Church Live Streams

At the Second Church of Odyssey you'll find different ways of expressing your beliefs, finding prayer support or being encouraged through regular devotionals.
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Pengwin
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Church Live Streams

Post by Pengwin »

Due to Covid-19, several churches have transitioned to live streams so that they can provide their congregation with a worship service even though they cannot meet in person. Although there are some churches who have not decided to live stream their services and have stopped having service altogether.

My church is live streaming the service at the same time as when we would meet in person. It's mainly just my pastor in his home. At first, his wife and her sister singing the worship songs while he played the guitar, but then our county made stricter orders so it was just his wife doing the singing and now he's playing prerecorded singing of the men who normally would have led the worship songs. People in my church said that though we are separate during this time, communicating in the chat during the live stream still makes us all feel connected. I enjoy seeing their names pop up as they greet each other or announce that they are watching the stream.

I've seen one reason for churches not live streaming being that they don't want their congregation to get us to it and lose the need for fellowship. I personally haven't felt that need diminish and I still feel it being supplied though not as if we were seeing each other face to face.
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Post by Danadelfos »

So far I've liked the online streaming. We're using Zoom/Youtube so if you want you can tune in to zoom and see everyone else's faces which is fun. I'm also liking that my early morning bible study is on Zoom so I don't have to get up as early. O:)

Overall, I'm noticing that I desire the in person fellowship more. I think sometimes I consider church as more of something I do rather than something I need. I'm recognizing my need for corporate worship more, which I would say is a good thing.
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Petrichor
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Post by Petrichor »

Penguin wrote: I've seen one reason for churches not live streaming being that they don't want their congregation to get us to it and lose the need for fellowship. I personally haven't felt that need diminish and I still feel it being supplied though not as if we were seeing each other face to face.
I hadn't heard that reasoning before, but it's kind of baffling. It's like letting people starve so they'll appreciate food more later on. :-s I agree with you--online streaming helps keep me connected to my church, but I still really miss being able to see everyone in person every week. My church already livestreamed services prior to this situation, but they've actually started pre-recording videos since it allows them to have a higher production value. Then the service is premiered on Facebook on Sunday morning so the whole church watches together and can comment/interact with each other.

Just in case anyone isn't able to attend church because their church isn't livestreaming--you're welcome to come to mine! :D I don't really want to share it on the public boards, but if you message me, I'd be happy to send you a link!
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Post by ByeByeBrownie »

My pastor goes on Facebook Live at our regular service times and gives a message. There's no worship music though, and I really miss that. My mom actually made me play the piano (I'm AWFUL) last Sunday because she said we needed some music for Easter.

I think everybody's really been doing a great job of staying in touch with each other and checking in on those in the congregation who have needs.

I'm actually hoping my church continues to livestream after this is over. I feel like it's a good connection point for people who can't (or won't) physically go to a church service.
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Post by Catspaw »

Yes, my church is live-streaming services as well. They're doing a kids service first (which I've been watching and enjoying, since I miss volunteering at Sunday School) and then the regular service at the usual time for one of our services (we usually have four service per weekend). It's all available online later for people who can't make it at that time. We are able to have a few people together at church to sing (as long as the total number of people in the building is ten or less and people are at least six feet apart), and then the feed switches to the pastor preaching from his house, and then back to the band for a closing song, like we would usually do. We're doing the same for prayer meetings that we can no longer hold in person, though those were already livestreamed for people who couldn't make it. It works. It's not quite the same, but it's way better than nothing!
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Post by Termite »

I'm currently on an internship in Mexico, and it has been super interesting watching how the live stream pans out! The church here is pre-recording worship, with some transitional videos and looped photos, and then they're filling in the hosts, offering, and sermon live on Sunday morning. The whole ordeal and technology behind it is amazing.

I am a firm believer that if Paul lived today Facebook live would be his favorite thing in the entire world. xD
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Post by Petrichor »

I'm starting to hear some news of churches tentatively opening up again... Where's everyone else at with that? My church is still a long way from being ready/permitted to meet in person again, so I'm anticipating at least another 1-2 months of online services. I so deeply appreciate all the work my church has done with putting together services and interacting with everyone online, but I miss meeting in person a lot more than I thought I would. :( I'm a very introverted/reserved person and I didn't think it would affect me this deeply, but I just want to see my church family again.
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Post by Pengwin »

This past Sunday my church met in person for the first time in forever! \:D/ They had sent out an email asking who was willing to come in person and they setup chairs for families and single people so that every household was 6 feet apart. My church is small enough for them to be able to do that. They plan to continue doing the live stream for those who don't want to meet in person yet. They really didn't want to pressure anybody into feeling like they had to show up in person.
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Post by Mountain_Girl »

I like the streaming services for the reason that I am usually sick a lot and can't go to church. I think it is great that church have learned to use this and I hope that the church who have started livestreaming during this time will keep it up afterward. It will help them reach out to the chronic illness community and those who are house bound or even those in hospitals for long periods of time.
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Post by radgeek »

I feel like some churches have not been good stewards of the technology they have until now. I can't drive so if Sir can't take me I've had live streaming as an option for my whole marriage. I'm also obviously unable to attend church in my native NYC and while they aren't fans of live streaming, they always had the sermon up by that Sunday night. Now They have a service with music for worship that premiers on both YouTube challenges (it is a trilingual church so they have one with English audio and ASL and another with English audio and Spanish subtitles). Both of the churches are pre-recording children's lessons.
My church in CT is starting a soft reopen this Sunday and only 50+ can go to the Sunday school and we are encouraged to wear masks for other's comfort.
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Petrichor
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Post by Petrichor »

Those are interesting thoughts, Mountain_Girl and radgeek! My church has been consistently streaming every Sunday for about three years, so I guess I didn't realize how little effort some churches put into reaching people online. I agree; this would be a great opportunity for churches to evaluate their outreach to people who can't physically make it to church every Sunday but still want and need to be included.

Much as I miss my church family, I understand sticking with online church for as long as we need to. My area has been hit especially hard, so we need to be really careful about when we reopen and the way we do it.
Last edited by Petrichor on Thu May 21, 2020 8:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Catspaw »

My church is big enough that it will be a while before we will be able to do church as usual. Even as things start opening up a bit more, we will need to remain online for a while longer. I do miss getting to do church with people (I never used to have to make that distinction!) but the online stuff has been great. My church previously livestreamed prayer meetings but not church, though the recording was always available the next day for people to watch. I appreciate the creativity that has been used to connect lots of groups of people online.
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