Taking it to the Next Level | Victorian Adventist Conference

Even though streaming our church services during 2020 has primarily been for members benefit, once something is on the internet, it is ‘out there’ and anyone can find it. So why not utilise this fact, and set up you website and other platforms with that in mind… anyone can stumble across it. What do you have in place for the seeker, to help them? What resources, links? What message do you want to send? Alternatively, how can you use your website to encourage your viewers in their own personal ministry to others.

While you may not have your websites set up with evangelism in mind, if you follow these simple steps, it can serve two purposes!

Here are the tips that have been shared with us by Wayne Boehm, the Evangelism Manager at Hope Channel.

Be clear on your target audience – who are you trying to reach? This is clearly seen in the language that is used and assumptions that are made – for a seeker, don’t assume they know the process or language and adapt what is there if you want to reach hem as well as your church members
Be clear on where you want to land the ‘plane’ at the end of the broadcast – what is your call to action for those watching? What do you want your members or an unchurched viewer to do after they have listened to the program for the past hour? iI might be easier to identify a person/persons to take part in this each week and build a consistent call to action after the benediction. This person might do a simple piece to camera thanking the viewers for joining the online community – and invite them to do something – and this can be very personal. For example…
- Do they (members) need to share the link to their own facebook/youtube webpage?
- Encourage people to use the chat function to leave a message or share what they learned
- Share this Bible text with someone in the week ahead
- Connect with someone you haven’t spoken with for a while
- Send your prayer request to us – we have people here today that will prayer for your needs
- If you would like more information about today’s topic, send us an email and we will send you a booklet/study guide etc
- For more information about today’s topic, visit our webpage (See a list of webpages below. If a person subscribes, the contact details can be sent to the closest church for follow up)
- If people live within an acceptable radius of the church and are in need… please email us – we have a team of people ready to help.
- Invite people to join a virtual Bible study class etc
- Offer to email people the PDF Sabbath School lesson
- Create a lower third that scrolls at the bottom of the screen that enables people to comment and connect in the early part of the worship service (I wouldn’t use this during the sermon).
- Create a lower third to promote e-giving/offerings – this can be used on multiple occasions throughout the broadcast.
Remind the hosts to welcome and engage with the online viewers – ‘leave a comment’ – ‘let us know where you are watching from’
During the sermon, the preacher can do the same – ask the viewers leave a comment
Have the team give thought to creating a journey for the viewer that will take them from the couch to a church community.
Are you boosting your content to reach the local community?
Many churches have a countdown clock on their opening screen at the start of the program and sometimes an endslate – put some useful information on this screen so that people are aware of the title, web addresses etc and other information that will be helpful for the viewers – simply having a clock at the outset is a lost opportunity to connect. This is of vital importance as it will be the first thing people see when they watch the program in the future.
The sting is in the tail – remind churches that while only a few may watch live, the subsequent views in the weeks, months and years ahead will return a significant harvest for the Kingdom – encourage churches to think long term not just the weekly broadcast.
At the end of your Sabbath service broadcast, call peoples attention to your webpage where they can access additional information.
Have an offer promotion with an email address people can send to after the service. If you would like access to some simple offers, please email Wayne for the link.

You don’t need to do all these things each week, but pick one or two and create a journey for the viewers noting that while you may not have many live viewers, the tail is where the views will come from in the weeks and months ahead, so we need to embed contact details and create an automated digital journey – if this is of interest to you, we do have a resource that can help in this area.

If you would like to discuss this further, you can contact Wayne at [email protected]

Targeted Links – a person who subscribes to one of the options at https://discover.hopechannel.com will automatically receive a Bible study or e-guide directly to their inbox and their details can be passed on to the closest church for followup. You viewing platform or web page that promotes the service could link to this page, or directly to one of the masterclasses, depending on what topic you would like to promote.

MASTERCLASS embed codes Embed codes work similarly to links, but are a graphic way to share Bible study resources. Your web developers can insert them into your webpages.

HOPECHANNEL EMBED CODE FOR LIVESTREAM – Here are the links which are the basis for embedding Hope Channel Oceania into a website – you could have this on your viewing page during the week, or below the main sermon as a further option once the sermon is finished.

To embed in a paused state – user must press play to watch and listen:

https://players.brightcove.net/753071706001/bfaab758-94d9-445e-bb56-e50ab69bf996_default/index.html?videoId=4434490517001

To embed in a playing-but-muted state – user must press unmute to listen:

https://players.brightcove.net/753071706001/r1xWUuW6l_default/index.html?videoId=4434490517001

Embed code for paused state

Embed code for playing-but-muted state

We hope that these tips and links have been useful to you as you continue to develop your church’s livestreaming and website services.

Have a look at what Kellyville Church in NSW have done; https://www.kellyville.church/masterclasses; and https://www.kellyville.church/hope-tv