I understand that it can be frustrating for churches that have been live-streaming for a while without seeing their desired impact. However, I am still excited about the potential of live-streaming churches to impact people’s lives positively.
Streaming Churches: Key Takeaways
- Reevaluate your approach: Assess if your current church live-streaming strategies are still effective in the post-pandemic landscape.
- Understand your audience: Recognise the unique challenges and needs of your church live stream viewers.
- Define your vision: Clearly articulate your goals for your online ministry.
- Create engaging content: Develop content that resonates with your target church live stream audience.
- Build a strong team: Assemble a team with the skills to execute your vision.
I have been on a 30-year journey working in Christian Media, and I have been astounded by the growth of churches using media to reach people since the 2020 pandemic.
Despite working as a professional producer/director in Christian media since the mid-90s, the media explosion among churches globally in the past five years is unprecedented. Many churches decided to dive in and become streaming churches and take their ministry online back in 2020.
However, with every new development, it’s essential to reassess if the strategies that worked initially are still effective today. This is crucial for navigating the constantly evolving landscape of online ministry. What worked during the explosion of streaming churches in 2020 may no longer hold true.
Unfortunately, many new streaming churches haven’t been able to adapt as they lacked the necessary guidance to leverage this form of ministry in the post-pandemic era fully. Consequently, some have withdrawn from the world of streaming churches, others have reduced their focus on their church live stream (resulting in fewer resources being allocated to it), and some continue with the same approach week after week, questioning its worth.
The reality of these changes has become increasingly apparent over the past couple of years, looking at church live streaming.
Streaming churches are asking, “What now?”
It’s essential to recognise that reaching an unseen audience is a significant departure from the usual experience for most church leaders. Initially, many new streaming churches only had the online option, as there was no in-person option. Everyone was watching your church live stream. However, now that they have people in the room, it’s crucial to consider how to communicate effectively with the online congregation.
There are several common challenges for church leaders ministering online:
– Lack of visual feedback: Without being able to see people’s reactions or body language, it’s hard to gauge their engagement.
– That means it’s challenging to tell if people are interested or bored.
– You also have no immediate feedback on disengagement: You won’t know if people have turned off the church live stream.
– The unknown impact of poor quality: Low-quality church live streams can drive viewers away.
– High competition: Due to the abundance of online options, viewers may not return after a bad experience. There are plenty of other church live streams to try.
All these challenges are significant considerations for streaming churches.
When you join the throngs of steaming churches, the audience gets to sit in the driving seat, which can be very uncomfortable for church leaders to realise.
However, this reality should lead us to change how we share the Good News if we want to include a church live stream as part of what we do.
Success comes from embracing this challenge.
Streaming churches can be successful when they accept the challenge and focus on effectively reaching people through their church live stream. When they understand the differences between in-person and online interactions and realise these require different approaches.
Since the start of the pandemic, I have had several conversations with streaming churches that ventured into the world of church live streaming, initially to address the immediate challenges brought about by Covid. Now, they find it challenging to adapt to the post-Covid world of streaming churches. Many are uncertain about their next steps to take with their church live stream and struggle to maintain the initial efforts, which they admit are insufficient and ineffective.
I often hear similar complaints, such as “We invested significantly in equipment, yet we still can’t create engaging content for our church live stream.”
Streaming churches that take this approach will always face difficulties.
Why?
A helpful analogy for all streaming churches.
I appreciate simplicity and always find analogies helpful. Here’s an analogy that might be beneficial.
When considering what you need to be successful at streaming church, it’s like starting a children’s ministry and immediately asking, “What version of a children’s Bible should we get?” You wouldn’t do that, right?
So, how would you approach starting a ministry like this?
When considering starting a children’s ministry, it’s important to address several questions, such as:
– What is your vision for a children’s ministry?
– Which children do you want to serve with this ministry – church kids, un-churched kids, etc?
– What do you want to convey to these children to help them grow in their relationship with Jesus?
– How can you engage children with your ministry and ensure their return?
– Who in your church has a vision for this, and how can you train them to lead in this ministry?
Answering these questions will provide the clarity needed to move forward.
Only after addressing these questions should you consider the Bibles you might need.
There are more questions and considerations than these, and the answers will vary from church to church – as they should. As with most things, a one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t exist.
There are no wrong answers. However, it’s important to note that a mistake when starting a children’s ministry would be to avoid the outlined process and jump straight to the question about Bibles.
This is akin to what many streaming churches have done when starting an online ministry by beginning with, “What technology do I need for my church live stream?”
Streaming churches: the blueprint for your success.
Let’s consider this analogy as we develop a blueprint for all streaming churches to follow to set them up for success.
First, though, determine if you’ve taken the wrong approach.
Ask yourself:
- Do you feel like you’re pushing a boulder up a hill?
- Are you dissatisfied with your progress in church live stream?
- Do you regret your investment in your online ministry?
If you answer yes to any of these, you may have taken the wrong approach.
If that resonates with you, it’s time to step back and answer the following five essential questions that will help you create a blueprint for success.
I recommend prayerfully considering and journaling your answers to each question.
1. Vision: What is the vision for your online ministry?
2. Audience: Who do you want to reach with your church live stream?
3. Content: What do you want to communicate to your online audience?
4. Engagement: What processes must you implement to ensure people can engage with you if they choose to do so after watching your church live stream?
5. Team: Who will help you deliver all of this?
By going through this process, streaming churches can set themselves up for long-term success.
A FREE resource for all streaming churches who want to grow.
If you need assistance with this, we have created an online assessment specifically for you.
The assessment will guide you through a process to help clarify the current status of your digital ministry. Additionally, it will provide you with a detailed, customised report containing actionable tips and hints to help you improve in the areas where you need to, ultimately positioning you for long-term success in church live streaming.
You can access the assessment here: Digital Ministry Assessment.
Conclusion:
I still see plenty of positives and enormous potential for streaming churches that want to reach an online audience.
Most churches have already done the hard part and launched into this brave new world of church live streaming. The truth is that it’s always easier to steer a moving object than to start something.
For those of you who can relate to the picture painted at the start of this article, don’t lose heart. There is hope!
Follow the blueprint above to take a step back, assess your church live stream, and when you get your answers, make the changes needed. It will result in progress.
Can we help you?
Our vision at Media Mentoring is simple: to assist churches and ministries in creating high-quality video content for their audience.
We have already assisted churches and ministries in the UK, Europe, and the US in navigating this new landscape, and we can also help YOU.
A great way to start this journey is with the Digital Ministry Assessment. However, if you want more specific input, you can book a call to discuss your needs. Book your appointment here.
