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Join me in my conversation with Phill Thompson about streaming before and after Covid, his experience with church planting, and why “burning out for Jesus” is a terrible idea. In addition to working in ministry for decades as a missionary, pastor, and church planter, Phill Thompson is the VP & Streaming Specialist with StreamingChurch.tv. Keep reading to learn about:
- The value in live streaming your church service before and after the pandemic.
- Why you should post church services on your own website (and not just on YouTube or Facebook)
- How shorter clips of your worship services are more effective than the whole (and easier than you think to edit)
- Why burning out for Jesus is a terrible idea.
The Value In Live Streaming Your Church Service
In this generation, people are getting used to the idea of being able to attend church online. Obviously, churches were streaming before the pandemic hit and everything was shut down. However, after Covid people seem to expect churches to have a live streaming service. If you are questioning whether you should keep streaming your service, I want to tell you that there is value in live streaming.
Because people expect your church to be live streaming their services, it’s a good idea to continue to do so. If you want to be discovered and you want people to find your church, having a live stream is a great way to do that. When people look for a local church, they often go to your website looking for video content. Having a live stream helps people understand what your church is like before even walking through the doors.
Widening Your Reach
In addition to the fact that having a live stream can help bring people into your church, live streaming also allows you to reach people who aren’t able to be at church for a multitude of reasons. This could be the answer to somebody’s dilemma!
It’s important to remember that just because someone can’t make it to church, whether that be for a week, months, or years, that doesn’t mean that church isn’t valuable to them or that they are lazy. There are so many reasons as to why people can’t come to church ranging from disabilities, caring for another person, work, etc. Just because they can’t make it in, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t provide them with the chance to watch the service live at home or whenever they can.
Posting Church Service On Your Website
When posting your church services and other video content, be sure to put it on your website. After putting it up on your website, you can then go over to Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, etc., and post it there too. The reason for putting it up on your website first is to ensure that the content you put there stays yours. When you put content out on these other platforms, companies are allowed to use them. They can monetize it. They can even censor it.
By posting your content on your website, you’re ensuring that people will see it, and you will continue to have control over that specific content. This is also a great way to build up your website and present your church authentically to those looking to attend.
The Effectiveness Of Shorter Clips
Cutting and pasting your entire service onto your website isn’t the most effective way to share your church services anymore. Now, people are looking for shorter clips of your service to get an idea of who your church is, what you’re talking about, and how your worship services go. Rather than putting up your whole service, try putting little snippets up!
The great thing about this is, it’s so easy to do! There’s free editing software out there that allows you to do basic edits on your videos that you can put up on your website, on Facebook, YouTube, and even Twitter. This is an easy way to keep people engaged in your content and wanting to learn more!
Remember, Burning Out For Jesus Wasn’t Taught By Jesus
Jesus never taught that we should be burning out for Him. It’s important to remember that everything transfers. What you do affects other people. If you are having a tough time or are so exhausted that you become quick to anger, it will all come out. If you have an unhealthy group of people, whether it’s your volunteers or people you’re working with, your whole church is affected by that and can become unhealthy too.
Take the time off to rest and reconnect. Remember that God created us with limitations. It can be so easy to get caught up in the tech issues of your church or the craziness that is social media. Trust me, I know. However, by taking the time you need and reaching out to people to lean on, you are setting yourself up for a deeper, more meaningful impact in your small church.
Read More:
Why Live Streaming Your Church Service Is The Best Solution
