Thanks for watching! Keep an eye out for the follow-up to this video dropping on Thursday titled 'How To Create An Online Church Service In 2020'! Make sure to subscribe and turn on notifications to get it as soon as it drops! ⭐️
As a small church preacher (less than 100) I appreciate what you are saying. We have been using an iPad with an external mic from my home the past 4 weeks via FB live. We never live streamed before this. I preach to 50-70 folks in person and now we are averaging 500+ views a week. God is up to something. Thank you for your encouragement. We are going to continue to be flexible in this time to reach all the folks we can with the eternal hope of our Savior. And you are 100% correct, while the mission will never change, the methods will. Thank you! See you Thursday!
You actually hit the nail on the head when you mentioned that we shouldn't be stuck on methods but focus on the mission. I think making that paradigm shift is the real reason we are finding it difficult to embrace new methods. I see a lot of churches, in my native country Nigeria, still doing the on-stage, produced service and I especially see small churches following the pace that large churches are setting. I think it may take some time for us, in this my area, to adjust to this new online church model because of infrastructural challenges (internet, power, etc) but eventually, it is bound to happen. My greatest takeaway however is that we should not be so tied up to the methods that it now begins to hurt the progress of the mission. Beautiful video bro! Keep on keeping on!
Dude this video is amazing. This is what brought my wife and I to pull the trigger and plant a fully digital church. We believe the digital community is worthy of a church. This is on point. Seriously. I am in a planting cohort through Stadia with some online church planters. I am going to share this video and your page Brady.
Thank you so much Brady and the team at Pro Church Tools. I am a Youth and Young Adults pastor in Brisbane Australia and I stubbled across your channel while scrolling through TH-cam. I must say that the Pro Church channel has been an answer to many prayers. We're looking to launch online as another method to do ministry and not just promote it. THANK YOU, THANK YOU & THANK YOU. God's abundant blessings Leki
Great video. I just subscribed. I am the tech coordinator at our church. We've been filming the pastor and then I've been doing the post production at home with Vegas. Nothing too fancy. A beginning graphic (that has already been created), bible verses as the pastor reads them masked on the bottom of the screen with a slight transparency, and an ending graphic with a little bumper song I wrote. Nothing super fancy at all. All in all the process takes 3 - 4 hours (and that includes rendering into 1080p and uploading to Social Media (which takes the longest as my pipe only gives me 10mb up). I am looking forward to Thursday for the "how to" part.
The super cool LED screens backlighting super cool people, feels way detached for me during quarantine, in my uncool living room. CASUAL APPROACH connects way better.
Evan Catlapp I wanted to see how one of the local ”mega” churches was going service and it felt ”detached.” incredible production value, but somehow out of place.
Don’t get me wrong either, I’m a worship leader and musician that loves artistic expression via lighting and environment conveying emotion and passion that points to Jesus our King. Just noticing how if you’re not immersed in the that physical environment yourself, the lighting and stage expression doesn’t connect as well.
We've tried both "living room" style and typical Sunday stage production. My difficulty is that I'd prefer to go more casual, but it actually required more time involving set up and post, compared to what we can pull off in facility. When you say "casual" are you cutting out lower thirds, lyrics, sermon notes, etc? Live switching (even if it's pre-recorded) saved me many hours of post production to handle both visual and audio edits because instead of me personally putting everything together later, the live team made it happen during the shoot. Is there a way to achieve the lower maintenance, casual style and still include those items?
The first week we tried to recreate a "normal" service but we tried a casual set the next week and got great feedback so that is what we are doing now. Thanks for the Great Vid, God Bless You!
Thank you for creating this channel. As a student filmmaker who is trying to do media for my church youth group your videos have really inspired me. The quality of production and information, as well as your humility, goes a long way. I agree that a casual house church feel is a better option for now. One of the biggest reasons I believe this is because I think God wants to shake up the way we normally do things. During this season we need to rely on a movement of God as opposed to our own production quality to attract or retain members. This quarantine forces us to strip away all the glamour of traditional church and focus on Him. Like it says in Hebrews 12:27 ESV This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of things that are shaken-that is, things that have been made-in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. I know this is a little off topic but I'd greatly appreciate your input. One question I have about online service that you could answer in the comments or in the "How To Create An Online Church Service In 2020" video is which online platform is best? We are a small church and we don't really have money. So far we've been using Facebook Live or Zoom.
I would say Facebook or TH-cam is probably the best right now. Because they are public feeds - Zoom is more for private meetings. So it has its place - but not really for a live stream.
@@prochurchtools We use Facebook and TH-cam but also zoom so those older ones in the church can call in and at least listen. they are the one who are being missed. also we check with our local cable company and are putting our video recordings on their on demand. they have a local section where people can view them for free.
My brother, I believe you are onto something. I don't have any answers at the moment, but the wheels are turning. My real concern is about the "worship service" and how to furnish "not recreate" a worship experience in the most effective way possible. Blessings!!
Great video, and thank you for sharing and guiding us all through this time. I have found that how one responds in times like these (e.g. recreating the experience through a different medium, re-producing high production, focusing on method and process, etc...) is a great commentary on our idolatrous religiosity and our "non-negotiables" when it comes to the church. When one particular aspect of church takes up all the attention at the neglect of others, then something is amiss, and we have forgotten the identity of the church and Church. We've continued striving after fulfilling the mission of making disciples and making sure our online content and delivery equips God's people to lead their families in worship rather than relying on a "recreated experience"; we felt the need to focus on the elements of worship and equip throughout the week, rather than focusing on an event on one morning. But, we are always keeping our eyes and ears on His people, to see what they're needs are, and hope to bring Biblical perspectives into that immediate context.
Hey Brady, right with you on this one. We're towards 50 people inc kids and it's the option we took from the start. We're doing a mix of live streaming on youtube and zoom calls. Even those 70yrs+ have been really appreciative of what we've been doing. In fact, we've had higher on-line attendances that we ever had on a Sunday morning at the school hall. We've got a "studio" set up in the pastor's house using OBS to control camera/song lyric/pre-recorded elements etc and a screen just below the camera to view the live comments. So, we've added a little complexity in that respect, but it's working really well for us. Thanks again for the great content. Blessings,
Regarding the poll you referenced around the 3:00 mark, i think Hope City out of Houston has achieved the best online experience so far. Very comfortable setting, and still feels like church 🙂.
I agree with so much said here. In our home 4 churches are streaming most Sundays and the casual church wins in keeping attention. Plus it should go no longer than 30 maybe 40 minutes TOTAL. We need after church time for people in zoom chat groups to keep connected. The novelty of online church is already wearing off just by looking at numbers and audience retention. If churches don’t adjust, I think less people will be walking in the church building when they are opened later in the year.
I've been having a quick scan over what many churches throughout Australia are doing who have been suddenly thrust into the necessity (or expectation) of moving their services online. There are a few who already have people and equipment capable of putting together a high quality production; but the majority are using whatever basic equipment they have on hand, in their living rooms, kitchens, or home offices. Your message here is timely, because there are some who seem to be embarrassed or apologetic for the low quality of their production - but all the while I'm watching what they are doing and I can see they just love their people, they want to maintain that personal connection and feed their flock. I just want to tell them "You are doing great! Don't fuss over how seamless your video stream is, or how the audio sounds bad sometimes. Remember what's important - pointing people to Jesus." After all, He's one who never needs to maintain social distance from us :)
This topic may be your most important yet as it hits churches of every size, style & denomination. If anyone has doubted your opening claims about guiding us through the largest communication change...it is DEFINITELY true now. thx for what u r doing.
I fully agree with the online presence, sadly some will not want to do their services online because of the offering situation which is the elephant in the room... Personally I believe its time to reach people all around the world right in the comfort of their homes, vehicles and so forth. This is how we reach billions... you did a great job on your video and message!! Great video you spoke truth for sure... God Bless
Spot on. We are a church of 40 people with a subscriber base of 29k, so we try to be dialed into digital ministry. From the beginning of this pandemic we have ditched the stage and pulpit. We are treating our Sunday service like a casual TH-cam experience now.
