Learn to Easily Stream Live Church Services
Explaining to the pastor why the livestream died halfway through the service is a conversation no volunteer wants to have twice. The camera is rarely at fault: it is one internet connection that cannot hold a steady upload for a full hour.
Speedify is an app that runs your internet over two or more internet connections together, such as the building’s Wi-Fi and a phone’s 4G/5G cellular connection, and leans on the healthy one when the other falters. On a single connection, Speedify works as an encrypted VPN and cannot stop that connection from dropping. Read on for the basics of broadcasting a service online, the tools churches pick, and what using Speedify changes on the day itself.
Speedify keeps the stream up when the venue internet does not
Evolution of Houses of Worship During the Pandemic
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 over 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.
Offering services online, live and recorded, keeps the church within reach of members who cannot come to the building: older congregants, people who are ill, and those who live far away.
Church Live Streaming Basics
If you’re wondering how to broadcast church services online, here’s a shortlist of required things:
- Reliable internet: that’s what makes live streaming possible. Don’t rely on a single internet connection when live streaming a church service. Have a second connection available from a different ISP. Switching between connections takes a while, so it’s best to use both connections at once with an app like Speedify, which moves the stream to the working connection when one has issues.
- Audio-video equipment: a recent smartphone works fine. For more professional quality, you will need a camera recording in full HD with an HDMI output, a dedicated microphone and lighting. Learn more about the equipment involved here.
- Social platform: will you stream to Facebook, YouTube, Zoom or others? Most guides recommend an existing social profile, most commonly Facebook and/or YouTube. Church services can also be streamed to multiple platforms using a live streaming service that supports multistreaming.
- Streaming solution: you can use the native app of the social platform and stream directly to Facebook, YouTube, etc. For a professional production (with text overlays, clips, images and so on), use a dedicated church streaming solution. This TGC article recommends Boxcast, Restream or OBS.
Another article offers extensive information about 10 church streaming services. - Live streaming crew: if you don’t have the budget to hire a professional videographer, have someone from the congregation learn the hardware and software tools. You will need a crew especially if you live stream with multiple cameras, since someone has to switch between them in the streaming software.
Alternatively, before you invest in equipment, ask the community if they’re familiar with a specific camera or streaming software and use those.
Best Practices Once Your Church Live Stream Is Running
Once you have the church live streaming gear all up and running, you should think about things like:
- whether to live stream the entire service or just the preaching / teaching;
- whether to have a preaching monologue or engage with the viewers through comments and take questions;
- how to grow the online presence, for example with targeted advertising based on location and/or age;
- live streaming other church events as well, not just regular services (fundraisers, for example).
With a fast and reliable internet connection, a church can bring its services to the existing community and to new members with nothing more than a smartphone. Broadcasting church and house of worship services online fits any budget.
Speedify
Get started with Speedify today.
Speedify combines Wi-Fi, 4G/5G cellular, Ethernet, Starlink and satellite into one faster, more reliable internet connection. Free to try: 5 GB a month with a free account. No credit card required.
🚀 Speed
Faster uploads and downloads, because Speedify uses all your internet connections at once.
📶 Stability
If one internet connection drops, Speedify moves your traffic to the others in milliseconds.
🔒 Security
AES-256 encryption on every internet connection, on any network you join.
15M+ downloads worldwide. 75K+ five-star reviews on iOS and Android.