“SHOULD WE STILL LIVESTREAM?”
Bridgetown Church, known to be a rather prominent church in Portland, Oregon, has seemingly sparked the big question when they announced that they are canceling their live streaming services. Can you still watch the sermons online? Yes. Can you watch them live on Sunday morning so you don’t have to attend in person? Not anymore.
The SALT team was intrigued when they heard about this and spent a few minutes on the Monochrome Podcast to discuss the pros, cons, and effects of churches wondering if they, too, should cancel their streaming services.
Why Are Churches Cancelling Their Livestream?
#1 – Community
There’s little argument that gathering together and in-person builds a stronger community than just an online chat. One of the biggest reasons the SALT team can see churches canceling their livestream services is to promote that in-person community once again. Church congregants want to shake hands, grab a coffee before service, and ask “How are you?” face to face. And if we’re being honest, doesn’t the worship team sound a little better when more seats are filled?
#2 – Resources
This one is almost a no-brainer – but it takes a lot of equipment and personnel to successfully pull off a weekly livestream of a church’s Sunday services. Even if you have the staff and/or volunteers, they have to be knowledgeable about the equipment and technical services. Many churches don’t have the personnel or the budget to keep up with a weekly livestream, so they’re opting to cut this from their workload.
#3 – Low Attendance
This one is two-fold: (1) Low attendance to a livestream may make the decision easy for a lot of churches. Why put in the time and effort if hardly anyone is tuning in live for online church? (2) Other churches are seeing low attendance for their in-person services but strong streaming numbers. They may make the decision to cancel their livestream in order to get people back through the doors and on campus again for Sunday church services. No pastor likes preaching to empty pews.
Why Do Churches Want to Keep Live Streaming?
#1 – Community
You read that right. It’s not deja vu. There’s a whole other side of the community conversation, and that is the attendees who may not be able to make it to church in person on a Sunday morning. Whether it be due to a physical disability, anxiety, or someone who isn’t ready to step foot in a church building for the first time, a Sunday morning livestream is a chance for them to feel included, still get spiritually poured into from a worship service, and connect with a community in the chat and online.
#2 – The Investment
After spending all that money on live streaming equipment and training volunteers and personnel, why would churches want to waste it? Many churches have invested so much to start and maintain their Sunday livestreams that they do not want to ditch all that hard work, money, and effort. They’ll be keeping their online Sunday services, thank you very much.
#3 – New Reach
Where’s the first place people go to browse for a new church? Online. Whether or not you still post your sermons to your website, there may be a great opportunity for new people to find you online and try out your Sunday service from the comfort of their homes. “Church shopping” is a real thing, and with more and more people struggling to step out of their comfort zone to try a new church, a livestream option is a great first step for them to hear about Christ and be introduced to your services.
The decision can be a tough one, but the great news is a church can always change its mind later if it decides live streaming doesn’t serve its mission. This question of whether or not to livestream is also not a complete wipe of Sunday services from a church’s website or platform. Like Bridgetown Church is Portland, a church can still record and post their Sunday service and the pastor’s sermons without continuing their LIVE stream.
How do you know if live streaming is best for you?
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- Take time to look at the data. What is your average Sunday attendance? How active is your online chat? How many replays/views is your Sunday service getting after it’s been posted?
- Do a survey. Don’t be afraid to ask those it impacts most. Send out an email or post a survey on your church socials asking if people find the livestream valuable. Ask them if they watch Sunday morning from the livestream. Ask them if they know anyone who does.
- Talk with your team. This is not a decision for just a tech director, volunteer, or pastor to make alone. Live streaming is a big job that effects many aspects of a church. Make sure to have a discussion with your team and hear their thoughts. Present the data at this meeting, so you’re not making the decision based on feeling alone. Ask the team how a livestream fits into your mission and goals for the church.
After this, you may have a clear answer to the big question: Should we still livestream?
This conversation was sparked by an article from Church Tech Today. Hear more from the SALT team on this and other topics by checking out The Monochrome Podcast.