Thank you Brady. We are doing live worship in the home of our worship pastor and then I preach from an "on location" site that is different each week. Our people are enjoying this model. I love our people because they know its not about the location. Just trying to give my creative side to The Lord the best I can.
Thanks for your ideas. I pastor of a small church in Western Maine. Our Easter I preached with Facebook live on the shores of Sebago Lake in the people loved it. On Palm Sunday I claimed Douglas mountain and preached a Palm Sunday message about the return of Christ on Facebook live as I panned around the top of the mountain.
Thanks, Brady, for opening up this important conversation. I'm sharing your video with my Deacons and with my coaching clients (all clergy) for our reflection and conversation.
Thanks Brady for your contribution, helping leaders to think and discern the opportunities that are presenting themselves in this season. This is an opportune time to be able to do more than stream our 'product' but to extend the reach and mission into the homes and hearts of our people.
So good to know we're a bit ahead of this curve. My husband is a genius at the personable approach - usually taking his sermon to an outdoor location, I polish him up with the tech, my daughter (16) is starting to engage the kids with how-to/activity videos, and my son the college music major has a mini-recording and composing/arranging studio which gives us some pretty professional-sounding tunes. We know hearts are changing and we're reaching new people as we've received LOTS of great feedback - we're just hoping that this new way of 'doing church' prompts big changes in our in-person services when we finally DO reunite. Our family is a new appointment (
Totally agree. For us it also comes down to not wanting to show a place that our people cannot come to and this may make them miss it more. Also, if people are watching from a couch why not preach from a couch. Plus, many people right now are just sitting around watching TV and no matter how big your church is you cannot compete with the production value of TV and movies, so why not stand out and be different from what people see all day? Good thoughts, thanks.
We’ve been calling our service NewVision@Home. From my home to yours; mi casa su casa kind of thing. Very casual, very little production. Our in person services are generally 80-85 minutes, @Home less than 60. I actually want to get down to 50 minutes. We’ve had great responses to the casual nature. We have dogs barking (mine), loud motorcycles and sirens nearby. Not sweating it, having fun with it and enjoying the more relaxed nature. Sleeping in on Sunday then preaching to myself is pretty cool too, as well as a learning experience.
We've had incredible response to a single singer and piano player worship Wednesday's. Super casual and the singer engages with the audience. Our services we moved to our Chapel building with a stripped down stage (10 folks or less in the building)- and it has been fantastic. So not totally casual, but not our regular service production.
Brady, Thanks for all you do. Our church uses several pro-church tools. if you find it useful, our example is a 'both/and' not an 'either/or' We are a small church (
I’m in worship at my church and this makes me think of a music performance VS a music video... back in the day the trend was to record the band or the singer with a band playing in many diferente angles and that was it, it worked it was awesome. In 2020 what you mostly see is videos trying to demonstrate something almost like a movie and I believe that this method is perfect for a more intimate approach on how to fulfill the mission now in this time and date. Even if COVID never came we have so many ways of getting together online when in person meetings aren’t possible for any given reason, we can see each other we can communicate, and honestly being online makes it easier to show videos and slides to the congregation without having in service distractions so I believe that this era, this process were going through is going to change the way we church forever for the better. God bless y’all
Love it bro! I decided to do something different for Easter....I recorded in a local graveyard...instead of the same "studio set-up". And I found that "church at home" is tough. I was reminded when i watched with my kids on Palm Sunday! I was reminded that homes can be tough places to NOT have distractions. So, I shortened my Easter message [8.5 mins total!] and implemented some "jump framing" to trigger the mind. Results? My son [16yrs old] was the first to tell me, "Wow dad, I love how it was just short, direct, and to the point! It made it way easier to get stuff from it!" I want to get better at saying what i need to say with as few words as possible. I believe the COVID is going to make me a better communicator in the end! Thx Brady for this! You're spot on! [[PS- taking this week's Sunday service outside to an abandoned bridge! ]] :)
I love this and see that it doesn't have to necessarily be 'either/or'...why not both?! On-site church used to be two services for us, usually switching every other week with the 'traditional vs praise band' music leading worship. It seems to me this opens us up to the idea of "if we build it, they will come" kind of thinking - why not 'test' a service, be it Sunday morning or a weekday evening or ?? to try the casual approach with a different audience in mind? We've been wanting to draw in new visitors...so perhaps this is an opportune time to open that door to His house!? Thank you Brady!
Spot on my brother! We were in the process of starting a new church when all this went down! I’ve started my church online and it has been great! I didn’t have a stage, I didn’t have a building
Thanks for this! I have been live-streaming from my house, but following the traditional liturgy we always use. You have given me something to think about - should we move away from the liturgy toward more of a bible study focus during this season. I will talk to my leadership about it. Looking forward to tomorrow's video.
Thanks much Brady!! We discussed this very same thing as a leadership team in a small church - that we don't have to recreate the same service online that we used to do in person! We did our service via Zoom and Facebook Live. I led worship from my keyboard, a media person showed the song lyrics remotely (via screen share) and my pastor spoke a brief message and a few leaders shared how God was working in their lives during this crisis. People are desperate for connection - connection to God, and connection to each other. I really think this is an opportune time to reinvent and look at why and how we do things as His body.
I agree. What we have been doing is actually a mix. We have been doing daily devotionals on our social media’s (Facebook and TH-cam). While doing a formal lesson on Sundays. Wednesday’s we’ve been doing a in-depth bible study approach with slides and what not. Trying to use multiple methods to hit everyone’s preferred learning style. I wouldn’t abandon the formal altogether because there were still 33% who prefer it. They need to be given the truth in an enjoyable way as well.
Our church has done a hybrid of this. We record our worship music at the church with the full team and the sermon is done by our pastor at various locations including her home. We found that if I simply led worship music from my home we couldn't do lyrics and we weren't including the other members of the worship team. This way more people are involved, but we are still maintaining a certain level of 'casual' so to speak. Plus with our pastor shoot in various locations around the city it reminds people that God isn't just in a church building.
Hey, I like thinking outside of the box. We are a small church and I have been considering how to get our songs more intimate. I feel like it ends up being mostly a musical performance than a leading in worship. I don't think that too many people are singing along with their phones... (I'm not sure...) We have been doing one night bible study and one night prayer on facebook and getting good feedback. We also do several services during the week. People seem to be getting helped through the sermons. And, thats mostly all I am interested in if I jump around to what other people are doing. But here's my thing: I don't feel comfortable in my home with the kids trying to minister (maybe ADD) its just distracting. I don't enjoy communicating sitting down. I don't even talk on the phone sitting down haha. And I feel that the Word can be shared, but I prefer to actually preach - I feel it invites more passion and emotion and even authority. Anyway - looking forward to your video - just wondering if you wanted to address some of these thoughts I have.
Thanks Brady! This is the video I needed to share with the pastor & worship leader to hopefully get them to reconsider and think about how we do church for the foreseeable future!
Great video! Thank you. I think what I'm hearing from you and from many others (my email box is full) is that this situation we're all in is causing us to refocus on the church as the body of Christ in this world....rather than, as you alluded to...a Sunday morning service. Thanks again.
Loved this Brady! Thank you!We will definitely take what you mentioned here for consideration! We are looking into making some changes in our service starting this Sunday!
I literally just got off a staff zoom meeting where this was one of the topics of discussion, and then I saw this video post. We had each been recording our own portions of the service and then I would put them all together in post, but we wanted to do something special for Easter, so we all recorded (still very simple) from the church stage. We discussed how we want to do this moving forward, but didn't really land on a definitive answer yet. Thanks for this!
Our Pastor has used the free services of our local seminary. They are letting local pastors come in and record their sermon in their 1000 seat chapel, with their sound/video engineer recording it. So the sermon has good quality sound & video, but its the "wrong"pulpit." Thoughts?
