Is It Time To Stop Streaming Your Service?

I have no opposition to streaming services. I believe that is an invaluable fixture that is here to stay. I am, however, opposed to doing it poorly.

I have to assume now that every single time I speak, I am on video. That is not necessarily a bad thing. The quality of these videos, however, goes from TV-broadcast level on one end, to something entirely unusable on the other.

If a church does not have the resources or expertise to at least present a video that is a fitting testimony for the gospel, then, yes, I believe it should stop streaming the services. Strive to do an excellent audio recording instead!

I wonder if the password is consistent from week to week, or if people need to request a per-week password.

This has been something our elders have thought about and talked about. (I'm an elder.)

Closely related is nailing down, a little better, what is meant by "shut-in." It's easy to let initial health issues (knee problems or whatever) turn into a permanent shut-in status without officially assessing the situation and saying, "Yeah, so-and-so truly can't make it to church on a regular basis."

I wonder how much real "abuse" of livestreaming is going on with our services. If I'm sick, I will typically try to watch our services live. It's a nice option. I'm sure some people do that rather than make the effort to get dressed and drive to church, but I wonder how big of a problem that actually is. A nursing home in our area shows our church livestream for its residents. They even get our church bulletins delivered. I think that is helpful for them and probably worth doing.

I used to live Zoom my SS classes during Covid. I stopped doing that but I do record them (via Zoom) and provide links after class for people who missed and would like to listen later.

The thing that I started to do during Covid, that I thought I'd never do, is give electronically. I used to think giving during the service was an important part of my worship, but now electronic giving is SO convenient that I've never gone back to writing paper checks. In fact, the only checks I write now are for paying people who refuse to enter into the 21st century and accept Zelle or Venmo payments.

I thought Challies’ objections/concerns about streaming seemed to come from the assumption that using the tech has to be justified. That is, he is coming from “It’s best to not do it, so can we justify doing it?” I’m coming at it more from “Why not?… Are there really strong reasons not to do it?”

I also thought a lot of the objections/concerns seemed like things people used to say about sermon recordings, once upon a time, too.

But it’s certainly not a bad thing to evaluate all the ministry tools we use and ask if there are unintended consequences that might be canceling out the advantages.

Andy, I wasn’t originally sure how I felt about electronic giving, but even before Covid, I finally came to the conclusion that I liked it, for the reason that doing it that way would never be a public show of my giving (kind of like not talking about fasting when you are doing it). In my opinion, this makes electronic giving even superior to using offering boxes at the back of the church (which my church started doing during Covid). I don’t discount the worship aspect of giving, but the real worship is the sacrifice and the desire to give of our substance back to God. That’s the same when sending an e-payment from my bank or initiating a stock donation online as it is writing a check for the service.

As regards livestreaming, I’m pretty much of a similar mind as to what you described above. A pretty large percentage of my church could be considered senior-aged (I’m quickly getting there myself). Most of them love to come to the services, but are very happy they can always get the service when they can’t make it. And most of the time, this isn’t members who are at the beach and throwing a bone to God on Sunday morning. My sister-in-law is a member of your church, and her health issues are significant. The fact she can “tune in” every week is a really big blessing to her. Can people abuse this and never come? Of course, but most things can be abused, and that possibility is not in itself a reason to discontinue them.

I doubt that if you were to stop livestreaming, that all of a sudden those individuals who could attend service would magjcally be regular attenders. My mom ministers to a lot of ladies that are well into their senior years (80 years old to 103 years old), and she livestreams her class. It helps those who are unable to attend a specific week(s) because of health conditions to still maintain a connection to the class. It has been invaluable. The church traditionally has not ministered well to those who can no longer attend services regularly. This bridges that gap.

I know two people in my church who were just released from hospital stays. I’d be shocked to see either one of them at church on Sunday. It’s great they can both join us via livestream even though they won’t be with us in person. Since the mandatory closures in 2020 due to COVID, I haven’t missed a service due to illness. It’s nice to know that when/if that happens, I’ll have the option of joining the service(s) on my 55” screen at home.

I’ve seen surveys that claim that at least half of first-time visitors to a church will first “visit” online before they actually walk through a church’s doors. Put that option behind a password, and how many of those potential visitors will simply cross that church off their list sight unseen? Is there a reason that a church would knowingly choose to do that?

Read what he says as knocks against live-streaming. Live streaming "may" encourage disobedience, live streaming "may" damage what church is all about, etc.

Lots of maybes.

I've read Challies' book about technology and he is full of fear mongering there too.

The thing is, the technology is here, it isn't going away, so we might as well learn how to use it.

For us, live-streaming has clearly resulted in many visitors coming to our church (after checking us out on line). Some of them have stayed. Some have gotten saved, and are growing in the church. Almost no one deliberately stays away from church (that I know of) rather than attend. Live stream is great when you are sick, or away.

Mostly, I think Challies just needs to put up an opinion a day and sound thoughtful. That's his shtick

A quick Google inquiry says that the first radio broadcast of a church service was on January 2nd, 1921. Other churches soon followed.

I wonder if 100 years ago there were articles published and discussions held about pulling the plug on church services broadcast on the radio, lest people skip attendance in person.