The first time a visitor walks into your church building, they probably know more about your church than you think. More than that, visitors may have even participated in a worship service already.
Much has been written about church websites being an unexpected “front door” to the church, but in the aftermath of the pandemic and near-universal adoption of video technology by churches, your online worship service is probably your new front door. For many, the first time they encounter your congregation will be through a video. Read More
How we experience a service when we view it online differs from how we experience it when we take part in the service in person.
Some churches came to recognize that difference and made changes in their services to improve the experience of those viewing the services online. They shortened the services, shortened the sermons, used close-up shots of the preacher and the musicians, and closed captioned and subtitled the lyrics of hymns and songs and the words of Scripture readings.
Among the results is that they gained more viewers than did churches which did not make these changes. The latter may have lost viewers to churches that did.
The quality of a church's livestreamed and video-recorded services is something that churches do need to give much more attention than they presently do. As well as tightening up their services and doing a better job of choreographing the services, they need to improve how they show them online. Viewers do not need to see long-shots of worshippers scattered around a sanctuary or the preacher, the praise team, or the choir.
Pastors need to work with their tech teams so they get the best results. What the viewer sees online is going to be their first impression of a church and pastors will want that impression to be a good one, an impression that will want to make the viewer visit the church in person.
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