For Easter we started service by playing 15 quarantine memes to get people laughing...they loved it. Then we did our "family time" by posing a question and leaving it on the screen for 1 minute and had people interact with it in the chat. We also started doing a nightly talk show style resource called Bridge at Nite on Thursdays at 9:30pm (so the kids are asleep and parents can engage). We had a trainer and dietician on, family and marriage counselors, and this past week we had someone walk us through the Jewish Passover Seder and how it relates to Jesus. People have been loving the Bridge at Nite because they get "adult" time and we try and give them useful resources
Great stuff, Brady. Thank you for this. We’ve definitely scaled back a little bit on Sunday morning “production” and made adjustments to the flow. But we’re questioning how “casual” and intimate we get, knowing that at some point we’ll return to a room full of people and still want to offer church online when all this is over. How does this look, long term, since we won’t likely be casual when the people return to the building?
This video has been what I've been thinking since this whole thing started, and I'm so glad that someone with more clout made a video so I can share it 😂 Looking forward to Thursdays vid!
Good stuff, thanks for sharing. Totally agree on Mission Over Method - every time! (and I'm looking forward to the next video). Here's what I'm weighing: What if we DON'T have to wait until Fall to meet together again? What if we make this pivot, and then bam - we're back to "normal" (such as it is) sooner than we thought? Are we setting ourselves up for Worship Wars Part Deux? Like, are people going to start fighting over on-site (what they were used to before) vs. this new, more casual and interactive online service that we developed while on lockdown? I don't know - I'm just asking. Because, to be blunt: I don't think I want to go through that. I survived the first round of worship wars in the early 90's (I'm a 44 year old lead pastor, and have been in ministry for 25 years), and I just don't want to go through another one - especially if we create it!
We don't do "onstage formal" or "living room casual." We moved to the lobby with a skeleton crew...mostly because of the light from the windows. It's certainly "more casual" than the old way, but not as casual as the living room. At the same time, we're doing almost daily streams from the living room.
Would love a follow up to this video (not the "how to setup" video) talking about if you still stand by the recommendation of the casual setup and/or other changes and atmospheres you've noticed since this video (already 3-4 months ago!).
I really like the idea of a 'living room sessions' look in an actual living room, rather than the 'let's set up a living room on our stage' look. I know that presents the issues of tear down/set up weekly. Perhaps some churches can make this look happen in an area of their churches. One of the things I've been enjoying is the intimacy that this setting brings. We recently had to candidate at a church using all video...intro of my family, devotion, worship, it was challenging but I think it gave our new church a more real look at my family.
I agree about the casual approach as the new normal and has a higher effectiveness. I think the poll was slightly skewed in that the polls taken were of large churches and not small ones. In a large church there is probably a greater hunger for small groups -- to know and be known. The casual approach therefore would have an greater appeal. Never-the-less, although I believe the 67% is probably higher because of this, it is still a significant indicator. The causal approach is what I am planning going forward. Looking forward to what you suggest in future presentations.
We do Sunday service from the stage. But we do mid-week Bible study from my home. Both live, of course. Sunday, we do one song to sorta open up and set the mood. We realize NO ONE is singing along at home. But we want the song to carry a message that might create the ear-worm that sticks with them all day. I feel that by doing Sunday service from the church stage, we're telling the folks that church is still here, it's not going anywhere regardless of the government says, and that when then all eases (hopefully in less than 4 weeks), we'll be here waiting for them.
It is still baffling that in light of the guidelines about physical distancing that some pastors and leaders continue to hold worship in empty sanctuaries. This is more irresponsible than inspiring. The church is the people, not the building. Our small congregation has moved worship entirely online and can be found on our TH-cam channel. We are now able to connect with people in a more intimate intentional and ongoing way each day. Our pastor is blind and although was nervous at first, has really embraced the challenges and blessings that come communicating via video. And that is inspiring.
St. John's Church Grimsby there was something very humbling and uplifting while I serve communion to our congregation online from my dining room table.
To extend the conversation a bit, as a worship leader, I’m wondering where we can draw a line when it comes to the musical side of online church (if you have music at all). Trying for full acoustic production with 3-5 people, or just one person and a guitar/piano. Would love to know your thoughts on this.
We have paired things down to the point of 1-2 worship leaders at home on their couch. It has been a very impactful time of simply worshiping together. This past weekend they even invited their children to join them, which I thought was a powerful example in how to disciple our children.
We have 5 people currently playing acoustically and honestly I really want to hear what just two of them (husband/wife) sounds like with a guitar. The majority of people are probably watching in their living rooms. How many people would you want in your living room for a worship session?
@@adam-rickman We're doing songs with piano from my living room, because my husband plays, so that's what we have to work with. Bonus I've discovered these past few weeks: I can actually introduce new songs more easily this way. There is no pressure on the folks watching to already know a song and feel out of place if they aren't singing along.
Great points! Just a suggestion, even if you're creating a casual service for typical Sundays, you might consider having more formality on important church holidays (to the degree that's possible online).
Thank you for this! I am new to your channel and this was a gem of a find because I feel you worded it so well! I have been sharing with all my church leader friends. I love the mission over method and really loved when you said “Nostalgia should really not be a prime decision maker in our organizations, especially if it begins to interfere with effectiveness.” Also Dwight 😂👌🏼
I'd been trying to push my church toward meeting via Zoom prior to the lockdowns so getting started was easy. Some were ready. We're doing Sunday School and Sunday afternoon Care Groups via Zoom. We listen to a sermon from another church in our Methodist district. Our Easter Play was presented via Zoom.
I do agree with this! Great content! We went for a middle ground for us. We don’t have a stage and didn’t try to replicate our normal setups for gatherings before all this. We are in a home, but lit it up to make it feel like a studio. I would still like to change it up occasionally and go outside more because we are all stuck in our homes, it could feel good to “go somewhere outside.” But I decided to go for a TH-camr approach with a small studio. So that consistency is there and I can train someone for when I get sick. And of course TVs in the shot so I don’t have graphics in post production on a 2 day turnaround.
Brady, I agree that the scaled-back approach is more appropriate for this time! I think it also gives something to look forward to when we can gather again. I'm excited about Thursday's video -- QUESTION: will is cover how to include worship/music in your service without copyright infringement?
I would say fulfilling mission is key. We have chosen to keep pastor on the stage b/c we are finding people are tired of the living room. We do make sure we are speaking directly into the camera though to speak to the people. As for the music we are working on some canned footage b/c of the social distancing. Now i said mission matters, we have moved to meeting needs in the community by teaming up with the local food bank to be a food drive thru for people. Also we as a staff have moved everything to online, small groups in conferencing apps, social media has picked up with every area of ministry. Our Student pastor is hosting group conferences just about everyday. Over all our people have responded really well b/c we are doing the mission of the church. So beyond the "service," I would ask what are local bodies of believers doing to carry the mission?
Thank you so much this was a great blessing I’m a Pastor from the Seattle area we conduct a Spanish service.. but let me tell you what you do goes across language and nations. Is a blessing for the body of Christ.
I'm looking forward to Thursday, as I suspect the picture in my head of casual may be different than the picture in your head simply because of what parts of the country we come from. One of the questions that comes to my mind is whether casual should include sitting at a table, or if it is all about the way the video is put together, not the backdrop of the delivery. I look forward to Thursday.
We did a more intimate pre-recorded service for Maundy Thursday and our church loved it. I think you're definitely on to something. I'm really looking forward to the video on Thursday. I produced the Maundy Thursday service and it took some time for sure.
Thank you so much for your content. It has been such a help to me. Ive been Pastoring since Dec2019. I was the assistant that came in June 2019. We are currently doing service from the “Living Room” (playing off the church’s name)for 4 weeks now. Thank you helping all of us with ideas and navigating tools as we go to a place we never been before. That just kinda sounded like Star Trek. 😂
I see most of the comments are about a year ago, it's 2022 now and your right Church has changed. Hopefully the Church will fulfill the great commission now.
