How to Get the Most Out of Your Worship Service on Your Live Stream

Jim Sweeney • February 01, 2017

This post explores different ways that you can make sure your church's live stream is maximizing it's impact. It's part of our series on church live streaming.

Take a moment to imagine a Sunday at your church. It probably consists of fellowship, congregational prayer, worship through song, Scripture reading, and the preaching of the Word.

Though worship is one of these main components, it often gets the short stick when it comes to your live video stream.

This isn’t deliberate; it’s often merely the result of poor planning, limited resources, and the physical constraints of the worship space.

Despite the bit of extra effort, making music a greater part of the broadcast should be worth it. There are different tactics to consider in order to get the most out of your worship service on your live stream:

One or More Cameras

If your worship consists of one person leading your congregation in song, your solution is simple: Keep the camera on the Worship Leader with occasional shots of the congregation .

Things get more complicated if your church has a choir, organist, soloist, multi-piece band, or some combination of the above.

If you’re using only a single, stationary camera to live stream, position it so that it can be angled to get a good shot of the performer(s). Avoid situations where the online audience can hear someone singing or playing without being able to see the performer.

For a multi-camera shot, position one so that it focused almost exclusively on the performer(s). Focusing on the musicians engages the audience and heightens the worship experience. Experiment with different angles to find what works best.

Here are some tips on various camera shots and what they mean.

Fixed vs. Mobile Cameras

Whether to use fixed or mobile cameras depends on the worship space and how distracting a roaming cameraman might be. If you are able to get close to the performers, don’t be intrusive. In most cases, the musicians are amateurs and might get rattled by a camera that is stationed too close.

Sound Quality

Sound quality is, of course, crucial. The microphones on video and DSLR cameras have gotten better, but if you have the equipment and expertise to use remote microphones you’ll get better quality. Google will lead you to various instructionals on the best ways to mic a choir or band.

Audio isn’t only important for your worship service, however. It’s essential for your entire stream, as even the most devout believer is going to have a hard time watching with a live stream if the sound quality is poor. Here are 5 Easy Ways to Improve the Audio of your Live Streams.

Final Thoughts + Further Reading

If you're looking for tips on how to improve the overall composition of your shot, download our free guide, What You Need to Know to Frame and Compose a Killer Shot.