It always surprises me how quickly an idea can go from introduction to expectation, from mere inquiry to accepted standard. And once an idea has become mainstream in that way, it is difficult to revisit and evaluate it.
One of these is the idea that churches should livestream their worship services. What was rare in the days before the pandemic became almost universal during it as circumstances proved to be a kind of technological accelerant. Yet with those days now far behind us, the livestreams continue. I don’t know the percentages, but I’d say a church is now more likely to have a stream than not. It has somehow become almost intuitive to churches that they ought to stream their Sunday morning services. The video ministry has taken its place beside the children’s ministry, women’s ministry, men’s ministry, and all the other ministries a church is expected to have.
I’m sure it made sense for churches to quickly pivot to streaming in those early days of uncertainty. It made sense for churches to keep the streams going during days when meeting together was difficult or forbidden and perhaps also during the days when people were shy about being in big crowds or being in public with as much as a sniffle. I’m sure churches were wise to adapt.
But few churches considered the exit plan and whether the livestream ought to be temporary or permanent. Few considered when and if they would wind it back down. Several years have gone by and in most cases, it proved to stick around. Why? The most common rationale is that it proved valuable for shut-ins or others who legitimately could not attend on a Sunday morning. Once housebound people had grown accustomed to having access to a livestream, it seemed cruel to cut it off. It also proved helpful in helping prospective attendees gain a sense of how the church functions and worships—a sense that was superior to merely reading words on a website. And then, of course, it was affirming to see unknown and anonymous people tuning in from around the city and far beyond. For these reasons and others the streams stuck.
What most churches failed to do, though, was carefully weigh the pros and cons, something that is always a wise exercise when adding new technology to any part of personal life, family life, or church life. As always, the benefits tend to be quicker and easier to identify than the drawbacks. The benefits are exactly the ones I laid out earlier. But what how about the drawbacks?
Most obviously, this kind of ministry consumes resources that are often scarce—there are costs in time, money, maintenance, and manpower.
Of greater concern is the way streaming may change the very nature of the corporate gathering—the very meaning of what it is to be “together”—by extending it to those who are not physically present. This is an ongoing battle in a digital world and we have long claimed that churches are bucking this trend by remaining a place where people still gather physically. But a livestream both changes and complicates that dynamic.
And then there is the way preaching may change when a stream is present. When the preacher knows his words will not go beyond the room, he directs his words to his people, to his flock. This gives him the freedom to address their concerns and their needs. But when preaching to an anonymous group outside the room, he is now preaching to strangers. To whatever degree he preaches to this on-screen audience, he will be tempted to perform rather than preach.
Finally, there is the concern that streaming may enable disobedience. Many churches stream their services as a means of serving people who have no other church to attend. This sounds noble. But don’t you think it’s likely that the stream is also (or perhaps even primarily) enabling people who could attend a church close to their home but prefer the preaching or worship of a church they watch on a screen? It may feel affirming when we gather the statistics of people who are watching from far-off locations, but how do we know those people aren’t using our stream to foster their own disobedience? In most circumstances, wouldn’t the ideal outcome be that zero people are watching our livestreams because they are all in their own churches?
Wouldn’t the ideal outcome be that zero people are watching our livestreams because they are all in their own churches?
(On that note, it has often struck me as ironic that some of the pastors who are most adamant that watching services online should never displace or replace attending local services are the very ones who broadcast their services each Sunday morning. And they often have the budgets and personnel to create streams that are of the highest quality. The messaging seems more than a little mixed to me. Perhaps these influential men could model something positive to everyone by cutting their livestreams and urging people to find a church in their own setting.)
So here is my suggestion: The leadership of every church would be wise to take time to carefully consider the past, present, and future of their livestream. They can consider whether it is truly serving their own local church and whether it is truly serving the wider church. To that end, here are some questions they may want to ask:
- When and why did you begin livestreaming? What was the reason you began it and how do you currently evaluate its success?
- What is your biblical case for a livestream? What biblical principles support or contradict it?
- How is the livestream impacting your local church and how is it impacting the wider church? How certain are you that your stream is not enabling disobedience in Christians who ought to be attending a local church?
- If the ideal scenario is for zero people to watch your livestream (because they are all in your church or another good one) how can you help make that happen?
As the elders of Grace Fellowship Church, we evaluate our livestream on a regular basis. For the time being, we continue to offer it as a help to those who are legitimately unable to attend church due to illness. However, to ensure it is being used for only that purpose, we put it behind a password. Anyone who wants to watch it simply needs to email our sound team to receive that password. That’s probably not a great solution, but it is the one we have settled on for the time being.
My hope is that each church will evaluate its own livestream to consider if and how it furthers the mission of that local church and the mission of God’s wider church. May we all think carefully, pray earnestly, and be faithful to what God has called us to.