We've done halfway approach between the living room feel and stage feel. We moved to a casual space in our church. Hung a TV on the wall to use as a screen. We have a bar height table to gather around. Nothing is pre-recorded. It's all live. We use an iphone with a mic plugged into it. We've seen great success. We normally average 250-300 on a public gathering. I believe our stats are showing us were reaching 3 times that amount on FB. I think the pre-recorded message & music which then premiers seems cold and like I'm watching a show. Our feedback is the people love that we are completely live. Much more interactive. We're having 600-800 comments in about 45 minutes. I believe you are on to something with your video. Not sure about us not gathering for the next 6-12 weeks? Time will tell. I would love to have a sampling of churches you think are doing this well where we could watch their services.
Good advice! I agree with you Brady. I feel then if our people are stuck in their homes it can be more relatable if the ministers are recording their services in homes as well. This is a great opportunity to shift the way we do ministry to be more effective! Thank you for all you do my Canadian brotha!
What about the Zoom church service? I have thought a lot about that. Seen many online concerts using a similar set up lately. All member at home and then streaming that conference video as a service? The real catch here is age. I am an older millennial though I think really I am a xennial or tweener gen. The casual I like but I would get tired of. It needs more than just a new method of delivery. It needs purpose and a plan. My Church is mostly older people who would hands down prefer to see the stage and lights. Because for many of them that is what they have seen their whole life. Other Churches in our area have done the casual living room get together and it seems to work. But my question is for how long? When does the novelty wear off and the next new method comes in? I think it comes back to your concept of “repeat equals defeat” and that goes for both sides of this argument of “normal” service production vs “casual.” for many churches under 100-150 the casual will be the best solution for budget and should be pursued and that is what we have seen in our denomination. But churches with a budget have opted for production and looking into doing a more refined online church experience. I think we will see as a lot of churches are smaller but for some of us, this pandemic has been the catalyst to move our churches to online where some have been encouraging the church to go and now is the time to put our best foot forward and prepare for the future. So the real question isn’t “best method” which is basically what this will come down to but rather “best method with a clear plan and goal to reach people now and prepare us for the future beyond the pandemic”. There are many things we are doing that may just stick for a while after. But to just think inside the pandemic is too small and we should be looking beyond and taking into account the variables in our churches. Then making the best decision for the kingdom.
Absolutely. The beginning of part two in this series (Thursday's video) is a worksheet on simply establishing goals and desired outcomes for services. Can't pick your route until you know your desired destination.
Very well thought out! I like what you said, "But my question is for how long? When does the novelty wear off and the next new method comes in?" Do those who think a casual setting is best believe that because that is their preference normally? I do like your emphasis Brady on the why. That is what I think is lacking in most decisions made through this season.
I agree with ur opinion totally. I've been telling my church leaders that online service is totally different than in-person service, but they just don't seem to agree.... All I can say is, oh, well.....
You are right on time Brady! Just getting ready to have this exact discussion with my staff. We have been using the casual approach, but thinking of taking advantage of being at home to use different items in the home for illustrations. Also considering connecting with other influencers during this time and have them give some video content during this time to keep things interesting. What do you think?
We’re using different environments to help make the service different. Our Current Series is Easter Eggs - the movie kind - and we’re filming from a different location every week. We’re trying to create engagement by asking people to guess where we’re filming from. Week 1 was Palm Sunday and we talked about humility & filmed from the barn of one of our church members. Last week we shared about living in the overflow of Hope and we shared from a locally famous dry Riverbed. The first to guess where we were got movie theater popcorn to their door. Also because of Brady’s previous videos, one of our initial purchases as a church plant 1.5 years ago was an M50 camera. Week 2 we paired it with an iPhone to create 2 angled shots to help bring variety to the viewer and it seemed to make it more palatable for viewers.
We've so far gone for casual but still in the building. So everything is scaled back but we're still in our building. That's not for theological reasons, but practically it's where all the stuff is and the internet is good enough to go live from there too.
Generally I agree and we've started by moving the preaching to sitting at a table or even among the pews - but one of our issues is that our tech team and worship team are REALLY good at a fairly produced model. We're going to experiment with less production values and a more casual format but I can foresee us struggling to accept what will feel like lower quality to us.
What are your thoughts for a more rural church? Do you think this model will translate, and how can we inform people with low tech knowledge? Thanks for all you do!
Great points! Though I wonder how this affects our desire to enter a holy or sacred place? This is a more traditional mindset dating back farther than the Israelites wondering in the desert. There is something powerful about entering a place where something meaningful or life changing has happened (i.e. - Baptism, Communion, Child Dedication, Weddings, Funerals, and transformational Worship). How do you convey the sacred in the midst of the casual?
@@prochurchtools True. But I am also a clay pot. What distracts and takes our attention away from the power and authority of God's Word is when the focus is on the clay pot instead i.e. skinny jeans cool pastor with "authentic" this, and "casual that" trying too hard to be relatable, instead of just getting out of the way and letting the Word speak, and the holy or transcendent connect people to God in the way they have experienced every time they walk into their sanctuary.
I love this-we are a small 5 year old church of about 100 people. The first Sunday we went online-only was March 15th and we went live from the back of the sanctuary, sitting around a bar top table with empty pews behind us. The next day, the stay-at-home order went into place so we quickly switched gears to broadcasting from our respective living rooms using BeLive and then Streamyard (we switched so we could send to Facebook & TH-cam at the same time). We have had a lot of fun bringing in a mix of live acoustic & pre-recorded worship, but my favorite part has been getting our church members involved in the “lobby time” during the first 5 minutes, or when we had a 4 year old girl lead a craft from her dining room (not a pastor’s kid either 😂)...our people love seeing each other, not just the pastors, and they love being a part of it! We engage volunteers by asking them the interact live in the comments, as well. It’s been a fun few weeks! You can see our latest service at www.refugeoc.com/livestream 🧡🍊
I literally just finished speaking with a couple of my leaders concerning this exact issue. We've done laid back services, full scale services and a mix of both for Easter. We are working out the details of how we will move forward. Part of that is trying to figure out location for this stripped down services. Is it better at home? At a location in the church? What about worship and audio quality for said worship? Everyone knows how terrible the microphone on phone's are. We are currently looking at ordering some shotgun mics for smart phones and setting up in a home and a newly renovated area of the church on different Sundays. My head is hurting as we try to discover new ways that are creative, functional and effective to communicate the gospel. Thanks for your content! It's helping!
Thanks for watching! Keep an eye out for the follow-up to this video dropping on Thursday titled 'How To Create An Online Church Service In 2020'! Make sure to subscribe and turn on notifications to get it as soon as it drops! ⭐️
I'm looking forward to it. For small, rural churches this has been a large learning curve. Keep up the good content.
As a small church preacher (less than 100) I appreciate what you are saying. We have been using an iPad with an external mic from my home the past 4 weeks via FB live. We never live streamed before this. I preach to 50-70 folks in person and now we are averaging 500+ views a week. God is up to something. Thank you for your encouragement. We are going to continue to be flexible in this time to reach all the folks we can with the eternal hope of our Savior. And you are 100% correct, while the mission will never change, the methods will. Thank you! See you Thursday!
You actually hit the nail on the head when you mentioned that we shouldn't be stuck on methods but focus on the mission. I think making that paradigm shift is the real reason we are finding it difficult to embrace new methods.
I see a lot of churches, in my native country Nigeria, still doing the on-stage, produced service and I especially see small churches following the pace that large churches are setting.
I think it may take some time for us, in this my area, to adjust to this new online church model because of infrastructural challenges (internet, power, etc) but eventually, it is bound to happen.
My greatest takeaway however is that we should not be so tied up to the methods that it now begins to hurt the progress of the mission.
Beautiful video bro! Keep on keeping on!
