Everyday, churches around the world are tasked with lifting up their community and sharing their beliefs. Yet in a busy and global world, it remains a challenge to engage existing congregants and welcome new members. Live streaming your services, ceremonies, and events is the best way to engage existing congregants, reach new members, and bring your house of worship into the 21st century. And, it’s easier than you think to get started.
Forecasted to become a $70.5B industry within the next 3 years, live streaming will soon be the new norm for consumers — and not just for traditional TV programming like sports, award shows, and concerts. While it may seem like live streaming could create a disconnect between those at the event, and those watching from a device, research shows the opposite. According to a 2017 survey, 1 in 5 people said “watching live streaming video makes them feel like a part of an event.”
For houses of worship, the feeling is mutual for church leaders. “I know that the relational part of what I’m trying to project from the pulpit is reaching into people’s homes, even if I can’t be there myself,” says Amy Butler, Pastor at Riverside Church in New York City, of live streaming Sunday services.
Live streaming church services to Facebook
While we know live streaming events are an effective way to foster community in a digital capacity, knowing where to reach viewers can be a challenge. How can you best reach your congregants to join a live stream, especially as competing for people’s attention gets more complicated? The answer lies in Facebook.
According to a 2018 study from LifeWay, the vast majority of churches — 84% — already have a Facebook page, used to inform community members about upcoming events. With Vimeo Livestream, bringing live events to your Facebook followers is easy. With simple simulcasting to Facebook Live and other social media networks, it’s never been easier to bring your high quality stream to the web.
What’s more, live streaming on Facebook is one of the best ways to bring your content front and center in its news feed. Live videos, on average, get six times as many interactions as static videos on Facebook. The very nature of live streaming a church service encourages discussion amongst viewers, further developing a sense of belonging and community.
Ministers at Riverside Church, who use Vimeo Livestream to broadcast their Sunday services on the web, can attest to the benefits of live streaming to Facebook. “I love that it lets us simulcast,” says Jim Keat, Associate Minister of Digital Strategy & Online Engagement. “We’re always sending our live stream from Sunday morning to our church’s Facebook page, allowing for that organic traffic to just stumble into church.”
Technical setup for live streaming
Live streaming may seem like a highly technical and daunting endeavor, but in reality, many churches can get started with tools they already have. At a minimum, all you need to livestream is:
- A camera with a video capture device, or webcam
- A high-performance computer
- An internet connection
Which camera you use will depend on your budget and goals of the live production. For many churches, renting cameras is a nice option as they ease in to live streaming, to evaluate which equipment works best for their needs. For reference, the Vimeo Livestream production team’s favorites include the Sony PMW-300K1, Sony PMW-X320, and Sony HSC-300R.
The importance of a reliable internet connection cannot be overstated. As a result of companies like Netflix and Hulu bringing clear and consistent streaming to the masses, viewers have come to expect that same experience everywhere — even for live streaming. Fortunately, many advanced technologies already provide a reliable live stream on a standard internet connection.
Luckily, Vimeo Livestream offers it at an affordable price point for churches. “There are other streaming services out there that say they’re geared toward houses of worship, but they’re very expensive,” says Stephen Robles, Creative Arts and Technology Director at The Crossing Church in Tampa, FL. “You don’t need to spend that much. Vimeo Livestream is the best value on the market and the most reliable.”
Tips and best practices for live streaming
In order for churches to remain relevant and engage existing and new members, they must experiment with new strategies and media to spread their message. Creating static video content is not enough. Live streaming is proven to create more engagement among users, as well as create a sense of belonging, even when they’re behind a screen of their laptop or tablet.
Our free guide, Live Streaming for Houses of Worship, shares how churches of all sizes and denominations, from around the country, have succeeded with a live streaming strategy. The guide includes:
- Overviews of how various church build their technical setups for live streaming
- Steps on how to get started with live streaming yourself
- Case studies about how churches increased their website traffic online giving
Learn more and download the guide today.
About Vimeo Livestream
Vimeo Livestream enable organizations to share experiences through live video, unlocking a world where every event is available live online. We are part of the Vimeo family, which empowers video creators of all kinds to tell exceptional stories and connect with their audiences and communities. Home to more than 80 million members in over 150 countries, Vimeo is the world’s largest ad-free open video platform. The company provides professional software, tools and technology for creators to host, distribute and monetize their videos anywhere. Headquartered in New York City and with offices around the world, Vimeo is an operating business of IAC (NASDAQ: IAC). Learn more at www.livestream.com.
