For security and spiritual reasons, churches should stop live streaming their services for all to see.

Faith is under attack around the globe and, increasingly, in the United States. In the span of a month, at least seven people were murdered for their faith. Two students were fatally shot Aug. 27 while attending Mass at Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis; Christian leader Charlie Kirk was assassinated Sept. 10 in Utah; and at least four attendees were murdered Sept. 28 at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc Township, Michigan.

When a church live streams its service, a potential attacker can study videos of the service and find the layout of the sanctuary and points in the service when the congregation would be most vulnerable. We don’t know if video feeds have been used in planning attacks, but there is no reason to provide evil actors with such access.

Let’s not forget the heinous origins of widespread live streaming. It was the 2020 Covid pandemic. State governments pressured churches not to meet in person. A few congregations ignored the government and kept meeting normally; some held services in the parking lot with everyone staying in their cars. Others required masks.

Most who started to live stream found benefits beyond germ-busting. If someone can’t make it to church, he can watch the recording online on a Thursday, with a crunchy snack and a cat on his lap. Those who move away from their home church can watch their old church friends from afar. Now, far-flung family can stream a baptism on their phone, and those looking for a congregation to join can easily church-shop from home.

But if you can pause your church service to answer the phone, you are just watching a show. Streaming is no longer keeping us connected. It removes us from the sacred and has become an excuse to avoid fellowship.  

“For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them,” says Matthew 18:20. Church is more than passively watching a sermon and some worship songs from a distance. It requires participation.

Church Is for Healing

Church is circles of people having conversations in the lobby. It is where we learn someone just had surgery and could use a food train. Assuming we don’t duck out the moment the service is over, we have the opportunity to make new friends and go deep with people, talking about the hard stuff.

At church we together celebrate birth, redemption, and the comforting hope of eternity. We remember the doting ladies who smile at our babies. We draw closer when we see a mere acquaintance show up at our family member’s funeral. None of this can be done remotely.

Church Is for Growing

Proverbs 27:17 says, “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.” Only the people who show up in person can sing in the worship band, light the candles, or share coffee and conversation. The needs are many, but the volunteers are few. Most churches need more Sunday school teachers, youth leaders, and nursery attendants to show up in person and experience the joy of teaching values to the next generation. Many people discover they love teaching or operating the sound system, and church becomes the one place where they can grow into leadership and be part of something bigger.

Church Is for Serving

Live streaming caters to lazy, consumer Christians who want to be spiritually fed without engaging in church life. Offering it is a disservice to those who have not yet learned how church participation enriches their lives. Churches that serve people make their communities better. That service requires people to show up and do something useful like sort baby clothes at a pregnancy center, raise money for the victims of a house fire, or go on a mission trip.  

Church Is Personal

Many church-goers forget the service is streaming and may be surprised to find themselves or their children on camera, which brings up some privacy issues. Perhaps five years from now, they will feel differently about the video of them participating in a goofy skit. Many churches offer health updates in prayer, like John Smith’s kidney transplant, or Jane Brown’s move to hospice. Members may not be comfortable with such personal information being publicly shared outside the walls of the church and saved forever on the internet.     

Church boards that can’t agree on streaming could at least turn off the camera and offer only audio, or make church members get a passcode to watch the stream, so churches can control who is watching.

Better yet, just skip it and go old school. Organize carpooling rides for members who cannot drive. Visit those unable to leave their homes. Notice visitors and make them feel welcome.

Rather than relying on live streams to draw newcomers, churches should engage in their communities and build relationships outside their building. Walk in the local parade, offer a free weekly meal, and develop programs using the talents of the people who show up.

Churches should say no to streaming and yes to fostering fellowship.

Beth Brelje is an elections correspondent for The Federalist. She is an award-winning investigative journalist with decades of media experience.