Dude this video is amazing. This is what brought my wife and I to pull the trigger and plant a fully digital church. We believe the digital community is worthy of a church. This is on point. Seriously. I am in a planting cohort through Stadia with some online church planters. I am going to share this video and your page Brady.
Thank you so much Brady and the team at Pro Church Tools. I am a Youth and Young Adults pastor in Brisbane Australia and I stubbled across your channel while scrolling through TH-cam. I must say that the Pro Church channel has been an answer to many prayers. We're looking to launch online as another method to do ministry and not just promote it. THANK YOU, THANK YOU & THANK YOU.
God's abundant blessings
Leki
Great input and I agree.
If we are going to shift how we get the message out then we’ll need to leave traditions behind.
Great video. I just subscribed. I am the tech coordinator at our church. We've been filming the pastor and then I've been doing the post production at home with Vegas. Nothing too fancy. A beginning graphic (that has already been created), bible verses as the pastor reads them masked on the bottom of the screen with a slight transparency, and an ending graphic with a little bumper song I wrote. Nothing super fancy at all. All in all the process takes 3 - 4 hours (and that includes rendering into 1080p and uploading to Social Media (which takes the longest as my pipe only gives me 10mb up). I am looking forward to Thursday for the "how to" part.
The super cool LED screens backlighting super cool people, feels way detached for me during quarantine, in my uncool living room.
CASUAL APPROACH connects way better.
"Detached" is a great word, Evan.
Evan Catlapp I wanted to see how one of the local ”mega” churches was going service and it felt ”detached.” incredible production value, but somehow out of place.
Don’t get me wrong either, I’m a worship leader and musician that loves artistic expression via lighting and environment conveying emotion and passion that points to Jesus our King.
Just noticing how if you’re not immersed in the that physical environment yourself, the lighting and stage expression doesn’t connect as well.
We've tried both "living room" style and typical Sunday stage production. My difficulty is that I'd prefer to go more casual, but it actually required more time involving set up and post, compared to what we can pull off in facility. When you say "casual" are you cutting out lower thirds, lyrics, sermon notes, etc? Live switching (even if it's pre-recorded) saved me many hours of post production to handle both visual and audio edits because instead of me personally putting everything together later, the live team made it happen during the shoot. Is there a way to achieve the lower maintenance, casual style and still include those items?
Same! I find it more time-consuming to setup at home than at church!
The first week we tried to recreate a "normal" service but we tried a casual set the next week and got great feedback so that is what we are doing now.
Thanks for the Great Vid, God Bless You!
Thank you for creating this channel. As a student filmmaker who is trying to do media for my church youth group your videos have really inspired me. The quality of production and information, as well as your humility, goes a long way. I agree that a casual house church feel is a better option for now. One of the biggest reasons I believe this is because I think God wants to shake up the way we normally do things. During this season we need to rely on a movement of God as opposed to our own production quality to attract or retain members. This quarantine forces us to strip away all the glamour of traditional church and focus on Him.
Like it says in Hebrews 12:27 ESV
This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of things that are shaken-that is, things that have been made-in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain.
I know this is a little off topic but I'd greatly appreciate your input. One question I have about online service that you could answer in the comments or in the "How To Create An Online Church Service In 2020" video is which online platform is best? We are a small church and we don't really have money. So far we've been using Facebook Live or Zoom.
I would say Facebook or TH-cam is probably the best right now. Because they are public feeds - Zoom is more for private meetings. So it has its place - but not really for a live stream.
@@prochurchtools We use Facebook and TH-cam but also zoom so those older ones in the church can call in and at least listen. they are the one who are being missed. also we check with our local cable company and are putting our video recordings on their on demand. they have a local section where people can view them for free.
Thank you, Brady! Your perspective is spot-on! Thank you for providing guidance during these trying times. Keep up the good work!
Wow brother you mailed it man. The whole are we focused on method or mission was exactly what we need to look at to make sure we are in God’s will.
My brother, I believe you are onto something. I don't have any answers at the moment, but the wheels are turning. My real concern is about the "worship service"
and how to furnish "not recreate" a worship experience in the most effective way possible. Blessings!!
Great video, and thank you for sharing and guiding us all through this time. I have found that how one responds in times like these (e.g. recreating the experience through a different medium, re-producing high production, focusing on method and process, etc...) is a great commentary on our idolatrous religiosity and our "non-negotiables" when it comes to the church. When one particular aspect of church takes up all the attention at the neglect of others, then something is amiss, and we have forgotten the identity of the church and Church. We've continued striving after fulfilling the mission of making disciples and making sure our online content and delivery equips God's people to lead their families in worship rather than relying on a "recreated experience"; we felt the need to focus on the elements of worship and equip throughout the week, rather than focusing on an event on one morning. But, we are always keeping our eyes and ears on His people, to see what they're needs are, and hope to bring Biblical perspectives into that immediate context.
I really appreciate the perspectives you bring that enhance my awareness as a pastor. Blessings
Thank you for the in put. You have given me a lot to think about. I do think you are on to something with this. This was very helpful.
Hey Brady, right with you on this one. We're towards 50 people inc kids and it's the option we took from the start. We're doing a mix of live streaming on youtube and zoom calls. Even those 70yrs+ have been really appreciative of what we've been doing. In fact, we've had higher on-line attendances that we ever had on a Sunday morning at the school hall. We've got a "studio" set up in the pastor's house using OBS to control camera/song lyric/pre-recorded elements etc and a screen just below the camera to view the live comments. So, we've added a little complexity in that respect, but it's working really well for us. Thanks again for the great content. Blessings,
Regarding the poll you referenced around the 3:00 mark, i think Hope City out of Houston has achieved the best online experience so far. Very comfortable setting, and still feels like church 🙂.
Thumbs up purely for the Dwight cameo.
I agree with so much said here. In our home 4 churches are streaming most Sundays and the casual church wins in keeping attention. Plus it should go no longer than 30 maybe 40 minutes TOTAL. We need after church time for people in zoom chat groups to keep connected. The novelty of online church is already wearing off just by looking at numbers and audience retention. If churches don’t adjust, I think less people will be walking in the church building when they are opened later in the year.
Well done Brady. Thank you for the refocus on mission over method. Appreciate your heart and your team.
I've been having a quick scan over what many churches throughout Australia are doing who have been suddenly thrust into the necessity (or expectation) of moving their services online. There are a few who already have people and equipment capable of putting together a high quality production; but the majority are using whatever basic equipment they have on hand, in their living rooms, kitchens, or home offices. Your message here is timely, because there are some who seem to be embarrassed or apologetic for the low quality of their production - but all the while I'm watching what they are doing and I can see they just love their people, they want to maintain that personal connection and feed their flock. I just want to tell them "You are doing great! Don't fuss over how seamless your video stream is, or how the audio sounds bad sometimes. Remember what's important - pointing people to Jesus." After all, He's one who never needs to maintain social distance from us :)
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This topic may be your most important yet as it hits churches of every size, style & denomination. If anyone has doubted your opening claims about guiding us through the largest communication change...it is DEFINITELY true now. thx for what u r doing.
I fully agree with the online presence, sadly some will not want to do their services online because of the offering situation which is the elephant in the room... Personally I believe its time to reach people all around the world right in the comfort of their homes, vehicles and so forth. This is how we reach billions... you did a great job on your video and message!! Great video you spoke truth for sure... God Bless
Spot on. We are a church of 40 people with a subscriber base of 29k, so we try to be dialed into digital ministry. From the beginning of this pandemic we have ditched the stage and pulpit. We are treating our Sunday service like a casual TH-cam experience now.
Thank you Brady. We are doing live worship in the home of our worship pastor and then I preach from an "on location" site that is different each week. Our people are enjoying this model. I love our people because they know its not about the location. Just trying to give my creative side to The Lord the best I can.
Love seeing churches get creative!
Thanks for your ideas. I pastor of a small church in Western Maine. Our Easter I preached with Facebook live on the shores of Sebago Lake in the people loved it. On Palm Sunday I claimed Douglas mountain and preached a Palm Sunday message about the return of Christ on Facebook live as I panned around the top of the mountain.
