While churches, mosques, and synagogues practice traditions dating back thousands of years, they are implementing cutting-edge technology to make worship more accessible and impactful for their congregations.
Religious organizations are using digital signage software to display worship services, announcements, and even emergency alerts to their communities.
Virtual Worship Services
Many religious organizations began offering virtual worship services during the COVID-19 pandemic.
While virtual worship services were started out of necessity, they are still offered as a convenience to many congregations today. Worshipers who can’t attend services because of distance or health concerns are still part of their practices.
Churches use digital signage software to display worship services on screen in church, but the same content can be accessed from any devices with a stable Internet connection.
Congregation members can view services, announcements, or any other church digital signage content from their phones or laptops. Churches are expanding their congregations beyond borders and around the world.
Digital Alerts and Announcements
For various reasons, services or classes may be delayed or postponed. Many religious organizations notify local news stations of closings or delays and rely on the news to get the word out.
Digital signage software allows churches to communicate with congregations outside of traditional media formats like the local news. Members can see announcements on digital signs on location, but they can also access content from virtually any modern web browser.
Digital Displays During Services
Some religious organizations are actually implementing digital signage into in-person services. Digital signs display hymn numbers, bulletin information, as well as Bible, Torah, and Qur’an Readings.
Digital signage is also used to display images or videos during services to make them more immersive.
Expanding the worshipers’ engagement, including the ever-elusive children that are overly distracted and bored with services, and bringing more people to faith is the goal of many organizations.
Increased Sustainability
Many churches are shifting from traditional paper bulletins, pamphlets, and flyers to digital signage because it’s a more sustainable way to communicate.
Most of the time, traditional paper products like bulletins aren’t reusable and need to be thrown away. Digital signage software allows religious organizations to save money, time, and resources by using the same reliable tool to deliver information.
Updates to digital signage content are quick and easy to make, and users often schedule updates well in advance.
A synagogue may have a special Hanukkah worship service in December. With the use of premade digital signage templates, they can easily schedule appropriate Hanukkah content in November, or any time throughout the year.
No need to allocate time and money towards printing paper materials that will inevitably be thrown away.
More Congregation Interaction
Making worship services more interactive increases congregation engagement. Church members send each other messages of encouragement, and share prayers and scripture verses using digital signage software.
Depending on how a religious organization wants to use its digital signage, content can be made publicly available or private.
Publicly available content allows religious organizations to branch out and gain members. It also allows congregation members to view content from anywhere with a stable internet connection.
Privately published digital signage content only allows users with sign-in credentials access. Digital signage is used to recognize members for donations, good works, or just birthdays and anniversaries.
Improving Religious Education with Digital Signage
Digital signage is an excellent school for churches because it makes services, announcements, and events more accessible for all.
Churches are able to reach far more people outside of their four walls, especially when there is inclement weather. Digital signage brings an interactive element to church, thus improving congregation engagement.
Overall, digital signage is a sustainable, scalable, and interactive tool religious organizations use to improve communication.
This information is courtesy of Arreya Digital Signage Suite, which is the next generation of cloud-based software for creating, managing, and deploying interactive and digital signage experiences, www.arreya.com.