Does live-streaming still have a place in churches?
During lockdown, live-streaming became a lifeline keeping congregations connected. But post-pandemic, does it still have a place in church? During a recent Elim Digital Debate, several pastors shared their experiences
FROM ONLINE AND OVERSEAS TO IN-PERSON
Oscar Mucyo
Oscar Mucyo, Coventry Elim’s digital director, says the church began experimenting with live-streaming before Covid but today relies on it to help build connections with people all over the world – some of whom have even made the move to Coventry. We’ve heard stories of people who’ve been watching in their home countries and have had the opportunity to move to the UK.
Because they’ve been watching us, they’ve come to church, joined us physically and are now serving on team. For me, that is a reason not to stop live-streaming. We had a story of a lady who watched us from Pakistan. She used to really engage online, chatting with the digital pastors who knew her and her needs. She was planning to come to the UK and couldn’t wait. She was so excited because she just wanted to actually be here in person.
Then, one Sunday, she was here! She went up to pastor Duncan and showed him a bunch of pictures of people watching our livestream in Pakistan. She had maybe 20 to 30 people in a room watching it on a phone! That was encouraging because it felt like, wow, we are in a country like Pakistan!
The idea of shutting down our livestream is just like, no! We could be shutting down something for someone who finds it really important.
Top tip from Oscar
We’ve got a team of online pastors who are there to listen to people, hear their prayer requests and make that bridge connection between in-person and online so people who are on at home or watching from around the world can feel like they’re part of what’s going on.
A ROW BEHIND THE BACK ROW
Leon Evans
For Lifecentral Church in Halesowen, live-streaming became a feature of church life after lead pastor Leon Evans felt called to stream their services before the pandemic. Now, they find their online offering is a key step on many people’s spiritual journeys.
Back in 2019, I felt we should be live-streaming our services and said to our tech team, “Let’s go for it!” All of them said they weren’t sure, we weren’t ready, we hadn’t got the cameras and the experience. It was one of those occasions when I just felt a nudge from the Lord, so I said we’d be alright and would figure it out as we went. We started in January 2020, then when Covid hit in March, everybody looked at me and said, “Wow!”
Initially, it was necessity, but the necessity soon became an opportunity – for mission. Our mission is to help people find and follow Jesus, and we found so many people have met him through our online ministry. Coming out of Covid, we’ve baptised more people than we’ve ever baptised before. Many of those have started their journey with God online.
Online can be a really key part of somebody’s journey. A lady came to us during the pandemic. She was a Christian, but her son, who was only in his 40s, had died of Covid.
It was a tragic situation and she needed a place where she could find healing. She started watching us online and emailed to say, “What this has provided for me is a row behind the back row.” We love that phrase because some people need a row behind the back row, whether it’s through life circumstances or because they’re on a faith journey.
We have some virtual connect groups where people only connect with us online, but recently, they came to church in-person and spent the weekend together, so there are people making steps on their faith journey towards God.
Top tip from Leon
Many people watch us on YouTube or on their TV, so they can’t do the chat function, but we still have pre-service and post-service hangout. That’s five minutes before and afterwards, with presenters who prepare people online by explaining what’s coming up to make it a little more relational and to get a bit of chat and engagement going.
Digital right on your doorstep
Online pastor Dave Adamson issued Digital Debate listeners with an alternative view and a challenge: “Most pastors I’ve spoken to say ‘I’m the pastor of a local church but I use technology to try to reach the world.’ But what if you decided to use technology to reach your local community?
“I believe context is king, not content. If you’re using technology to reach the context in which God has called you to serve – your local community – you’ll start to really make a difference online because you don’t have to worry about building online community.
“You can build on-site community because your focus is directed to that place where God has originally called you to be.”
ACCESS POINTS INTO CHURCH
Mark Pugh
A nudge from God got Rediscover Church in Exeter into live-streaming a decade ago as pastor Mark Pugh realised connections were being made with people who were unlikely to enter the building. Today, he says, live-streaming continues to offer an important way to connect.
We’ve been live-streaming and involved in social media and other media activities for the past 10 years and it’s been one of those really profound access points for the church.
We’re in a place now where everybody sees and understands that, to some degree, the welcome mat happens way before our building. Livestream has certainly been a key part of that.
I remember getting an email from one guy who introduced himself, saying something along these lines. “I’ve been watching your livestream for the past six months and I’ve gone through your back catalogue of all your pre-recorded videos. I’ve given my life to Jesus and I wonder if I’d be able to meet you for a coffee.”
There are stories of people who are ill and housebound and have been able to continue fellowship as a result of livestream, or people on holiday overseas that in the old style of doing things, would have missed out entirely on church, but are still keeping up with it on holiday.
I don’t think I can remember the last time I met someone, apart from a holidaymaker, who has attended one of our gatherings or community groups for the first time who hasn’t already connected with something we do online. It’s true of all sectors, isn’t it? Few people will buy something without reviewing it online first and finding out what other people are saying. That’s the reality of the world we’re in and churches have to be in that space too.
Top tip from Mark
During Covid, we felt like broadcasters but the reality is we’re not, we’re ministers. If we start feeling we’re broadcasters, we start looking at the numbers and thinking it’s discouraging if we’re not getting the same numbers as before, but it’s worth it if there’s one person who is blessed.
What if live-streaming isn't for you?
Southville Elim Church recently stopped live-streaming their services due to concerns about the quality of their digital output. But other digital activity is proving very fruitful, says pastor Matt Ireland.
A few years back, we made the decision to employ our content director, who works for us one day a week. Her job is simply to make the church look fantastic online, taking photos, videos, putting posts out, updating things on the website, even looking after the SEO.
Since we’ve stopped live-streaming, we’ve focused more on our online presence. Four or five non-church families came in and said, “We saw it on Google/your website/on Facebook.” “What, no one invited you?” “No. I just saw on Facebook.”
If it’s resulted in five new people who said they can’t wait to come back next week and who booked into our kids holiday club, then it’s worth every penny.”
These extracts are part of the Digital Debate, which was packed with other stories from these pastors as well as other speakers. You can watch the full session on YouTube.
This article first appeared in Direction Magazine. For further details, please click here.
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