Thanks, Brady, for opening up this important conversation. I'm sharing your video with my Deacons and with my coaching clients (all clergy) for our reflection and conversation.
Thanks Brady for your contribution, helping leaders to think and discern the opportunities that are presenting themselves in this season. This is an opportune time to be able to do more than stream our 'product' but to extend the reach and mission into the homes and hearts of our people.
Thanks for the kind words, professor!
So good to know we're a bit ahead of this curve. My husband is a genius at the personable approach - usually taking his sermon to an outdoor location, I polish him up with the tech, my daughter (16) is starting to engage the kids with how-to/activity videos, and my son the college music major has a mini-recording and composing/arranging studio which gives us some pretty professional-sounding tunes. We know hearts are changing and we're reaching new people as we've received LOTS of great feedback - we're just hoping that this new way of 'doing church' prompts big changes in our in-person services when we finally DO reunite. Our family is a new appointment (
Totally agree. For us it also comes down to not wanting to show a place that our people cannot come to and this may make them miss it more. Also, if people are watching from a couch why not preach from a couch. Plus, many people right now are just sitting around watching TV and no matter how big your church is you cannot compete with the production value of TV and movies, so why not stand out and be different from what people see all day? Good thoughts, thanks.
We’ve been calling our service NewVision@Home. From my home to yours; mi casa su casa kind of thing. Very casual, very little production. Our in person services are generally 80-85 minutes, @Home less than 60. I actually want to get down to 50 minutes. We’ve had great responses to the casual nature. We have dogs barking (mine), loud motorcycles and sirens nearby. Not sweating it, having fun with it and enjoying the more relaxed nature. Sleeping in on Sunday then preaching to myself is pretty cool too, as well as a learning experience.
We've had incredible response to a single singer and piano player worship Wednesday's. Super casual and the singer engages with the audience. Our services we moved to our Chapel building with a stripped down stage (10 folks or less in the building)- and it has been fantastic. So not totally casual, but not our regular service production.
Brady, Thanks for all you do. Our church uses several pro-church tools.
if you find it useful, our example is a 'both/and' not an 'either/or'
We are a small church (
I’m in worship at my church and this makes me think of a music performance VS a music video... back in the day the trend was to record the band or the singer with a band playing in many diferente angles and that was it, it worked it was awesome. In 2020 what you mostly see is videos trying to demonstrate something almost like a movie and I believe that this method is perfect for a more intimate approach on how to fulfill the mission now in this time and date. Even if COVID never came we have so many ways of getting together online when in person meetings aren’t possible for any given reason, we can see each other we can communicate, and honestly being online makes it easier to show videos and slides to the congregation without having in service distractions so I believe that this era, this process were going through is going to change the way we church forever for the better. God bless y’all
Love it bro! I decided to do something different for Easter....I recorded in a local graveyard...instead of the same "studio set-up". And I found that "church at home" is tough. I was reminded when i watched with my kids on Palm Sunday! I was reminded that homes can be tough places to NOT have distractions. So, I shortened my Easter message [8.5 mins total!] and implemented some "jump framing" to trigger the mind. Results? My son [16yrs old] was the first to tell me, "Wow dad, I love how it was just short, direct, and to the point! It made it way easier to get stuff from it!"
I want to get better at saying what i need to say with as few words as possible. I believe the COVID is going to make me a better communicator in the end! Thx Brady for this! You're spot on! [[PS- taking this week's Sunday service outside to an abandoned bridge! ]] :)
I love this and see that it doesn't have to necessarily be 'either/or'...why not both?! On-site church used to be two services for us, usually switching every other week with the 'traditional vs praise band' music leading worship. It seems to me this opens us up to the idea of "if we build it, they will come" kind of thinking - why not 'test' a service, be it Sunday morning or a weekday evening or ?? to try the casual approach with a different audience in mind? We've been wanting to draw in new visitors...so perhaps this is an opportune time to open that door to His house!? Thank you Brady!
Spot on my brother! We were in the process of starting a new church when all this went down! I’ve started my church online and it has been great! I didn’t have a stage, I didn’t have a building
Thanks for this! I have been live-streaming from my house, but following the traditional liturgy we always use. You have given me something to think about - should we move away from the liturgy toward more of a bible study focus during this season. I will talk to my leadership about it. Looking forward to tomorrow's video.
Thanks for sharing a different perspective. We definitely get stuck in the comfortable zone.
Can't wait for the follow up 🙌 thanks for helping out Churchs during this time 🙏
Thanks much Brady!! We discussed this very same thing as a leadership team in a small church - that we don't have to recreate the same service online that we used to do in person! We did our service via Zoom and Facebook Live. I led worship from my keyboard, a media person showed the song lyrics remotely (via screen share) and my pastor spoke a brief message and a few leaders shared how God was working in their lives during this crisis. People are desperate for connection - connection to God, and connection to each other. I really think this is an opportune time to reinvent and look at why and how we do things as His body.
Great way of saying it, Lorna.
I agree. What we have been doing is actually a mix. We have been doing daily devotionals on our social media’s (Facebook and TH-cam). While doing a formal lesson on Sundays. Wednesday’s we’ve been doing a in-depth bible study approach with slides and what not. Trying to use multiple methods to hit everyone’s preferred learning style. I wouldn’t abandon the formal altogether because there were still 33% who prefer it. They need to be given the truth in an enjoyable way as well.
If anyone is curious you can watch the videos on our TH-cam Channel!
Our church has done a hybrid of this. We record our worship music at the church with the full team and the sermon is done by our pastor at various locations including her home. We found that if I simply led worship music from my home we couldn't do lyrics and we weren't including the other members of the worship team. This way more people are involved, but we are still maintaining a certain level of 'casual' so to speak. Plus with our pastor shoot in various locations around the city it reminds people that God isn't just in a church building.
Watching this in September 2021 and being in lockdown (Melbourne, Australia) - these Dwight clips hit different.
Hey, I like thinking outside of the box. We are a small church and I have been considering how to get our songs more intimate. I feel like it ends up being mostly a musical performance than a leading in worship. I don't think that too many people are singing along with their phones... (I'm not sure...) We have been doing one night bible study and one night prayer on facebook and getting good feedback. We also do several services during the week. People seem to be getting helped through the sermons. And, thats mostly all I am interested in if I jump around to what other people are doing. But here's my thing: I don't feel comfortable in my home with the kids trying to minister (maybe ADD) its just distracting. I don't enjoy communicating sitting down. I don't even talk on the phone sitting down haha. And I feel that the Word can be shared, but I prefer to actually preach - I feel it invites more passion and emotion and even authority. Anyway - looking forward to your video - just wondering if you wanted to address some of these thoughts I have.
Thanks Brady! This is the video I needed to share with the pastor & worship leader to hopefully get them to reconsider and think about how we do church for the foreseeable future!
Great video! Thank you. I think what I'm hearing from you and from many others (my email box is full) is that this situation we're all in is causing us to refocus on the church as the body of Christ in this world....rather than, as you alluded to...a Sunday morning service. Thanks again.
Absolutely. That's my prayer for sure!
Loved this Brady! Thank you!We will definitely take what you mentioned here for consideration! We are looking into making some changes in our service starting this Sunday!
So good. So timely. So prophetic. Thank you.
I literally just got off a staff zoom meeting where this was one of the topics of discussion, and then I saw this video post. We had each been recording our own portions of the service and then I would put them all together in post, but we wanted to do something special for Easter, so we all recorded (still very simple) from the church stage. We discussed how we want to do this moving forward, but didn't really land on a definitive answer yet. Thanks for this!
Our Pastor has used the free services of our local seminary. They are letting local pastors come in and record their sermon in their 1000 seat chapel, with their sound/video engineer recording it. So the sermon has good quality sound & video, but its the "wrong"pulpit." Thoughts?
