With most churches canceling in-person services, many pastors and congregations are utilizing online options for worship.
Many churches are streaming services, or a message, through Facebook, YouTube or other services.
First Assembly of God Worship Pastor Mandy Pena said that they had a good turnout for their first week of online services, and are hoping to grow as people have more access to what the church is offering.
“We had 1,000 views on Facebook, but we also have Vimeo and other different platforms that we post to, including our church website,” Pena said. “It’s so new for everybody, we’re not really sure what to expect.”
First Assembly is posting different kinds of services throughout the week, and looking for what works best for the congregation.
“I’m sure it’s going to evolve as we go, once we figure out what works,” Pena said.
First United Methodist Church (FUMC) Youth and Worship Minister David Pruitt said the church’s online viewership was about the normal level, but he expects the concept to grow in popularity.
“To be fair, this week was our first one, and we were trying out some new things,” he said.
Pruitt said that there were so many people on Facebook attempting to watch services from their respective churches that several people reported that the servers overloaded and the site crashed.
“It sounds like there was a very high volume of churches that were live streaming,” he said. “We reached about 686 people. It was an awesome opportunity.”
Pruitt said that online availability was something that many churches had been pursuing.
“The circumstances forced us to work a little faster, which I think is a good thing,” he said. “I see this being utilized more, especially for churches that have people who are homebound or are sick or on vacation who still want to be able to connect.”
FUMC is putting together worship and devotional videos, along with Zoom calls for one-on-one conversations with congregants.
FUMC member Amy Hargrove said that “it was a great way to fill an otherwise dreary, uncertain time. It’s a great distraction for people.”
Hargrove said that she expected to feel disconnected from the church without being able to be there in-person, but she ended up feeling more connected than she thought she would.
“Even though we weren’t all together, we were still commenting on the same thing at the same time,” she said.
“It wasn’t as empty as I thought it might feel.”
First Baptist Church (FBC) Pastor Ben Reid said that an unanswered question was that church staff had no accurate way of knowing how many people they were reaching with online streaming.
“We can keep up with the number of views that we get, but you can’t always know how many people are in the room watching with them,” he said. “We have gotten quite a significant number of actual views, but it’s a little difficult to track exactly how long they watched or how many people are watching.”
Reid said that the online options presented a great opportunity to reach those who were unreachable before.
“There are a lot of churches, I think, that weren’t doing (online) before who, now that they’re doing it, will probably continue to do it,” he said.
Member Dawn Vandygriff said that FBC had been doing Facebook Live long enough that it ran smoothly on Sunday, and she was glad for the option.
“This was the first time that I’ve had to watch it from Facebook and not be there, but I do feel connected just because I feel connected to my church, whether I’m in that building or not,” she said. “I don’t necessarily have to be in that building to feel connected to those people. To be in our home with the family and to still be able to attend church was a huge blessing.”
Vandygriff said that she felt different singing praise and worship songs in her own home rather than being amongst others singing, but that didn’t stop her from feeling fully connected to the pastor when he spoke.
“I don’t think I would change anything other than being able to actually be there,” she said.
Member Vanessa Smith agreed and said that not being able to interact with others in the church was a difficult aspect.
“It was different physically, but spiritually, I felt like it was still great,” she said.
East Side Church of Christ Minister Matt Stidham said that he would continue to livestream services at 10 a.m. Sunday and 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. Wednesday.
He is doing everything possible to stay in touch with his congregation.
“I’m writing various articles throughout the week, just trying to lead people to some positive things going on,” he said.
Stidham said that one of the unexpected benefits was closer relationships amongst congregants.
“Relationships are developing,” he said. “People are reaching out and talking to others.”
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