Open Your Eyes

With more churches livestreaming, and more people watching remotely, you’ll want to make sure that you’re connecting with the congregation that you can’t see. It can be hard to lead worship when all you see is a camera lens, and the temptation to just worship on your own exists. If you have a team of people and you’re wanting to lead worship while livestreaming, there are two things you can do to help the people who are watching online to engage with the worship.

Open your eyes.

I’ve watched online church services in the past. Because the service is on a screen, it’s easy to feel like a spectator and not a participator. Some worship leaders and singers have the habit of singing with their eyes closed in live services as if they’re having their own personal worship time and aren’t really leading the congregation. It’s crucial when you livestream or prerecord a service to keep your eyes open and make eye contact with the camera. You need to visualize actual people when you look at the camera lens. Be a worship leader, and focus on encouraging the people who aren’t physically with you to feel less like spectators and more engaged as you lead. This applies to live services as well. Be the leader, not just a worshiper; you have a ministry to do.

Show the words of a song either behind you or use subtitles.

I saw a livestreamed service this past Sunday. I loved the worship until they sang a song I didn’t know, and the words weren’t on the screen. It’s hard to remain engaged if you don’t know what to do or what to sing.

Regardless of whether you have one camera or multiple cameras, when you record, it’s not only important to be able to see the eyes and facial expressions of the singers, you also need to show the song lyrics. If you project the lyrics on a screen, you can frame them in the shots along with the singers. You also have the option to provide subtitles instead of showing projected lyrics. The key thought is to show the song lyrics and the singers’ faces in every shot.

You also will want to display the lyrics a few seconds before you sing them. People need to see the words before it’s time to sing them. That means that you will need to display the sets of words a little early.

Make sure that you have the licensing to display copyrighted song words online. CCLI offers a Church Copyright License for your church services, but you also would need their additional Streaming License to provide copyright coverage for streaming or podcasting recorded services. Here’s a link to that information on CCLI. The link shows information for the United States. If you’re in a country other than the United States, you will want to check CCLI’s agreements for your country. On the top toolbar of the CCLI website, select your country and your language, then follow the prompts.

Online worship doesn’t have to be disengaged. The congregation may be sitting in their homes, but you can engage them if they don’t feel like they’re watching a performance or intruding on your personal worship. They want to feel like you can see them through the camera and you want them to join you and sing along. This just takes a little thought and practice on your part.