For Easter we started service by playing 15 quarantine memes to get people laughing...they loved it. Then we did our "family time" by posing a question and leaving it on the screen for 1 minute and had people interact with it in the chat. We also started doing a nightly talk show style resource called Bridge at Nite on Thursdays at 9:30pm (so the kids are asleep and parents can engage). We had a trainer and dietician on, family and marriage counselors, and this past week we had someone walk us through the Jewish Passover Seder and how it relates to Jesus. People have been loving the Bridge at Nite because they get "adult" time and we try and give them useful resources
Great stuff, Brady. Thank you for this.
We’ve definitely scaled back a little bit on Sunday morning “production” and made adjustments to the flow. But we’re questioning how “casual” and intimate we get, knowing that at some point we’ll return to a room full of people and still want to offer church online when all this is over. How does this look, long term, since we won’t likely be casual when the people return to the building?
This video has been what I've been thinking since this whole thing started, and I'm so glad that someone with more clout made a video so I can share it 😂
Looking forward to Thursdays vid!
Good stuff, thanks for sharing. Totally agree on Mission Over Method - every time! (and I'm looking forward to the next video). Here's what I'm weighing: What if we DON'T have to wait until Fall to meet together again? What if we make this pivot, and then bam - we're back to "normal" (such as it is) sooner than we thought? Are we setting ourselves up for Worship Wars Part Deux? Like, are people going to start fighting over on-site (what they were used to before) vs. this new, more casual and interactive online service that we developed while on lockdown? I don't know - I'm just asking.
Because, to be blunt: I don't think I want to go through that. I survived the first round of worship wars in the early 90's (I'm a 44 year old lead pastor, and have been in ministry for 25 years), and I just don't want to go through another one - especially if we create it!
We don't do "onstage formal" or "living room casual." We moved to the lobby with a skeleton crew...mostly because of the light from the windows. It's certainly "more casual" than the old way, but not as casual as the living room. At the same time, we're doing almost daily streams from the living room.
Would love a follow up to this video (not the "how to setup" video) talking about if you still stand by the recommendation of the casual setup and/or other changes and atmospheres you've noticed since this video (already 3-4 months ago!).
Love this so much! Can't wait to see Thursday's post! Thanks again for thinking outside the box!
I really like the idea of a 'living room sessions' look in an actual living room, rather than the 'let's set up a living room on our stage' look. I know that presents the issues of tear down/set up weekly. Perhaps some churches can make this look happen in an area of their churches. One of the things I've been enjoying is the intimacy that this setting brings. We recently had to candidate at a church using all video...intro of my family, devotion, worship, it was challenging but I think it gave our new church a more real look at my family.
I agree about the casual approach as the new normal and has a higher effectiveness. I think the poll was slightly skewed in that the polls taken were of large churches and not small ones. In a large church there is probably a greater hunger for small groups -- to know and be known. The casual approach therefore would have an greater appeal. Never-the-less, although I believe the 67% is probably higher because of this, it is still a significant indicator. The causal approach is what I am planning going forward. Looking forward to what you suggest in future presentations.
We do Sunday service from the stage. But we do mid-week Bible study from my home. Both live, of course. Sunday, we do one song to sorta open up and set the mood. We realize NO ONE is singing along at home. But we want the song to carry a message that might create the ear-worm that sticks with them all day. I feel that by doing Sunday service from the church stage, we're telling the folks that church is still here, it's not going anywhere regardless of the government says, and that when then all eases (hopefully in less than 4 weeks), we'll be here waiting for them.
It is still baffling that in light of the guidelines about physical distancing that some pastors and leaders continue to hold worship in empty sanctuaries. This is more irresponsible than inspiring. The church is the people, not the building. Our small congregation has moved worship entirely online and can be found on our TH-cam channel. We are now able to connect with people in a more intimate intentional and ongoing way each day. Our pastor is blind and although was nervous at first, has really embraced the challenges and blessings that come communicating via video. And that is inspiring.
St. John's Church Grimsby there was something very humbling and uplifting while I serve communion to our congregation online from my dining room table.
To extend the conversation a bit, as a worship leader, I’m wondering where we can draw a line when it comes to the musical side of online church (if you have music at all). Trying for full acoustic production with 3-5 people, or just one person and a guitar/piano. Would love to know your thoughts on this.
Dropping a video next week on worship sets for online church!
We have paired things down to the point of 1-2 worship leaders at home on their couch. It has been a very impactful time of simply worshiping together. This past weekend they even invited their children to join them, which I thought was a powerful example in how to disciple our children.
We have 5 people currently playing acoustically and honestly I really want to hear what just two of them (husband/wife) sounds like with a guitar. The majority of people are probably watching in their living rooms. How many people would you want in your living room for a worship session?
@@adam-rickman We're doing songs with piano from my living room, because my husband plays, so that's what we have to work with. Bonus I've discovered these past few weeks: I can actually introduce new songs more easily this way. There is no pressure on the folks watching to already know a song and feel out of place if they aren't singing along.
Been watching brady for a while now."biggest communication shift in last 500 years" that was prophectic. God bless u brother
Thanks for watching!
Great points! Just a suggestion, even if you're creating a casual service for typical Sundays, you might consider having more formality on important church holidays (to the degree that's possible online).
Thank you for this! I am new to your channel and this was a gem of a find because I feel you worded it so well! I have been sharing with all my church leader friends.
I love the mission over method and really loved when you said “Nostalgia should really not be a prime decision maker in our organizations, especially if it begins to interfere with effectiveness.”
Also Dwight 😂👌🏼
I'd been trying to push my church toward meeting via Zoom prior to the lockdowns so getting started was easy. Some were ready. We're doing Sunday School and Sunday afternoon Care Groups via Zoom. We listen to a sermon from another church in our Methodist district. Our Easter Play was presented via Zoom.
I do agree with this! Great content! We went for a middle ground for us. We don’t have a stage and didn’t try to replicate our normal setups for gatherings before all this. We are in a home, but lit it up to make it feel like a studio. I would still like to change it up occasionally and go outside more because we are all stuck in our homes, it could feel good to “go somewhere outside.” But I decided to go for a TH-camr approach with a small studio. So that consistency is there and I can train someone for when I get sick. And of course TVs in the shot so I don’t have graphics in post production on a 2 day turnaround.
Yeah, this is great, Jared.
Brady, I agree that the scaled-back approach is more appropriate for this time! I think it also gives something to look forward to when we can gather again. I'm excited about Thursday's video -- QUESTION: will is cover how to include worship/music in your service without copyright infringement?
Dropping a video next week on specific worship setups for online church!
I would say fulfilling mission is key. We have chosen to keep pastor on the stage b/c we are finding people are tired of the living room. We do make sure we are speaking directly into the camera though to speak to the people. As for the music we are working on some canned footage b/c of the social distancing. Now i said mission matters, we have moved to meeting needs in the community by teaming up with the local food bank to be a food drive thru for people. Also we as a staff have moved everything to online, small groups in conferencing apps, social media has picked up with every area of ministry. Our Student pastor is hosting group conferences just about everyday. Over all our people have responded really well b/c we are doing the mission of the church. So beyond the "service," I would ask what are local bodies of believers doing to carry the mission?
Great points, Bryan. Love that your church is taking those initiatives!
Absolutely spot on bro. God bless u for all u are doing.. Angelo from. The Worship Room Ministries Colombo Sri Lanka.
Thank you so much this was a great blessing I’m a Pastor from the Seattle area we conduct a Spanish service.. but let me tell you what you do goes across language and nations. Is a blessing for the body of Christ.
I'm looking forward to Thursday, as I suspect the picture in my head of casual may be different than the picture in your head simply because of what parts of the country we come from. One of the questions that comes to my mind is whether casual should include sitting at a table, or if it is all about the way the video is put together, not the backdrop of the delivery. I look forward to Thursday.
That's the thing. "Casual" is entirely subjective and can look so many different ways.
