In the old days, churches used to buy time on a local TV or radio stations to extend their reach electronically but today, technological advances and increased internet access has made live streaming services gain popularity.
TV and radio services cost money and for many churches, these annual expenses prevents them from broadcasting their service. Facebook Live however, now makes streaming services more accessible to a large potential audience of viewers at affordable costs. In many cases, users can do so for free or for a fraction of the cost of the expensive Internet church streaming services springing up all over the place.
So, what’s the bare minimum that you need in order to pull it off? That depends on what you’re trying to do, but if you’re looking for the absolute minimum, it really isn’t as much as you’d think.
The simplest and cheapest way to stream your worship services live to Facebook is to use your smartphone. It costs nothing, except the price of the phone, the Internet connection in the building where you’re streaming along with a reliable Wi-Fi router.
You will also need a phone tripod. You can buy a decent holder and tripod for your phone.
Aside smartphones, for more professional output, you need a streaming computer, a camera (or video feed from a switcher) that can connect to your streaming computer, a reliable broadband connection, and good audio that can also connect to the streaming computer. This connects to your streaming video provider, so you’re uploading one stream and no matter how many people watch, your internet connection isn’t affected.
Initially in Uganda, we only had a few popular TV brands live streaming some of their programs especially news. Churches are now adopting the trend.
From my experience, I can say that live-streaming is definitely something worth trying and I am happy with how many have adopted this system. The traffic on many pages has tripled from when they started just a couple of months ago.
Doing it first time? Since it is something your audience isn’t used to, challenge now is how you can get them watch the feed soon as you go live. I would recommend you inform your audience a reasonable number of times days before you go live. Make the title appealing and descriptive when you go live. Get a few other members from your church to actively interact with those viewing.
Avoid filters and stickers. Facebook offers them as options, and they’re fun for video for your friends. Don’t use them for your church. They don’t look professional, unless or otherwise.
How to start up
Start by opening the Facebook app. You’ll want to stream from your church’s Facebook Page. If you don’t have a church Facebook Page, then set one up using this Facebook Help page.
Tap on the three vertical line menu or “hamburger icon” in either the upper right or lower right corner depending on whether you use and iPhone or Android phone. It’s on the upper right on an Android phone and looks like three horizontal lines sitting all the way to the right. It’s on the lower right on iPhone, also all the way to the right. Now scroll down till you see Pages. Tap it and find your church’s Facebook Page. The person doing this has to be assigned as an administrator.
On and iPhone or Android phone, look for the box that reads Write something… on it. Tap it.
If you’re using an Android phone, tap on the Go Live button (see above left). On an iPhone it reads Live Video (above right). If it’s the first time you’ve done this, the app may ask for permission to use the camera, the mic or locations. Use your phone’s button in camera view to select the forward facing camera which looks like two arrows in a circle.
Hold your phone in landscape view instead of portrait view. It looks more professional. Only violate this principles if you know most of your viewers will watch the live stream on their phones.
When everything looks ready, tap on the blue GO LIVE button in the lower right corner of the screen.
By Katusime Edgar, Aaron Sseruyigo. With additions from Kevin Purcell of Church Tech Today.
