Ministry leaders must ask themselves whether streaming a church service once a week is enough to build an online community and discipleship. In many respects, the answer is no. Furthermore, there are a number of other pain points experienced by pastors when trying to grow their church community, including:

• Securely live streaming services and special events
• Managing a video library with ease
• Customizing a video website to the church’s unique identity
• Giving a voice to a growing community with community uploads

As such, churches and ministry leaders can enrich their sense of community with a multifaceted media center. Powered by a versatile video platform, establishing an online presence can improve visibility and increase engagement amongst church members.

For instance, YouTube is known for being the go-to video platform for a variety of purposes from entertainment to education. Still, there are alternatives to YouTube that might better fit a church’s unique needs.

Building a Video-powered Media Center

An effective method to elevate connectivity is to build relationships by providing members with a media center to share, teach, and learn. A church is then giving its community a voice through a medium on which they feel comfortable.

In particular, building and promoting a church community can be aided by:

• Building and enhancing virtual connectivity within a church family beyond a weekend service to provide access-on demand every day of the week.
• Encouraging community uploads and live chat so people can share and connect
• Offering members an opportunity to seamlessly and securely give online while watching content on a media center.
• Providing channels dedicated to different church departments (e.g. children, youth, and discipleship ministries)
  

Live Streaming Services, Holidays, and Celebrations

Offering a congregation the alternative to in-person sermons and church services can make a world of difference when faced with health & safety concerns, mobility issues, extreme weather conditions, and conflicting personal schedules.

Contrary to the belief that live streaming takes members away from church attendance, live streaming can ultimately grow a congregation and serve an online community.

For family and friends living abroad or who can’t make it in person, they can watch the following important events via live stream:

• Graduations
• Weddings
• Funerals & Celebrations of Life
• Baptisms & Christenings

Connecting a church and its members to non-traditional visitors from communities across the world breaks through the barrier of people being inadvertently unaware of a church’s existence and mission.

Easy Video Management

A variety of video-hosting options exist, including live streaming church services, video on demand (VOD), and VOD series. With these features, churches can host, compile, and organize as many videos as they wish for the viewing pleasure of an audience. Comprehensive built-in video management tools include:

• Video sliders
• Gallery pages and filter options
• Tags and related content
• Event/Sermon scheduling

Customizable Layout and Themes

With the freedom to customize a church’s video platform, viewers will recognize its unique image every time video content is posted, such as:

• Sermons
• Community News & Events
• Teaching Series
• Ministry & Missions
• Staff Training

Free from conflicting advertisements that have the potential to overshadow, dilute, contradict, or distract from integral beliefs, a church can have the tools to construct a hosting platform that not only supports its messaging but enriches it.

Providing such a platform for ministry leaders and churches to aid in promoting ministry work would equip their front line with relevant resources and rich, dynamic content.

Customizable to the size of a church, it is advisable to choose a platform that has the capacity for scalability. That means whether there are 100 or 5,000 members in a congregation, there is a need for necessary video hosting tools to fit current and future needs as a community grows.

Community Uploads

Allow church members to share their voices and stories through live chat and community upload features to make communication between a church, its members, and the public, easy as possible.

Members of the church community can contribute to the platform so everyone is up-to-date on what is happening outside the church walls.

Having complete control over who can contribute to the platform and who moderates all videos and conversations before they are published, allows leaders to preserve the integrity and consistency of their messaging.

MediaShout & Vidflex Faith’s Partnership

MediaShout currently serves approximately 80,000 small to mid-sized church customers and has partnered with the Vidflex Faith™ platform to supplement its church presentation software.

To enhance the in-person and virtual connectivity of MediaShout customers, this partnership combines the strengths of church presentation software with versatile streaming and video management services. Churches now have access to dynamic video features, including:

• Live streaming
• Video archiving
• Community engagement
• Online giving

Ultimately, MediaShout and Vidflex Faith’s complementary services will help our customers spread the Word of God.

Click here to learn more about how Vidflex Faith™ is helping MediaShout customers.

Cochrane Alliance’s Success with Video

Cochrane Alliance church created its own branded video website using the Vidflex Faith™ video platform host and distribute a variety of video content that would be free from conflicting content, inconsistent branding, and distracting advertising - as is common on large public video sites.

By streaming their weekly services, Cochrane Alliance optimized its reach to attract over 2,000 unique users; a significant jump from its regular 350-450 weekend attendees. This increase in visibility has supplemented the church’s in-person attendance and fostered the efficiency of virtual worship.

To augment the vision of a ministry and mission of their church, complementing in-person church attendance gives ministry leaders the opportunity to reach a larger audience and build a loyal following. Having such a platform helps pastors and church members connect online, provide relevant resources and rich, dynamic content to build a stronger sense of community.

Visit our website to learn more about how Vidflex Faith™ can help your church build its online community.