Chapter 11 of 15 · Tactical Ideas
What Should Your Church Actually Stream?
Chapter 11, “Streaming Church?,” from Online Church Is Not the Answer by Jay Kranda
Short answer: Most small churches shouldn't live stream. Capture the message as a podcast until you can do video well. If you do stream, stream one service, talk to all three groups (the room, the people watching live, and everyone watching later), and give each of them a next step.
What is this chapter about?
I couldn't skip a chapter on streaming, even though I'm a little bored by the topic. A podcast host asked me what small churches should do with their live stream and my answer surprised him: most shouldn't. Capture the audio of the message for a weekly podcast instead. The church I came to faith in, around five hundred people, started streaming right before COVID with bad lighting, audio mixed for the room, and a camera in the unused balcony pointed down like a security webcam. It looked like a nineties grunge video, and then they pushed that to social. Your stream tells the community what your church looks like inside. If you can't do it right, do audio.
If you do stream, platforms come and go, so don't build your crowd on one. Facebook Live made streaming free overnight, which removed the friction that used to force a decision, and most churches haven't rethought their stream since that first Facebook Live. Facebook is where members share the service; YouTube is where people discover it and actually keep watching. Recently my church stopped streaming our local services to Facebook and YouTube at all. We stream them only on our website and apps and upload a custom Online Community service to YouTube, partly because we want people near a location to show up in person. Not everyone loved it. Objectives, objectives, objectives.
The part I'd underline is the three groups. Everyone in the room, everyone watching live online, and everyone watching days, months, or years later. Seminary trained us to talk to the room. A beginner move is three touchpoints: say hello to those online during the welcome, give an online next step at the end of the message, and say goodbye at the close. Your archive is a 24/7 next step generator; I get puzzling emails during the week that turn out to be responses to a sermon from years ago on YouTube. Put an easy URL with a digital connection card in every description. And if you have the vision, build something custom for online. Churchome did Short Church, ten minutes of message and a song. The Sermon on the Mount is about fifteen minutes. If Timothy could get circumcised for the sake of outreach in Acts 16, we can change the format of an online service.
What are the big ideas?
Don't just put the room experience online and ignore the online audience. Consistent people on camera build community over time, and the ink is never dry on a streaming strategy. Spend a few hours a month watching other churches and trending creators in your target demographic. Then imagine what MrBeast would do with a worship service for YouTube, and do it for your church instead.
Who is this chapter for?
The church that set up a stream during lockdown and hasn't thought about it since, and the pastor who preaches to the room and forgets the other two groups exist.
What is the Big Idea of chapter 11?
Big Idea: Don't limit what you stream and how you stream your church services to what has been done before, but think bigger and more strategically about the goals around offering your church's worship services online.
What else do people ask?
Should a small church live stream its worship service?
Usually not. The book recommends a weekly audio podcast of the message until the church can produce video that represents it well. Streaming is rarely in the top five things to invest limited digital resources in.
YouTube or Facebook for church streaming?
Facebook is good for members sharing the service but poor for retention. YouTube is better for discovery and long watch times and puts the service on every TV with a YouTube app. Pick based on your audiences and objectives, and track a high and low metric for each.
What are the three groups a sermon reaches?
The people in the room, the people watching live online, and the people who watch later, sometimes years later. Each group needs a way to take a next step.
Do we need an online host?
Start with three touchpoints from the stage: a hello, a next step, and a goodbye for those online. A dedicated host or custom online moments come later if they fit your objectives.