Ideas For Streaming Your Next Church Service
There’s no doubt that the world is becoming increasingly digital. And with that, churches are needing to look for ways to connect with their communities online.
For many, church streaming services become the default of how they begin to build a digital presence. Options such as Facebook Live or Church Online Platform have become a popular ways for churches to reach their members and engage with them virtually. But using church platforms that only offer live streaming services for churches doesn’t address the aspect of true engagement. Simply live-streaming your church services may not be the best solution when it comes to truly connecting with your community online.
So what does it take to really engage and connect with your community?
In this article, we will explore ideas for creating more dynamic church streaming services and discuss the best church streaming platforms and software for engagement.
Creating More Dynamic Church Streaming Services
In today's world, it's essential to provide a dynamic church streaming experience for your community. Many people are turning away from traditional church services, citing boredom and a lack of engagement. In an article on Deep Spirituality, Mike Query shares a few things that had caused him to lose interest in church.
Why Creating Dynamic Church Streaming Services Matters
There are many reasons why people may walk away from church. Faith doesn't feel personal. Positions and performance begin to take priority. Burnout.
Query takes time to talk about what this can look like in our lives.
Reading scripture begins to feel boring. We begin to be detached from those we're serving. In focusing on our behavior we begin to lack heart.
Unfortunately, this experience is all too common in many traditional churches. To combat this issue, it's essential to launch more dynamic and innovative church services. By using elements of engagement in your streaming services, you can keep your community engaged and interested.
How to Create Dynamic Church Streaming Services
1. Get the right ideas
Engaging your digital community is all about staying creative to stay connected.
How do you bring the same elements of fellowship, care, growth and personal connection to your digital space? How can you use digital means to achieve or even enhance that experience?
Does this look like utilizing virtual spaces like the Lobby, Auditorium, or Meeting Rooms? What about interactive elements like polls or announcements? Start thinking outside the box when it comes to bringing connection into your digital space.
💡 Tip: Good ideas can go a long way. Here are some Church Fellowship Ideas for Improving Engagement to get you started.
2. Use the right tools
Carrying out the ideas you have requires having the right digital tools and resources to make it happen. Choosing the right church streaming platform is a major component of this. Incorporating other aspects of your service through digital means also requires thoughtful consideration alongside your church’s leadership team. Here are a few lists of digital tools for your consideration:
🛠 More Resources for Church Leaders:
Top Church Presentation Software 2023: A Quick Guide
Top 11 Church Giving Tools 2023
Online Church Software Review: Top Church Software for 2023
Using the right tools will allow you to bring that vision of community connection to life. Using the right software, tools, and live streaming software for churches can not only enhance the service for attendees but begin to shape your church’s entire digital worship experience and culture.
3. All about engagement
Having good ideas and tools only goes so far if you don’t take action!
The most important part of creating a dynamic church streaming service is to take steps to truly engage with your community. Empower your hospitality team to reach out. Send a personal meeting invitation to welcome and get to know new families. Send a church welcome letter to new visitors. Take the extra step to personally welcome those in the congregation, providing opportunities for them to engage through conversation after the service, chat or polls during the service, or other virtual church events.
📖 Read more: 3 Ways this Church is Using Altar Live to Increase Engagement
Ideas For Streaming Fun Church Services
To create a more engaging church streaming experience, it's key to incorporate fun and interactive elements into your service.
Here are a few simple tips for improving your church streaming services:
Promote Your Stream Ahead of Time to Build Excitement
Promoting your stream ahead of time can help build excitement and anticipation for your service. You can create a promotional video or graphic to share on social media, sharing the link to invite friends and family to join your online service.
Engage with Your Viewers for a More Interactive Experience
Engaging with your viewers can make your live stream more interactive and enjoyable. Personal messages and a warm welcome from the church hospitality team make all the difference. Encourage viewers to leave comments and questions and respond to them during the stream.
Incorporate Features to Keep the Service Engaging
How are you interacting with your congregation? It's not just streaming the content itself. What about the chat? Polls? Announcements? Keeping the service engaging can help keep your viewers interested throughout the stream. Easily incorporate interactive elements like polls, and announcements, during the service to keep your viewers engaged.
For a full article, you can read our guide on how to improve your church's live stream.
