How to Broadcast Church Services Online

Historically, churches and houses of worship in general have been places where people would come together to pray and engage in each religion's rituals. The 2020 pandemic has  definitely accelerated the adoption rate of live streaming and online technology solutions to churches.

Church live streaming services have opened the potential for sharing masses, sermons and other religious services to the existing congregation, as well as to new members.

This article will share the basics of how to broadcast church services online, as well as the top church live streaming solutions.

Churches and places of worship in general have had a double role: one is to provide the learnings of each religion's top figure, as well as to bring people together and consolidate the community.

With restrictions in place following the 2020 pandemic, churches had to find a way to fulfill their role. The simplest way to do that was to accelerate the use of live streaming to reach their community via the Internet.

According to this Wall Street Journal article, in-person church attendance is roughly 30% to 50% lower than it was before the pandemic. Micro-gatherings of members of the same church or at-home events are some ways people still meet face-to-face.

Live streaming church services is not something new; according to this house of worship stats compilation from 2017, there were some 167k  church events online in 2016 alone with over 70% of total donations being made online.

The way to build a Covid-proof and recession-proof situation is definitely offering access to church services to the community via the Internet through live streaming and recorded live streams. This will be the path even if some religions will only offer this option for elderly congregants or when members are sick or have good reasons not to come to the building.

If you're wondering how to broadcast church services online, here's a shortlist of required things:

1. Reliable Internet - that's what makes live streaming possible. Don't rely on a single Internet connection when live streaming a church service. You should definitely have a backup connection available from a different ISP. The trouble with that is it takes a while to switch between connections.
   That's why it's best to use both connections at once using a service like Speedify, for a seamless handover in case one of the connections has issues.
2. Audio-video equipment - you can use a smartphone like the iPhone 12 without any issues. For more professional quality, you will need a camera recording in full HD with an HDMI output, as well as a dedicated microphone. And lighting solutions. Learn more about the equipment involved here.
3. Social platform - where will you be live streaming to: will it be Facebook, YouTube, Zoom or others? Most recommend using an existing social profile to live stream - most commonly Facebook and/or YouTube.
   Churches services can also be streamed to multiple platforms using a live streaming service that supports multistreaming.
4. Streaming solution - you can use the native app of the social platform - stream directly to Facebook, YouTube, etc. Or, for a professional  production - where you can also add all kinds of text overlays, clips, images, etc. - you should use a dedicated church streaming solution.
   This TGC article recommends Boxcast, Restream or OBS.
   Another article offers extensive information about 10 church streaming services.
5. Live streaming crew - if you don't have budget to hire a professional videographer, you should have someone from the congregation learn how to use the hardware and software tools. You will need a crew especially if you want to live stream using multiple cameras - someone has to switch between them in the streaming software.
   Alternatively, before you invest in equipment, you could ask the community if they're familiar with a specific camera / streaming software and use those.