Church Livestreams You Should Be Watching

You have to watch them to learn from them.

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Is Your Livestream Intentional?

A lot of us became broadcast directors because we had to during 2020 pandemic lockdowns. Chances are that after lockdown, your senior leadership decided that having a livestream was better than not having one, so even though your livestream isn’t serving a specifically online campus or some other particular purpose beyond a “front porch” for your church, you’re still running a livestream each week four years later.

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Even if your livestream is just a “front porch” for newcomers to check out your church before attending in person, that front porch should be a clean, friendly, enjoyable space to hang out and get introduced to the family that lives behind the front door.

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And that requires intention. Even if your livestream is just a “front porch” for newcomers to check out your church before attending in person, that front porch should be a clean, friendly, enjoyable space to hang out and get introduced to the family that lives behind the front door.

But, since most of us aren’t video professionals trying to push the boundaries of creative service capture, we need some examples of churches that are creating an excellent and engaging digital experience for their online audience. I took some time to sit down and scrub through church livestreams so that you know where to go to find an example of the “feel” you want to create for your online church goers.

What do I mean by “feel?” Well some livestreams are organic—the shots and composition work to closely recreate the feeling of being in the room, but without the extra-professionalism of more traditional broadcasts . Some livestreams are really clean—these broadcasts are crisp and professional, but still maintain a down-to-earth experience like organic streams. Finally, some streams are a TV-style broadcast—think about a church broadcast you’ve seen on TBN or another cable network. If you’ve ever watched Joel Osteen’s broadcast, this is that.

No one “feel” is better than another; it just depends on what works for your church's culture. Let’s break down some livestreams that fall into each “feel” category.

But First, Some Terms

I don’t want to assume that everyone will know some of the terms I’m going to use here, given that some readers have stumbled into the livestream role as opposed to having gone to school for it or been otherwise trained. So let’s define a few things.

  • 24p, 30p, 60p: These are shorthand for frame rates, 24 frames per second, 30 frames per second, and 60 frames per second, respectively. This short hand is also used to refer to the NTSC broadcast counterpart of each frame rate (respectively): 23.98, 29.97, and 59.94. Why are there two numbers for each frame rate? That’s a longer article, and this one explains it really well. It’s nerdy, so get your big pants on. The TL;DR version is this: TV broadcasts shoot in decimals, usually 29.97 or 59.94, and films shoot in full 24p.
  • Composition: I’m talking about how individual camera shots frame their subject against their environment.. If you want a quick rundown of composition, head here.
  • Push: this is when a camera op slowly zooms in or is physically “pushed” closer to the subject on a dolly.
  • Pull: this is the opposite of a push shot.
  • Jib: this is very long truss boom with a camera attached to the end of it. The operator stands on the other end of a fulcrum so he can easily manipulate the height of the boom while also controlling the pan and tilt of the camera along with its other features.

Broadcasts with an Organic Feel

Bethel Church, home of Bethel Music in Redding, California, put the organic feel on the map while most churches were still using traditional TV broadcast methods. Pre-pandemic, Bethel moved from traditional 30p or 60p capture and started broadcasting in 24p, giving the stream a cozy, cinematic feel. Most of their shots during their worship set are hand-held, save the jib shot, but they even manage to give that shot an organic feel.

Their production team uploads their weekly multiview and intercom feed to the Bethel Production YouTube channel. You can also check out the Bethel Production website for breakdowns on their gear, methods, and to ask questions.

UPPERROOM Dallas offers another great example of an organic broadcast. They use similar hand-held techniques as Bethel Church, but without the same flair, and it’s all shot in 24p, a surprisingly common choice among church livestreams now. Their handheld shots are paired with one or two simple static shots that cover wide angles of their sanctuary, and they utilize these static shots based on how many camera ops are available that day.

Church of the City, New York keeps their stream even simpler than UPPERROOM, and uses their camera angles to subtly display the beautiful sanctuaries where they meet in Manhattan. But, a trained eye will see that they took the time to make sure their lighting was dialed in for livestream capture and none of the camera ops get too adventurous. They’re not trying too hard, and watching helps you feel like you’re in the room with the congregation.

Really Clean Broadcasts

Life.Church might have this feel perfected. All 44 of their campuses (by the EFCA’s last count) stream from their main campus in Edmond, Oklahoma. What you’ll see in their stream is that they produce an organic feel like the previously mentioned churches, but the production is flawless. You feel like you’re in the room in Edmond, the shots are crisp, the lighting is basically perfect, and everything flows like clockwork. Of course, their audio quality is nuts. Like, it’s really good.

Jesus Image in Orlando, Florida dials this clean feel back a bit but still nails it. Their lighting is simple, they work with maybe 4 live shots at a time, and their hand-held cameras are really good—the movement isn’t overwhelming but helps you feel as though you were swaying with the music. This is all backed up with quality audio, rounding out the whole experience.

New Tribe Church finds the sweet spot between the first two mentioned in this section. Everything in this stream is sharp—the shots are intentional with crisp focus, the camera movement isn’t overwhelming without being stale, the lighting is perfect, and the audio is clear and natural. What’s better is that I know this team personally, and they did this on a lot smaller of a budget than you’d think. This is a very attainable livestream set up and worth replicating.

TV-Style Broadcast

The immediate difference you’re going to see between these churches and the churches in the other feel types is the frame rate. All the previous churches use 24p almost exclusively. The following churches are shooting in 30p or 60p, which are the traditional broadcast frame rates.

Now, instead of breaking each stream down, the truth is that each of these broadcasts are almost identical, so I’ll just breakdown the feel itself and then link the churches so that you can watch and learn.

What you’re going to see in these streams are a lot of pushes and pulls paired with simple static shots of vocalists and musicians, rounded out with wide sweeping jib shots. Shaky, handheld cinematic shots are simply not a sought-out aesthetic in these broadcasts. Honestly, that’s pretty much it. These broadcasts are sharp, simple, and steady, making them a great marker for churches just getting started out in the streaming process. Here’s the short list of churches that do this style really well:

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