Spread positivity by Live streaming Churches and Houses of Faith

Churches and houses of faith are places where a community is built and fostered. And when people are feeling like breaking down during such testing times, lifting each other’s spirits up through positivity and faith is of paramount importance. But how can you reach out to your congregation members when they are homebound or unable to reach the event? Fortunately, you can do so by using a live streaming platform that broadcasts your masses, prayers, and learning sessions. 

This blog is about how to live stream churches and religious events with an all-inclusive platform and reach your audience. 

Let’s first begin with knowing the benefits of live streaming religious services:

• As faith leaders, live streaming can help you reach out to your members easily, even during the COVID-19 pandemic that the world is currently facing.
• You can help differently-abled or senior citizens who are unable to attend the event or your house of worship, attend the masses and sessions virtually.
• You can live stream sermons to members interested in participating in the community but are unable to attend because of their travel & hectic schedules.
• You can have more reach and bring in new members along with engaging the existing members.
• Your church or house of worship can broadcast sermons or personal events requested by members due to inability to attend the ceremony. 

So how do you get started with live streaming? 

You would need the things mentioned below to begin live streaming:

Equipment: 

It does not matter if you don’t have a complete production crew and studio setup with you. A basic video recorder with a laptop and a reliable internet connection would do the job. It is the transcoding that makes the difference between the live and recorded video. So, for your live stream to happen, the video feed from the camera has to be formatted properly. If your video camera has an HDMI output and a good live streaming platform, you are good to go. 

Sound: 

What is the point to conduct live streaming church or faith sessions if your audience cannot hear the message clearly? You need to ensure that the audio is relayed straight into the camera or any other device used for broadcasting. Having a set of microphones and soundboard is a good idea as it channels the audio directly into the stream. 

Internet Connection: 

As the ability to transcode, upload, and broadcast is dependent on the internet connection, you need to ensure stable connectivity. In order to have a clear and successful stream, it is always advisable to use a dedicated WiFi or Ethernet connection for your church streaming. 

It is also highly recommended to have twice as much upload speed as the bitrate you want to broadcast.

It is so because the bitrate that you select for streaming has a direct impact on the viewing quality. So, the live stream video won’t look good on an HD or Roku television if streamed at mobile bitrate, rather it will need less bandwidth. 

To  know more about bitrate, check out our blog on Adaptive Bitrate streaming: Simplified for One & All.

Crew: 

Attending live streaming mass or a prayer session with frequent interruptions or disturbances is not what any member would appreciate. To ensure that all the setup to have a peaceful live stream is well-coordinated and working, you need a crew. 

Your church or house of faith may have an A/V or tech team. If that is not the case, then you will need a dedicated team of volunteers who have a complete understanding of how to operate the equipment and ensure seamless streaming. Depending upon your setup scale, you will need to work on the volunteering arrangements and workflows. 

Distribution: 

Once you have your equipment and internet connection setup ready, you need a streaming website or app where you can stream the sermons or payers to the audience.

Choose a live streaming platform that enables your members to access live events as well as previously recorded videos. 

When you have a dedicated church streaming app or website, you tend to drive traffic and views on your faith based streaming service. This will create an awareness and provide scope for new members to join. Ultimately, your community will grow. 

Check out our blog on Tips and Tricks for Live Streaming to a Remote Audience!

Live Streaming Platform:

Once all the above requirements, you can then choose the right live streaming platform for your church or house of faith. It may seem overwhelming to find the apt solution at first. But you can make the right decision by choosing the live streaming platform that does not limit the length of your stream. 

And what if your members want to have their marriage, baptism, and other events but cannot invite their families and friends across the world due to the current limitations? 

In such cases, having a live streaming platform that lets you serve and monetize a package of both live stream and recorded video of personal event broadcasts would be of great help. Your audience will be able to directly stream all the events from your temple, church, and mosque with a single tap on your dedicated app. 

When a lot is happening in the world right now, the best you can do as a faith leader, is to bring stillness and restore faith. And a robust live streaming platform is the most appropriate solution for current times.

Muvi lets you have your own church or faith streaming solution that lets you deliver your religious content across the globe with ultra-low latency.

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