Thinking about starting online church services? Consider this your Church Online Platform starter kit.
The Church Online Platform is a free tool from Life.Church and created to empower churches to reach more people online. The platform provides operating and technical support with continually updated features necessary for creating an impactful church online experience.
Follow these steps to quickly launch a unique online experience for your church and start reaching people for Christ—no matter where they are.
Step 1: Sign up for the Church Online Platform. To create an account, enter a username (email) and password, your church information, and a personalized platform subdomain.
Step 2: Set up and customize your Church Online Platform account. Once signed up, you’ll be prompted to finish setting up your church online. You can customize your appearance, hook up important navigation links, add your service times, upload your service content, and invite teams and volunteers to join your online service.
Step 3: Choose a streaming provider. A streaming provider hosts and streams all of your video content seamlessly and encodes it into a format ready for the web. To help you get started, visit our support page for more information about our top streaming providers and step-by-step instructions for streaming your online service.
Step 4: Choose a service style and gear. The platform can stream a prerecorded service (simulated live) or a live service. Choose one style or a combination of both (ie. prerecorded announcements before live worship and message) that work best for your church. Then, choose the appropriate camera, software, and any additional gear you may need.
Step 5: Recruit and train your chat hosts. There are people in your church who would love to be a part of your ministry through church online. We recommend you not only share your church vision with them but also provide training so they feel empowered to fully connect with your online attenders during their first service.
Step 6: Make a plan for following up. Think about the follow-up strategy your church already uses to engage new visitors and formulate a plan to use the same strategy online. At Life.Church, we use social media and emails, and we also use the Moments feature in the Church Online Platform to follow up with online attenders who respond to our customizable prompts like "I'm New Here" or "I said yes to Jesus!"
Step 7: Communicate the vision to your church. Before your first online service, let your physical attenders know and encourage them to invite friends and family. Share the vision: Online church is a powerful tool that God has given us to meet people right where they are—no matter what they’re going through.
Step 8: Plan for the long term. As your online presence grows and your church reaches more people, start connecting people with online small groups that will help them grow in Christ and grow in the community.
Learn even more about the different facets of online ministry with these free Open Network training videos:
Starting an online church ministry is possible. And, with the Church Online Platform, it’s free. The Life.Church team is working hard to remove any barriers you might face in setting up your church online because we know eternities are at stake.
Whether you're new to the idea of church online or you've been dreaming about growing your church in the digital space for years, we're here to encourage you and support you. God has placed you in this specific time and armed your church with the technological tools of today for a reason: to draw more people to Himself.
