Communication, and even the way people are interacting with the church, is evolving.
There are more opportunities to communicate the gospel than there have ever been. Smart churches will do whatever is necessary to reach people where they are. That being said, let me share a little about two simple, low-cost options for connecting with more people that we’re seeing few churches leverage to their maximum potential.
Facebook Live
You can stream services, practical conversations, special events – whatever fits your strategy – from your church’s existing Facebook page. Here are some of the benefits:
- Offers an expanded audience with the potential of global reach
- Provides opportunities for an online audience, as well as regular attenders, to be involved in weekly services even when they are not there
- Builds a community of believers who share prayer requests and connect on a regular basis
- Provides detailed analytics about who is watching and where they are watching your services from
- Offers options to reach targeted demographics and desired locations
- Provides two-way communication
- Results in greater post reach and more Facebook reviews
- Gives opportunities for people to take next steps
- Allows content to be shared
- Notifies all of your followers when you are live streaming
YouTube Live
With YouTube Live, you can customize your audio/video, monetize your show with ads, make a highlight reel, and more. Here are some of the other benefits:
- Low cost alternative to many higher-priced streaming options
- Reliable stream due to wide span of customers all around the world
- Detailed analytics about who is watching and where they are watching from
- Provides two-way communication
- Attainable and getting started is not extremely difficult
- Provides opportunities for new revenue streams
Posting on social media that you are having an 11am service probably isn’t going to make someone roll out of bed on a cold Sunday morning to attend church for the first time, but that doesn’t mean you can’t reach them where they are and give them a next step.
Simply having a website and streaming a service isn’t going to cut it in the future. Lack of knowledge is not an excuse; it only takes a quick search to find out what you need to know. And, these tools don’t even require a big up-front investment to test out. You can be nimble.
This year, take some risks. Even if you fail, it’s worth taking some new chances to connect more people to the Gospel message.
