In this post, we’re sharing our pro live streaming takeaways for churches and religious organizations.
Churches and religious organizations are putting on live events on a weekly basis for their congregation and community. Many of them are now also broadcasting their services out across Facebook, YouTube, and more using tools like Ecamm Live.
While the content and experience varies depending on the church, synagogue, temple, or mosque, the process and best practices are generally the same.
We invited five religious live streamers and content creators to share their pro live streaming takeaways on a live panel discussion geared towards the challenges and benefits of broadcasting your religious services.
Watch the live panel discussion
This session is hosted by Kirk Nugent from How It All Werks and features Walter Jennette, Roberto Salermo, Rabbi David Paskin, and Bishop Donald Oliver.
And we learned a lot. Here are the top live streaming tips and takeaways from the panel discussion.
# 1 – Welcome everyone into the experience
Whether you’re live streaming your church service or you’re doing it in person, your focus should be the same — making everyone watching feel welcome and part of the experience.
When you’re live streaming, this could mean having multiple camera angles to bring the experience to life, it could mean having a part of your service where you’re taking prayer requests or questions from the live viewers using live commenting, or you could have a completely separate live stream broadcast that is a pastor or leader highlighting important parts of the message and taking questions live. Just remember that you’re doing this for the viewer and you want them to feel part of it.
# 2 – Make the content accessible
You don’t necessarily have to live stream the entire service. You may want to pre-record your worship time or a message from missionaries and roll those video clips during the live broadcast. Having a mix of pre-recorded and live content makes it easier on your team and creates a great experience for your congregation.
#3 – Think about your space
Your gear and the size of your team will vary depending if you’re broadcasting from a large building or a small space. Always consider both your in-person audience AND your at-home viewers when you’re capturing video content. Start with the basics and build it up as you go.
It’s OK not to have the best, most expensive equipment. You can live stream professionally using your phone as a camera with apps like Filmic Pro and Ecamm Live.
#4 – Make sure you’re playing by the rules
If you’re live streaming worship music, make sure you have the right copyrights and permission to do so. Consider services like CCLI to make sure you have your bases covered.
# 5 – Consider gamification
Leveraging live video also opens up the ability to gamify the experience. Host a live Bible study and play a trivia game together or an online game of Wheel of Fortune. Check out Digital Strategies for Churches for some great game ideas for your service.
