AltarPage

How to stream a church service live

Answer · Updated

You need three things: a source of sound (a phone, or your mixing desk through a USB audio interface), something to send it (an app or a laptop), and one link your members can open on any phone. For most churches, audio is the place to start: it works on weak networks and costs members far less data than video.

Go live from your phone · 5 min · Watch on YouTube
Chapters

Video or audio?

Video on YouTube or Facebook is good for people on Wi-Fi. But an hour of video uses 300 MB to 1 GB, which many members can't afford, and it stops on a weak signal. An audio broadcast uses about 22 MB an hour, plays on any phone, and keeps going on 2G and 3G. Many churches do both: video for those who can watch, audio for everyone else.

The simplest setup: one phone

  1. Put a phone near the pulpit speaker, or give it to whoever leads.
  2. Open AltarPage and tap Go live.
  3. Share your link on WhatsApp. Members tap it and listen, with no app or account.

The phone can be locked while it broadcasts (in the AltarPage app). Plug it in for a long service.

Better sound: from your mixing desk

Connect the desk to a laptop with a small USB audio interface, open the studio in a browser or AltarPage Studio, choose the interface under Sound from, and go live. Listeners hear exactly what the congregation hears. See how to broadcast from a mixing desk.

What AltarPage adds around the stream

While you're live, listeners can Give, send a prayer request, tap I gave my life to Christ and comment. You see each one arrive. When you end, everyone who responded is ready for follow-up, and the replay is on the same link within minutes.

Already streaming on YouTube, Facebook or Mixlr? Keep it: paste your link, and AltarPage shows you live with Give and prayer around it. On YouTube you can also broadcast its sound with little data on your AltarPage link.

Questions people ask

How much data do listeners use?

About 22 MB an hour on AltarPage Broadcast at speech quality. Video uses ten to forty times more.

How many people can listen?

As many as come. AltarPage counts broadcast hours, never listeners, and never cuts off a broadcast in progress.

Do members need an app?

No. They open your link in any browser. The free AltarPage app adds reminders when you go live.