Digital Church is the Future
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What is Digital Church?
Digital church is the way of the future.
Here's the thing...
The church world has been trying to figure out the best way to keep engaging and moving our churches forward. We've seen the church world, much like the rest of the world, turning into a digital-first world . Like any pastor, you're probably trying to figure out how to continue to grow and engage your community in this new digital church world. But with all of the platform options like Zoom, Church Online, Facebook, and many others, it's tough to settle on just one way of communication and meeting together. We're having to look at three or four different methods at the same time.
Content vs Connections
See, most of us were forced into remote situations during the pandemic, but we quickly figured out how to start live-streaming our services, groups and meetings over those platforms.
But here’s the issue, they're all completely separate, and after the initial boom, we saw that the actual conversations being online just weren't the same. Churches became just another content creator out on the Internet. Discipleship began to take a backseat to likes, shares, and comments. People began to attend church less and less, and the conversations were more and more surface level. Even though digital church was a newfound necessity, it wasn’t helping the community grow together.
Live streaming was no longer a content issue. It became an engagement issue. Digital church has become a passive experience that lacks connection and true community building.
The Solution
But we are here to tell you that Altar Live is the solution.
Altar Live will help you see the faces behind the likes, shares, and comments.
Altar Live is a conversation-first platform built for churches and with churches.
By using Altar Live in your church, ministry, or organization, you are given the tools to truly engage with people and make the digital church world a true community .
With live streaming, we have solved the problem of expanding our reach, but we are still struggling to go deep. To live with people. To see their faces. To pick up on facial features and body language. To see smiles and frowns. Tears and laughter.
Altar Live gives you all of that, and more. We give you the tools to see the person on the other side of the screen; to converse with them and engage with them on a deeper level than just a "hello" in a chat area. Digital church does not have to be a content stream, it can be a true community.
Host Events
Our platform is broken down into 3 main areas: events, meetings, and rooms.
Events allow you to sit down in a row and watch a livestream, a pre-recorded video, or a simulated live stream with someone else while also being able to talk directly to them!
You can also utilize a traditional chat area to talk with everyone there...with a few extras, like polls, announcements, and even comment likes, all to deepen the sense of engagement your digital church has.
We know that the best way to get people bought into your mission and vision is to involve them in serving alongside you...and Altar Live gives you the tools to do just that.
Assemble a Hospitality Team
You can set up a volunteer team around you to fill the traditional guest services roles that make people feel so warm and welcome.
From lead hosts, to chat hosts, to prayer team members, to poll and announcement producers, and anything else you can think of, we give you the ability to really engage with your digital church.
Connect Your Livestream
Altar Live gives you the ability to stream from a number of different platforms, including Resi, YouTube, Boxcast, Vimeo, Castr, and others.
Plus you can use any software you have in your own church, from Wirecast, Ecamm, OBS, Vmix, and many, many others, to send us a custom RTMP stream. Set up your RTMP server and stream key in your software, Go Live, and we'll take care of broadcasting the video for you. These live streams can be connected to YouTube and Facebook for multi-streaming, as well, which in essence means that all you need to do is send one video feed to us and our servers take care of the rest.
Mingle in The Lobby
After your stream or video, your event does not have to end; your lobby will be open for people to meet at tables and, if they need more space, rooms. Just like in the lobby of a physical church.
It's the best place for fellowship, laughter, and really just catching up. It's also the best place for your hosts and greeters to pray for people and minister to them in ways that you hadn't yet even thought of!
Gather in Rooms & Meetings
Rooms can be opened up for groups larger than your tables. These rooms are perfect for first-time guest areas, prayer rooms, kids ministry, missions follow-ups, and any other Next Steps that you would normally have in a church lobby before or after service.
Altar Live Meetings are a game-changer when it comes to church online platforms. Just like setting up an event, meetings take only a few clicks. But the best part of all of this is that you only need one for as many meetings, events, and rooms that you want. No need for multiple zoom accounts to support everything that is happening in your ministry.
Final Thoughts
Altar Live gives us the ability to do what we're called to do as leaders and pastors: To sit in a row during an event to truly be present with each other; to experience life with them. To hang out at a table in the lobby before or after an event to talk, ask questions, and meet real people; to gather together in a meeting and discuss, face-to-face. Whether that meeting is a council time, a counseling session, a small group study, or just a chance to catch up. Altar Live makes your church more than just a Netflix show.
