“My View On Online Streaming VS Physical Church Service” – Stephen Olayinka

Christian Faith and reverence to God have long been a fundamental part of human life, we (congregation) are the Church, not the physical buildings. Apostle Paul said, “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?”  – I Corinthians  6:19 NKJV.

For over a decade many Churches across the globe have taken the step to stream their services online to expand their audience with the aid of internet, search engines such as Google will have additional “focus words” to direct searches to live stream page, thereby making access to online Churches seamless. Many have a diversity of quality outputs based on a production standpoint but as a Church wanting to move to live streaming, it is good to know some of the pros and cons.

Pros

• Opportunity to extend beyond the locations of the Church and can offer the viewing of Church services live to people that cannot make it to Church.
• People are much more likely to check out your Church in person if they have gotten a chance to see what your service is like online.
• Past teachings/preaching can be stored online or archived for playback.
• Live streaming is a useful platform that creates Church visibility.
  Chat room options allow conversations to happen in real time, giving your Church the ability to have an “Online Pastor” to answer questions or continue conversations with people that are not present at your Church for prayers/counselling.
• The sick could receive the touch of God through ministration – Psalm 107:20 (NIV) “He sent out his word and healed them; he rescued them from the grave.”

Cons

• May lead to over dependence on online Church that could end up potentially cannibalize attendance to services.
• There is likelihood of not providing the same level of accountability as an in-person meeting in Church service.
• Tendency to limit the effectiveness of specialized ministries (kids, students, etc).
• It could greatly limit the amount of serving opportunities for individuals hence discourage service to God.
• Non-attendance physically could limit an individual’s leadership development.

Wherever we are, it is important to understand that Faith in God’s word and focus on Him is most important in getting connected spiritually, John 4: 24 (NIV) “God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”

Note that location was not surfaced in the scripture above, it’s also imperative to strike the balance where you can attend Church physically do not hold back… Hebrew 10: 25 (KJV) “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.”
It’s all about balance! God bless!

Stephen Olayinka
Lead Pastor, Watersprings Christian Centre