Bridgetown Church Cancels Their Live Stream
Another way to summarize this news is "A MegaChurch Stops Live Streaming," but they would hate that framing.
Their lead pastor, Tyler Staton, delivered this news in an Instagram Reel. I actually just read his book "Praying Like Monks, Living Like Fools," which is amazing, and I thought this Reel was perfect. He is a master with words, and he links the decision to their church's mission perfectly.
Here's the deal: you do things digitally, not because everyone is doing them. You do it because of your mission and objectives. Bridgetown is notoriously liturgical, minimalist, and intentional. Their larger goal is to return to ancient ways while minimally embracing digital elements. They are okay with some being bummed not to see a live stream if a small percentage goes to a local congregation. They are introducing strategic friction, which makes perfect sense for their church.
What does it mean for your church? What can we learn from this decision?
What is the role of your live stream? Could it just be a message-only upload? Maybe. Ask what your mission and objectives are as a church. We have recently invested a bit more into making a custom worship service for those online and not leaning all the way into just broadcasting our largest campus live stream. We have a larger goal of reaching more people and stirring up deep engagement to help inform future expressions of our church. Our church's worship service is one of the ways we introduce people to our church's entire experience, but again, we are heavily leaning into our YouTube on-demand worship service.
Where should you embrace friction to drive your mission and objectives? Maybe it's not killing your live stream, but friction needs to be introduced somewhere else in your church's strategy. Homework: Draw your church's assimilation and discipleship strategy on a whiteboard. With a red marker, draw a line indicating where friction should be for the sake of your larger mission and objectives as a church. Talk about it with your core leadership, argue, and try it out.
Kudos to Bridgetown for making this decision for their church's mission and objectives!
