How Much you Must Invest
This is the hardest question to answer- How much should you invest in live streaming to broadcast your church services live. The truth is that you can actually start with a smartphone and a free live streaming platform. If you are new to live streaming, you shouldn’t make a major investment. Starting out, you can start live streaming your church services for less than a few hundreds of dollars.
Choosing the Right Camera
If you want to start church live streaming with a camera, you can either choose webcams, camcorders, action cameras, DSLRs, or even cameras that are specifically listed for live streaming. While webcam is one of the cheapest options, it can be tricky to work with as it needs to be connected to a laptop or a desktop. If you have an exclusive team to take care of live streaming, it is a great option to start with.
As camcorders are designed specifically for capturing videos, they are also an ideal choice but make sure you choose one with HDMI capability and WIFI for best results. DSLR is also designed for capturing high-quality pictures and videos. Actions camera is the ultimate choice as it is designed for more active live streaming in case if you need more stability. Pricing for the above-mentioned camera can range anywhere between $100-$2000 or more. You don’t have to go with the fanciest or expensive options, make sure you get what is right for your needs.
Other Must-Have Equipment
Besides the best quality camera to shoot videos, you may also need to invest in audio equipment. If you are streaming in a small set where there aren’t many people talking at a time, you can just do with the microphone on your camera. Otherwise, you will want to invest in microphones that feedback to your camera. For a more complex live streaming setup, you will need multiple wireless microphones that connect back to your camera via the main audio and video controller which can be a laptop with the right software installed.
Live Streaming Platforms
Once you have got all the basics sorted out, it is time for the most critical step- choosing the right live streaming platform. You will need a live streaming platform to broadcast your live church sessions for people to view your church services online. If your church has a website, you can integrate live streaming on the same website or can choose a separate live streaming platform that suits your requirements.
Spread The Word Through Social Media
If your church service is broadcasted live on the Internet and there is nobody to hear it, it doesn’t make any impact. People can only follow your live streams if they know where to find it. Hence, it is important to spread the word that you are going to live through social channels or platforms where your church members or viewers engage. Put in some work in the days leading by sharing the information on your website, newsletters, and social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
Include Your Online Audience In The Sermon
You have the right set up, have selected the best live streaming platform, announced ahead on social media and you are ready for action. But before your sermon begins, don’t forget to address our online audience as well. The occasional nod to the camera and acknowledging your church attendees online can go a long way.
Conclusion
The goal of any church is to reach people, share the good news, and touch lives. By live streaming your church services and other events, you will be able to take your ministry beyond the walls of your church. Church live streaming makes it more accessible for church members and visitors to gain access to services and events alike. It opens up convenient ways to reach potential visitors. And ultimately, it can increase the impact of the gospel you want to share with the world.
Live streaming for churches is transforming the way congregations practice their faith. More churches are looking to live stream their services to reach their congregations around the world. With live streaming, the worship community can come together to hear the same message regardless of where they are. Some platforms like YouTube make it easier for churches to stream their Sunday morning service. However, the stream quality of the broadcast might not be as expected. That is where the relevance of Church service software comes in.
Best Practices For Streaming Church Services
Whatever method you use to be successful in broadcasting your church live streaming services, it is important to consider certain technical recommendations to make sure you offer the best streaming experience to your audience.
Test Before Going Live
Always do a test live stream before actually going live to ensure all your equipment, both video and audio are operational. This tip is not just for first-time streamers; it is for everyone who plans to stream. Performing a test run before every service is the key to provide a quality viewing experience to all.
Limit the Access and Usage of a Computer Used for Streaming
If you use a specific computer to stream, it is recommended to limit the usage of it. Some churches that have a limited budget will use computer resources for multiple projects. Limiting the access and usage of the computer or laptop used for streaming will ensure that the software and settings commonly uses are not accidentally changed. This is one common problem that happens with most churches and results in their streaming equipment not working at the time of broadcast.
Include an Online Audience as a Part of Your Service
Most successful churches make it a practice to look at the streaming camera and acknowledge their online audience. This also includes addressing your online audience and greeting them at the beginning of the service. Promoting your live streaming services during the announcements in between the service will help in educating your church members to tune in online when they cannot attend the church.
Getting close-up shots of participants, especially for special events like Easter, Christmas, weddings, first communions, etc. can remarkably improve the viewership of your church live streaming services.
Use Social Media to Promote
Promote your live streaming service on social media both before and after the broadcast, as it helps in bringing in more visitors to your site. You can also add trailers and highlights for special events.
