4 video ideas your church can be doing now

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to tell you that the world is becoming more and more visual. People are not just using text to communicate these days.  They are using pictures and videos more and more…just look at your Facebook or Twitter accounts…pictures and visual content images are everywhere.

So, the question is, what is your church doing to embrace this and begin to use more visual content in reaching lost people? And I’m not talking about using old 1990s clip art visual content.

I know making videos can seem daunting task especially when you don’t have someone who is talented in that area.  But it doesn’t have to be so scary. I actually make videos all the time with my iPhone and a camera stand (check out this video I did on how easy you can make videos) and can be quiet effective in reaching people.

So, making and producing videos can be a simple thing that your church can accomplish.  But what types of videos can you be creating and sharing?  Here are 4 ideas:

1. Funny videos. Let’s be honest, when you think of the Church you probably don’t think of fun or humor first and foremost. But fun is important as it breaks down walls between what people might think of Church. So take some time and add some humor to your videos. People laughing is rarely a bad thing. Where do you start with fun? Tie it in to a message topic. For instance, we made this video to talk about sharing.

2. Quick devotional videos. As much as we want people to be reading their Bibles daily, people often say they don’t have “time” to do a devotional.  So instead of trying to twist their arms over and over again with guilt to read their Bibles, why not prepare a short video devotional for them that they can do while they are on a lunch break, a commute to work (not driving though ;)) or when they are just getting up or going to bed?  I do these short 1-2 minute videos for our Online Campus as a way to help people spend time with Christ at least once a week. 

3. Family Table Talk videos. Just like your devotional videos, these are short (preferrably 3-4 minutes long) that allows families to do a devotional or have a discussion centered around a topic. We live in a busy world so having a video that families can watch together or separately then discuss together can be great.

4. Teaching Videos. These are your sermons or various teachings throughout the week that you do.  It is a great way share with people a latest sermon with the world. You can put it on YouTube, Vimeo or your website.  Then, you can share them on your social media account.  You can find our videos on Vimeo and then we share them on social media.

Again some of these videos I did on my own with an iPhone and tripod. It wasn’t that hard and it got us in the game of producing videos regularly in hopes that more people might be exposed to what we are doing at church and want to come check us out.

So…what do you think? Have you tried any of these ideas before?  How has that gone over?  What other ways have you tried and how did they go?  Share your experiences below or on social media using the #ymsidekick hashtag to join the conversation.