Live Streaming Church

My church did live streaming a bit differently yesterday.  We usually live stream via Facebook, but we're usually broadcasting the church service that we're having as a congregation.  Yesterday, most of the congregation watched/participated from a distance.

It wasn't as stark as some of the services I've seen, the types where one pastor stands in an empty sanctuary.  In addition to our pastor, we had our organist and 5 choir members.  I was there to operate the camera by way of an iPad.

We didn't do virtual communion, but other than that, the service wasn't vastly different from what we usually do.  Our choir did some gathering music and a hymn, then we had some readings from the Bible, a kyrie along the way, a sermon, some more music, and then some prayers.  We ended with a benediction and a sending.

As we did virtual church, we heard from many people about how much it meant to them.  Hurrah!  We has 177 views, which may not tell us as much as the fact that we had 70+ comments.

We also heard about glitchiness.  It's an interesting problem:  what happens when a nation of churches all go online to stream a worship service on a Sunday morning?  We're also in an older building with lots of concrete to block wireless Internet signals.

My pastor is already thinking of creative ways to use this new-to-us approach in innovative ways.  It's great to simply duplicate what we would ordinarily do in person.  But what if this technology could let us do more?

I know that it can, but I don't know what it will look like. It will probably look like thousands of different approaches, some of which will be adaptable to other churches, some of which will only work with the local congregation.

I'm glad to see all the interesting experiments.  I know we didn't have much choice, but I'm glad so many of us are embracing the opportunities.