COVID-19 has sent congregations scrambling to find technology solutions for keeping connected with their members. It can be somewhat confusing, especially if you do not have a lot of technology background. There are many options out there, and some can be costly at a time when churches are trying to save money.Here’s a compilation of some key technologies currently available, and some brief comments to help you sort through the various choices. If you have any questions or need help, please contact us for assistance.
Free Options Suitable for Most Churches
Before spending money on a Zoom (or other) subscription, these well-known services should be more than sufficient for most churches, and they are free!
Skype – The venerable video service now has “Meet Now” feature that does not require users to have accounts. Will also work in many desktop browsers without a Skype app installed.
Google Hangouts – Offers basic group video conferencing, but requires a chromium-based browser (e.g. Chrome) on a desktop computer.
Faithlife Meet – The Faithlife platform for churches now offers a free video conferencing feature that works in a browser, and has a phone call-in option as well.
Professional Services
Zoom – This is the one that everyone talks about, since it has become the most widely used and has a full-feature set. But, if you want to do group video conferencing for more than 40 minutes you will need to pay. Zoom has recently received lots of negative publicity about serious security and privacy flaws.
Microsoft Teams – This a relatively new service that has quickly become the main competitor to Zoom. If your church has a Microsoft 365 or Office 365 license, you may already have free access to Teams.
Others – There are other business-grade services available as well, including Google Meet, GoToMeeting, and WebEx, but at a cost.
Personal Video Conferencing
If you just need to connect with one or two people, it might be sufficient to use Facebook Messenger or Apple Facetime, but these have a number of limitations and are inadequate for group video conferencing.