Businesses 
and organizations have understood the importance of an interactive website for quite some time, but churches are just starting to realize the benefits of a high profile website with streaming video. Most marketing firms indicate that you only have a few seconds to engage a website visitor. This is incredibly important for growing churches that are looking to build their congregation. Just like with businesses looking to gain traction online, churches also must put their best foot forward online when trying to bring in new visitors. One way that churches are increasing their exposure and growing their congregation is through the streaming of sermons and other video content. Many times visitors who are looking for a church want to understand the style of preaching before visiting to make sure they’ll feel comfortable there. By broadcasting your sermons online, you’re allowing potential visitors to experience your own style without the pressure actually attending a service can place on them. Streaming sermons online with a content delivery provider such as TikiLIVE offers a whole host of advantages for your church. Extend the Local Reach of Your Church When most people think about streaming content online, they think about connecting with viewers all over the world. While this is true, for a church it is important to connect with people on a local level as well. Streaming your sermons allows you to reach out to a variety of local people who may not be able to physically come to your church.
- Homebound Church Members – Many churches have a large number of homebound members who can no longer attend services due to health or mobility issues. With video streaming, your homebound members or visitors can tune in to your services each week without leaving their homes and still feel connected to their faith and their community.
- Unchurched Local Residents – While some people may be open to exploring or rekindling their faith, a poor experience in their past may make them hesitant to actually attend a service. By streaming your sermon, you can reach those who are open to your message but may feel intimidated by the thought of actually attending a service. As they become more comfortable with the flow of your service, they may actually decide to join your congregation full time.
- Visitors – Consistently drawing visitors into your church is likely one of your primary avenues for growth. Sometimes these visitors would rather watch your church service online before actually visiting your church. This allows these visitors to experience your worship service with no additional pressures. Typically this can make visitors much more comfortable with your congregation before actually setting foot in your sanctuary.
- Church Members – Not only can live streaming benefit visitors and those who are physically unable to attend church, it can also benefit your own church members. Whether your members are out of town, sick, or stationed abroad for work, they can still view your services. This allows your congregation to always feel connected even when they are not in the area.
Grow Discipleship
While streaming sermons is one of the primary reasons for using an online video provider, there are plenty of other ways to use video to build discipleship. Whether you want to stream Bible studies or Sunday school classes to members around the corner or around the world, video streaming offers a great way to offer much more than just your weekly sermons online.
Weather Issues
Weather is a primary reason why some of your congregation members may miss church services on a given Sunday. By streaming your services online, you can still connect with your congregation members regardless of the weather outside. This is a welcome offering for congregations with a large number of elderly members who may be hesitant to travel to church when severe weather is on the horizon.
Cheaper Than Television
While television is still important if your congregation may not have Internet access, this is becoming less and less of an issue as Internet access becomes more widespread. The disadvantage of television is the high cost of buying airtime, which many houses of worship simply cannot afford. Streaming video online is a much more economical option for growing churches who are looking to reach more people without spending a fortune on TV airtime.
Robust Analytics
One important aspect of live video streaming is the ability to track the movement of visitors. Imagine being able to track which sermons and videos are the most popular. TikiLIVE offers a full suite of analytics tools, which allow you to intimately track your visitors. Armed with this data, you can tailor your messages to your church audience. Imagine finding out that even though you are located in Los Angeles, you have a large number of viewers in San Diego. With this concrete data, you could possibly look into opening another campus in these growth areas to serve these residents who are obviously interested in your church. Freedom Life Church in Hampton, Virginia used this approach and realized that they had a large number of viewers in San Antonio, Texas. They are now launching a new location in San Antonio to serve this need.
Mobile Ready
Your congregation members and visitors no longer need to access your streaming content from a computer. With TikiLIVE’s mobile-ready infrastructure members and visitors can access your content from any type of mobile device. Whether it is a smartphone or a tablet, TikiLIVE’s HTML5 technology allows your users to easily view your content online. This means that even the busiest people will have time to hear the Word.
Expand Your Reach
Without online streaming, you can only reach those who either walk into your sanctuary or are in your local community. By streaming your content online, you can literally reach the world. Forget about the number of seats in your sanctuary, by streaming your content online, you truly can provide your services to an unlimited number of people around the world. Think about the positive impact that you can have by streaming your content online.
Want More Information on Streaming Your Church Services? Contact TikiLIVE!
If you’d like to learn more about how TikiLIVE can help you spread God’s word, contact us today and let us help you get set up!