Offer Better Production Quality
Source: Epiphan
Having better production quality is one way to make your live stream better than others. To achieve the same, choose the right camera to stream your church services. Good cameras and microphones are some essentials you must consider investing in for delivering a better streaming experience. Additionally, make sure to capture video at the highest quality possible all the time and later render it down to desirable formats.
Live Streaming Church Services With An Online Platform
Live streaming your church service from your own official video platform is the best-recommended way to broadcast as it gives you the full control over the stream. Streaming with an online video platform offers plenty of advantages, and that is why you must consider building one. Here are some of the advantages.
You Can Publish Sermon Videos
Having your own video platform will help you to publish sermon and testimony videos along with live broadcasting. This means you can create a video library on your church website. Considering the fact that believers look up a church’s website before visiting live stream, it is a great idea to have some video content on your website.
Streaming Integrations
Online platform for church integrates seamlessly with church streaming software, which allows your church to stream sermons and other events. Your audience can play pre-recorded videos, but its live streaming capacity also means that you can share live sermons and events while they happen.
Next Event Countdown Timer
Church’s online platform allows you to include a countdown timer until your next broadcast. The countdown timer functionality helps the audience to know when to join the next event.
Social Sharing
A church with an active social media presence shows that it can keep its ministry at the forefront of people’s minds. With the click of a button, social media accounts make it easy for your church to stay active on different social channels like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
Strengthens Community
An online platform for your church facilitates communication and connection. This allows you to connect with your members and for them to connect easily with fellow members. Both the church website and social media helps connecting communities who are serious about building a community and strengthening roots in the community. With an effective live streaming strategy, you can build a powerful online presence to spread your message, influence, and reach out to your congregation and connect with other believers.
Improves Accessibility
Over 81% of the population has at least one social media profile. So if you want to reach out to your audience wherever they are, you have to meet them online. As more people seek convenient ways to build their spirituality, they are searching for connections to follow over the Internet. Consequently, there is a growing opportunity to reach out to your new members with a live streaming platform. Live video, prayer group, or bible studies can be streamed on your websites and social platforms using church streaming software.
Watch From Any Device
Half of the online video content is now consumed on mobile. Church members who are unable to sit down and watch the live broadcast can watch on their mobile devices. Church live streaming allows you to stream your church services to tablets and mobiles.
Cost-Effective
One of the common myths of live streaming is its costs. People consider live-streaming a costly affair. Live streaming can actually be affordable with affordable church streaming software. It is more cost-effective than buying a broadcast time on TV. Most churches broadcast live on TV, but now everyone is shifting to online solutions due to its affordability. Live streaming is quite affordable considering the convenience and reachability to a broad audience.
Conclusion
Churches can embrace technology to use it to spread their ministry. By implementing church live streaming services, you are no longer bound by geographical limitations to grow your community. Why not try live broadcasting to help your church enter the digital era? Moreover, it helps you to reach a younger audience. To approach young audiences, you must communicate in a language they understand. For today’s youth, it is technology and the Internet. It is time for churches to embrace change for good. Not through messages, but through the way the message is delivered.
For hundreds of years, Sunday mornings have been synonymous with church gatherings for many families across the world. Churches have drawn believers in their vicinity into a central commune to share stories and wisdom and faith. As the world shrinks however, cross-border pollination and exchanges are becoming more and more common, pulling people away from their home ground for months or even years at a time. The threads that bind families and congregations however remain tight across many church fraternities, thanks to the merits of technology. One turnkey framework in particular has gained relevance for many churches. StreamNow, a turnkey, lightweight technology has led many church communities to broadcast live streaming services to viewers in various corners of the globe. Distances have shrunk and faith is being carried across the internet in the most amazing ways.
Merits of Live Streaming Services
Church services can cement communities together, but more often, the most inclined are unable to visit and participate in sermons in person. The elderly, mothers with young babies, the ill and indisposed, and those living in other cities make up just part of this subset. By introducing live streaming services, you can open the doors of your church to those who would like to watch at home. Live streams can be converted to recorded content that you can save in a permanent library for future reference.
If you’ve been scouring the internet for effective church live streaming solutions to host your church service, here are seven options you can choose from.
Option 1. StreamNow
StreamNow is a cutting-edge technology that combines aesthetics and functionality to give you a fluid, interactive interface. The framework works seamlessly across devices and pairs with state-of-the-art cameras and hardware. With a host of personalisation features, you can tailor your interface to align with your brand’s outlook. StreamNow also comes with an archived content store called StreamView, which can serve as a perfect repository for all your content.