We did a more intimate pre-recorded service for Maundy Thursday and our church loved it. I think you're definitely on to something. I'm really looking forward to the video on Thursday. I produced the Maundy Thursday service and it took some time for sure.
I really appreciate your encouragement pursue other mission and not just the method. Truly convicting and thought provoking. Thanks!
We have found your videos helpful for our Church's live streams. Thank you!
Thank you for your videos they are really helping us navigating this shift. Blessings from Mozambique
Thank you so much for your content. It has been such a help to me. Ive been Pastoring since Dec2019. I was the assistant that came in June 2019. We are currently doing service from the “Living Room” (playing off the church’s name)for 4 weeks now. Thank you helping all of us with ideas and navigating tools as we go to a place we never been before. That just kinda sounded like Star Trek. 😂
I see most of the comments are about a year ago, it's 2022 now and your right Church has changed. Hopefully the Church will fulfill the great commission now.
What is the Mission?
We've done halfway approach between the living room feel and stage feel. We moved to a casual space in our church. Hung a TV on the wall to use as a screen. We have a bar height table to gather around. Nothing is pre-recorded. It's all live. We use an iphone with a mic plugged into it. We've seen great success. We normally average 250-300 on a public gathering. I believe our stats are showing us were reaching 3 times that amount on FB. I think the pre-recorded message & music which then premiers seems cold and like I'm watching a show. Our feedback is the people love that we are completely live. Much more interactive. We're having 600-800 comments in about 45 minutes. I believe you are on to something with your video. Not sure about us not gathering for the next 6-12 weeks? Time will tell. I would love to have a sampling of churches you think are doing this well where we could watch their services.
Good advice! I agree with you Brady. I feel then if our people are stuck in their homes it can be more relatable if the ministers are recording their services in homes as well. This is a great opportunity to shift the way we do ministry to be more effective! Thank you for all you do my Canadian brotha!
🙏 yessir
What about the Zoom church service? I have thought a lot about that. Seen many online concerts using a similar set up lately. All member at home and then streaming that conference video as a service? The real catch here is age. I am an older millennial though I think really I am a xennial or tweener gen. The casual I like but I would get tired of. It needs more than just a new method of delivery. It needs purpose and a plan. My Church is mostly older people who would hands down prefer to see the stage and lights. Because for many of them that is what they have seen their whole life. Other Churches in our area have done the casual living room get together and it seems to work. But my question is for how long? When does the novelty wear off and the next new method comes in? I think it comes back to your concept of “repeat equals defeat” and that goes for both sides of this argument of “normal” service production vs “casual.” for many churches under 100-150 the casual will be the best solution for budget and should be pursued and that is what we have seen in our denomination. But churches with a budget have opted for production and looking into doing a more refined online church experience. I think we will see as a lot of churches are smaller but for some of us, this pandemic has been the catalyst to move our churches to online where some have been encouraging the church to go and now is the time to put our best foot forward and prepare for the future. So the real question isn’t “best method” which is basically what this will come down to but rather “best method with a clear plan and goal to reach people now and prepare us for the future beyond the pandemic”. There are many things we are doing that may just stick for a while after. But to just think inside the pandemic is too small and we should be looking beyond and taking into account the variables in our churches. Then making the best decision for the kingdom.
Absolutely. The beginning of part two in this series (Thursday's video) is a worksheet on simply establishing goals and desired outcomes for services. Can't pick your route until you know your desired destination.
Pro Church Tools with Brady Shearer look forward to seeing that part.
Very well thought out! I like what you said, "But my question is for how long? When does the novelty wear off and the next new method comes in?" Do those who think a casual setting is best believe that because that is their preference normally? I do like your emphasis Brady on the why. That is what I think is lacking in most decisions made through this season.
Great info thank you! Do you have a link to those viewer survey results you mentioned? I'd like to share that with others. Thanks!
So I had to do it in my house! It works very well! Of course also starting with Rebel Give has been great too!
I agree with ur opinion totally. I've been telling my church leaders that online service is totally different than in-person service, but they just don't seem to agree.... All I can say is, oh, well.....
I LOVE this! It resonates with me and I feel the same when watching. Can’t wait for the next segment!
You are right on time Brady! Just getting ready to have this exact discussion with my staff. We have been using the casual approach, but thinking of taking advantage of being at home to use different items in the home for illustrations. Also considering connecting with other influencers during this time and have them give some video content during this time to keep things interesting. What do you think?
We’re using different environments to help make the service different. Our Current Series is Easter Eggs - the movie kind - and we’re filming from a different location every week. We’re trying to create engagement by asking people to guess where we’re filming from. Week 1 was Palm Sunday and we talked about humility & filmed from the barn of one of our church members. Last week we shared about living in the overflow of Hope and we shared from a locally famous dry Riverbed. The first to guess where we were got movie theater popcorn to their door.
Also because of Brady’s previous videos, one of our initial purchases as a church plant 1.5 years ago was an M50 camera. Week 2 we paired it with an iPhone to create 2 angled shots to help bring variety to the viewer and it seemed to make it more palatable for viewers.
We've so far gone for casual but still in the building. So everything is scaled back but we're still in our building. That's not for theological reasons, but practically it's where all the stuff is and the internet is good enough to go live from there too.
Really really well done. Thank you for your insight!
Generally I agree and we've started by moving the preaching to sitting at a table or even among the pews - but one of our issues is that our tech team and worship team are REALLY good at a fairly produced model. We're going to experiment with less production values and a more casual format but I can foresee us struggling to accept what will feel like lower quality to us.
I think "casual" can still be highly produced - it's more about intentionality!
Thanks this was super helpful and affirming for us "mom and pop" sized churches!
What are your thoughts for a more rural church? Do you think this model will translate, and how can we inform people with low tech knowledge? Thanks for all you do!
Great points! Though I wonder how this affects our desire to enter a holy or sacred place? This is a more traditional mindset dating back farther than the Israelites wondering in the desert. There is something powerful about entering a place where something meaningful or life changing has happened (i.e. - Baptism, Communion, Child Dedication, Weddings, Funerals, and transformational Worship). How do you convey the sacred in the midst of the casual?
My belief is that I am the temple and I carry the spirit of God with me wherever I am. As do you.
@@prochurchtools True. But I am also a clay pot. What distracts and takes our attention away from the power and authority of God's Word is when the focus is on the clay pot instead i.e. skinny jeans cool pastor with "authentic" this, and "casual that" trying too hard to be relatable, instead of just getting out of the way and letting the Word speak, and the holy or transcendent connect people to God in the way they have experienced every time they walk into their sanctuary.
I love this-we are a small 5 year old church of about 100 people. The first Sunday we went online-only was March 15th and we went live from the back of the sanctuary, sitting around a bar top table with empty pews behind us. The next day, the stay-at-home order went into place so we quickly switched gears to broadcasting from our respective living rooms using BeLive and then Streamyard (we switched so we could send to Facebook & TH-cam at the same time). We have had a lot of fun bringing in a mix of live acoustic & pre-recorded worship, but my favorite part has been getting our church members involved in the “lobby time” during the first 5 minutes, or when we had a 4 year old girl lead a craft from her dining room (not a pastor’s kid either 😂)...our people love seeing each other, not just the pastors, and they love being a part of it! We engage volunteers by asking them the interact live in the comments, as well. It’s been a fun few weeks! You can see our latest service at www.refugeoc.com/livestream 🧡🍊
Thank you for your inspiring video
I literally just finished speaking with a couple of my leaders concerning this exact issue. We've done laid back services, full scale services and a mix of both for Easter. We are working out the details of how we will move forward. Part of that is trying to figure out location for this stripped down services. Is it better at home? At a location in the church? What about worship and audio quality for said worship? Everyone knows how terrible the microphone on phone's are. We are currently looking at ordering some shotgun mics for smart phones and setting up in a home and a newly renovated area of the church on different Sundays.
My head is hurting as we try to discover new ways that are creative, functional and effective to communicate the gospel. Thanks for your content! It's helping!