📖 Read More: Here's our guide on 21 Simple Tips to Improve Your Church's Live Stream Service.
Use Different Spaces
Whether it's a welcome table in the virtual Lobby during the service or passing to peace to those in your Rows in the Auditorium, utilizing the virtual spaces that your church platform offers can create an atmosphere of lively engagement.
Think Beyond Sunday
An important step is to come up with ideas for online events that encourage fellowship. Small group meetings and church fellowship events can require a lot of creativity, thinking, and planning. Here are a few examples to get you started:
- Host a virtual welcome party or holiday party: This can include holiday-themed games or competitions to make things fun and lively and to deepen fellowship.
- Start a video series Bible study or book study: This is a perfect way to engage with your church community online. Attendees can watch and discuss the content together in meetings or in rows, providing an opportunity to engage with the content and each other with ease.
- Conduct a next steps class: This is an opportunity to invite newcomers and church visitors to participate in a class that can help them get plugged in, get involved, and become familiar with your virtual church community.
- Organize a worship night: This can be a church-wide event or a small group meeting. Participants can take turns choosing a song and explaining why it resonates with their faith journey or how it helps them understand God.
- Host a movie night: This casual event can be a great way to welcome new friends to your church community. You can watch a movie together in the auditorium and have discussion questions throughout the film. After the movie, you can use small group meeting rooms for further discussion.
The Best Church Streaming Services For Engagement
Not all streaming services are created equal, and some are better equipped for creating dynamic and engaging content.
Some of the things that make online services more engaging than traditional in-person services include the ability to interact with the community in real time through chat, polls, and announcements.
Church platforms like Altar Live even allow you to see and interact with other attendees face-to-face during the service in the Auditorium, or after the service as you mingle in the Lobby. Additionally, it’s important to take note of key features such as the ability to incorporate high-quality video and audio streaming, meeting rooms, or the flexibility to plan and schedule events.
For instance, if high-quality video and audio are a priority to your congregation, using a platform like Zoom is less than ideal for your church streaming services. On the other hand, if you are looking for personal interaction, platforms such as Facebook Live or Church Online won’t allow the community to really engage or connect with one another.
If you want to create a more engaging streaming experience, it's important to choose a platform that can offer the features you need.
If you haven’t already, you can view our full guide on the top live stream options for churches in 2023 here.
If you’re looking for a guide on how to really engage your community, be sure to download the Ultimate Guide to Online Church Engagement below.
✏️ Get the Ultimate Guide to Online Church Engagement
How To Choose The Right Live Streaming Software For Churches
What makes the difference when it comes to choosing the right platform?
Choosing the right live-streaming software for your church can be overwhelming. With so many options available, it can be difficult to know where to start. However, there are a few things you should look for when selecting a platform.
After talking to different churches and communities, we've found that what it comes down to is having reliable support, the ability to create a welcoming environment and follow up with your community.
First and foremost, it's important to choose a platform with great support. Are there how-to’s provided on how to set up and use your church platform? Is your church platform user-friendly? When something goes wrong with your streaming service, you want to be able to rely on your provider to help communicate well and address it promptly. Responsiveness and support are key.
Additionally, along with high-quality streaming, be sure to look for platforms that offer flexible features based on your church’s needs. Will you be needing to use the virtual Lobby for coffee hour? What about welcome rooms or Rows in the auditorium? Consider the interactive features and other engagement tools your church platform might offer. These are essential in creating a welcoming online streaming service for your community.
Finally, being able to follow up with your community is another important piece of engagement. Are you able to track your analytics and follow up with your congregation? Will you be able to know who’s on the other side of the screen?
At Altar, we see the importance of these aspects of support, features, and follow-up. We’ve built our tool alongside churches like yours – empowering communities to be supported, to use unique features to create a welcoming worship experience, and follow up with and grow their communities. For churches looking for a reliable and engaging streaming platform, we know that Altar has been designed for you. With engaging community features like Tables, Rows, Rooms, and more, Altar Live helps you create a more dynamic and engaging church streaming experience.
Conclusion
Streaming services have become an essential tool for churches looking to connect with their communities online. By creating more dynamic and engaging church services, you can keep your members engaged and involved in your church's community and mission.
➡️ Ready to grow your ministry? Book a free consultation with our Engagement Consultant.