Key Features
StreamNow allows users to live stream in a variety of formats. For instance, an event that is privately live streamed is broadcast only to select users, specifically those following the broadcaster. A public event on the other hand, is notified to all users. Further, StreamNow is stocked with user discretion features. Users have the option of accepting or rejecting an event. If they choose to accept, another notification will be sent to them at the time of the event. The framework also offers a real-time commenting feature and doubles up as a social media platform, with users able to follow and unfollow each other at will, and share statuses. StreamNow is equipped with excellent monetisation features, with administrators free to design their own dynamic subscription plan. This means that you can create differentiated premium content, charging users a fee to unlock content. Banner advertisements are a brilliant monetisation technique that come inbuilt with StreamNow. StreamNow comes with a technology stack that matches up to some of the best live streaming frameworks in the world. Crafted with layers such as WebRTC, Node.js, Laravel 5.2, Bootstrap and Wowza, StreamNow houses superlative software rings in its technology stack.
Option 2. Streamingchurch.tv
Streamingchurch.tv is a tailor-made platform for church live streaming services. It comes with a range of features that make it ideal for sharing your stream across social networks. Streamingchurch.tv is a church-centric platform that offers exclusive features like sermon notes and virtual visitor maps. Sermon notes provide notes to those watching remotely, so that they can follow the flow of a service without any problem.
Key Features
Streamingchurch.tv is armed with a double-barreled carriage of features that span live streaming and video on demand. The platform can be embedded onto your own website and streams can be shared fluidly across devices, both mobile and desktop. The service also features a map of virtual visitors who are attending a service. Moreover, Streamingchurch.tv can be plugged into social media websites like Facebook and Twitter.
Option 3. Sunday Streams
Sunday Streams is a service meant exclusively for church streaming services. It comes in two differentiated price plans, each one with its own set of offerings. The plans vary in terms of maximum upload limit, advertisement displays, domain allotment, mobile compatibility and Roku customisation, amongst other attributes.
Key Features
Sunday Streams is a simple, effective platform that is easy to install and use. This makes it especially useful for newbies who are still learning the ropes of live streaming. Sunday Streams does not rely on a content delivery network, raising the risk of compromised content quality. The service offers excellent customer support, and is known for its 24-hour response policy.
Option 4. ChristianWorldMedia
ChristianWorldMedia is ideal for church streaming services. It comes in three differentiated price plans, each one with its own set of benefits and features. The plans stand apart from each other in terms of storage space, online bible integration and Roku channel configuration, amongst other features.
Key Features
ChristianWorldMedia offers rungs of pricing that sit in the budgets of churches big and small. The platform is flexible, fluid and customisable. Plus, because its pricing model starts from the very bottom, more churches are encouraged to pick live streaming as a means of communication. ChristianWorldMedia offers a content delivery network with all its packages.
Option 5. TruthCasting
TruthCasting offers a flexi-price model that pivots on the number of members in your church. Alternatively, the number of visitors that attend Sunday mass is used as a yardstick. Interestingly, the features offered in every tier of the TruthCasting pricing model are the same; only the fees differ according to the number of on-site members. The platform is hosted on Amazon Web Server.
Key Features
TruthCasting offers an ad-free experience to viewers while providing unlimited storage to broadcasters. The service also provisions for code sharing for website integration and is device-agnostic.
Option 6. MyChurchWebsite.com
MyChurchWebsite.com was originally established as a boutique website development company. Over the years, it has evolved its offerings and has now come to provide church live streaming services. The brand offers a vanilla price point of $49, which contains 250 GB of storage space and an ad-free interface. The platform is not underpinned by a content delivery network, making it susceptible to quality issues.
Key Features
The service provides 250 GB of bandwidth, mobile compatibility, an ad-free interface and social media plugins.
Option 7. Livestream
Livestream is a bigwig in the live streaming services space and this is reflected in its cost structure. Contrary to perception, Livestream does not offer the best features for its price. Live embedding for instance, isn’t supported on its basic plan, meaning that you cannot host your live stream on your own website. For this, you’d have to upgrade to a more expensive plan. Small churches couldn’t possibly afford this price tag, making it an automatic no-no. Livestream does offer an on-demand facility that lets you archive your live content. It also works on a content delivery network, keeping your stream functioning at its best, even with a large number of viewers.
Key Features
Livestream offers four tiers of pricing ranging from $42 all the way up to $1199 per month. Features included in the more high-end plans include cloud input, lead capture, live embedding, tracking and analytics, telephone customer support, white labelling and password protected events.
Before picking a live streaming framework, consider the needs of your church, its propensity to spend and its community spread. Every church has a unique need; it’s up to you to decide which live streaming route to take.
