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Vision Logo Circle

Tips for Taking your Church Online

by | Wed, Apr 8 2020

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Video camera church service
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Churches around the world are facing a steep learning curve, as they scramble to keep their communities together while their doors are closed. Maintaining connections using technology is certainly a challenge, but could it also be an opportunity?

Dave Cairns is a specialist in the relationship between media and church practice. He’s working hard as a media consultant for faith communities as they adapt to our new environment. He thinks that with everyone at home, looking for something to do, the Church has a chance to reach people in new ways.

[audio src="https://getmediapoint.com/document/episode/podcast/MDAwMTQ5OTA2Ny5tcDM.mp3" /]

“We’ve suddenly got this massive hole in our Ministry,” Dave told 20Twenty’s Neil Johnson, “because there’s all this stuff that we can no longer do. Online seems the viable alternative, and everyone’s just sort of rushing to fill that gap as quickly as they can. I think that’s leading to some innovation. I think it’s also leading to some… how to put it nicely… less than good stuff.”

So what makes a good Church livestream? In a poll on our Facebook, more than 80 per cent of listeners said they preferred their online church to look “raw and natural” rather than “professional quality”. But Cairns thinks we need to ask ourselves more complex questions.

“One of the things I always suggest to people is to go out into the broader marketplace and see what’s working. So you’ve obviously got a massive YouTube community, where people have been producing content like this for quite a long time.”

But he says that though production values are a factor, the quality of your content always matters more. “People can be engaging with their iPhone. And a lot of things can be slick, multi-camera deals, and be boring.”

At 40, Cairns watches far more YouTube than commercial TV, and he says that’s even more true of young people. So it’s vital that Churches take advice from the consumers of online media, who will have the best instincts for what works well in an online space.

Dave Cairns
Dave Cairns

Of course one of the biggest challenges in this medium is attention span. When people come to a church building, they’re committed to hearing the Minister’s message. “For that hour, or however long your service is, you have a captive audience. Now online, you don’t have that. The average YouTube video is watched for the first ten seconds.”

“You’re going to be putting stuff out there where people can just drop in for a minute or two, then drop out again. So there is a need to focus on engagement, and to be honest, to a degree focus on entertainment, where we perhaps haven’t in the past.”

Of course it’s vital that our message doesn’t get lost amidst our desperate attempts to keep people interested. But Cairns is quick to remind us that Ministry and multimedia aren’t mutually exclusive. “I do think that something can be missional focused, and within your Church’s theology, but still entertaining,” he said. “You just might need to think a little bit differently about how to do that.”

In his chat with Neil Johnson, Dave Cairns also explained why we should be thinking outside “the Sunday model” to reach people who are at home, seeking connection. And he challenged Churches to see this time not as a temporary inconvenience, but as an opportunity to compete in venues where we’ve been absent for too long, and reach people who never would have walked into a Church building.

Listen to the podcast below for great insight and inspiration into how your local Church can thrive in cyberspace. Or to get in contact with Dave Cairns directly, visit his website.

[audio src="https://getmediapoint.com/document/episode/podcast/MDAwMTQ5OTA2Ny5tcDM.mp3" /]

Tune into 20Twenty and join the conversation with Neil Johnson, weekdays on Vision Christian Radio. Click here for your local times.

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