Building Community: Video Sharing Sites
by Paul Prins at 3:12 pm
In terms of building community this is probably the least effective method of those listed in the original post for the series. I make this statement because the main purpose of these sites is entertainment. For this purpose I’m going to break this down into three sections; Promotional Videos, Follow-up Videos, and Documentaries.
I would first post all of these video on your churches website for your members before heading over to a site like You Tube. If you’re interested in posting to multiple video sharing sites at once check out our post on tube mogul.
Promotional Videos
These could be general promotional videos for your church (like a commercial) or for a sermon series. The purpose for posting these videos online would be with a hope of attracting people to your church website, and your church itself (so make sure your church domain name is in the video and description!!!). I wouldn’t go out of my way to create videos to post online to sites like You Tube but to re-purpose content you’ve already made to show on a Sunday morning.
The main idea is to give the world a glimpse of the community happening inside (and outside) of the walls of our church. If you’re videos get some traction online it will hopefully help to lower peoples hesitation to the Church and to Christ whom we represent.
Follow-up Videos
After your church holds great events (including mission trips) post a follow-up video online. These videos could be a compilation from a conference your youth attended, a video made from the Christmas Eve candle light service, or a summer church picnic in the park. These are great because they show your community in action. For those in your church it is always fun to me reminded of times you had (and to see yourself in a video).
For people outside of your church these videos can provide an intimate and personal insight to what is going on inside your church. Of anything I believe this could have a tremendous effect at breaking down false expectations/views of what it means to be a part of the body of Christ. These videos can also be referenced by your members in emails to friends that could hopefully lead to inviting them in the future.
Documentary Videos
While not really fitting under the idea of community building as the previous two this is an area that the Christian faith is lacking in greatly. Google Video is one of the sites that allows longer videos to be posted. A quick search for videos about faith reveals many promoting Islam and other faiths, along with videos pulling down Christianity (one not so flattering video is to the right, but there are some positive ones). What a need for high quality christian documentaries!! You could go about building community through the group of people that come together to produce these documentaries for the web to combat lies that are being spread and to give hope.
If you know of anyone in your church who has a gifting and passion for film & documentary please empower them to make these films! Films that show the active work of the faith in today’s world.
