2025’s Best Online Churches (& Why They Work Well)

Despite your ever-expanding to-do list, you know that growing and cultivating your online community is a necessary step for your church. The best online churches today have learned how to harness the power of their online presence, and you can, too. But how? You’re facing:

• Limited reach of your online services
• Tech overwhelm
• Time constraints
• Low engagement online

Individuals who cannot attend in person, such as those who are homebound or live far away, still want a way to connect. By offering community-minded ways for them to engage, you will reach into their lives in a meaningful way, as the true body of Christ. 

Learn from some of the strongest online churches out there! From their examples, we can learn to improve engagement and grow your online presence. Explore the best church website builders to find the perfect platform for optimizing your church community online.

Tip from Jay Kranda (Saddleback Church)

Remember that your online service is geared for those who would never attend a local church. The goal of Saddleback’s Online Church to provide an environment that is like a local church where they can safely see what church is like. Think of Church Online as the conversation you have with someone in the coffee shop that leads him or her to attending your church. You would never call that connection “shallow,” right? Church Online is the first step and many times the best type of community for a new person to experience.

20+ Online Churches To Check Out

Someone once said, “The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.” This is never more true than when building an online community at your church. Start by observing and learning from churches that already found success. Here are 20+ places to get inspiration:

USA: 10 Online Churches to Observe and Learn From

Websites are critical to the success of your church. The online churches below (besides being well-designed church websites) can also provide great inspiration:

1. Life.Church (Craig Groeschel) - 903K YouTube Subscribers: Life.Church is passionate about the global church and provides an engaging and accessible online service that livestreams around the clock, providing global access to an online community. They have life groups that meet online and in person.
2. Elevation Church (Steven Furtick) - 3.34M YouTube Subscribers: Elevation has an inviting and dynamic service and is easy to start or join a watch party from anywhere.
3. Saddleback Church (Andy Wood) - 589K YouTube Subscribers: Saddleback Church in California has a thriving online community led by an online community pastor who oversees small groups and home groups. They offer online resources such as downloadable sermon notes.
4. Church of the Highlands (Chris Hodges) - 57.2K YouTube Subscribers: Watch live services on Sunday mornings and throughout the week with live chat and prayer request options designed for engagement.
5. Bethel Church (Dann Farrelly) - 532K YouTube Subscribers: Bethel Church is best known for its powerful worship music. They also offer online conferences and teaching through their website.
6. Eagle Brook Church (Jason Strand) - 24K YouTube Subscribers: Eagle Brook Online offers two live streams on Sunday mornings and features a welcome message for visitors to learn more when the church services aren’t live.
7. Passion City Church (Louie Giglio) - 234K YouTube Subscribers: Their online church is easily accessible through the homepage and offers many additional resources for online use, such as daily devotionals, messages, articles, and music.
8. North Point Community Church (Andy Stanley) - 47.8K YouTube Subscribers: North Point offers relatable messages and a user-friendly sermon portal to browse for messages by topic of interest.
9. Harvest.Church (Greg Laurie) - 35.4K YouTube Subscribers: Harvest Online offers a robust set of resources accessible through their website and YouTube to watch sermons, listen to podcasts, and join up for small group discipleship.
10. Crossroads Church (Brian Tome) - 120K YouTube Subscribers: Crossroads Anywhere has a dedicated online community pastor and has created a space for people who aren’t ready/able to attend church in person but are still looking for community.

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 Non-USA: 10 Churches to Observe and Learn From

Beyond the US, there are many other examples to reference and learn from. Whether you paid tens of thousands to have your website built, or whether you built your church website for free, you can still find lots of great lessons:

11. Hillsong Church (pastored by Phil & Lucinda Dooley) - 609K YouTube Subscribers: Hillsong is globally recognized for its well-produced online worship services. They offer live streaming, on-demand services, and a strong presence on social media and YouTube.
12. Holy Trinity Brompton (pastored by Alex Wood) - 74.3K YouTube Subscribers: This London-based church community livestream services, provide resources for small groups, and host interactive discussions.
13. Grace Family Church (pastored by Wayne Taylor) - 4.97K YouTube Subscribers: Located in South Africa, Grace Family Church has a digital campus that includes resources for kids and parents to learn at home and get connected.
14. Catch the Fire (pastored by Murray & Ash Smith) - 95.2K YouTube Subscribers: Known for its spirit-filled worship, Catch the Fire Toronto broadcasts high-quality, engaging Sunday services and conferences accessible worldwide.
15. Planetshakers Church (pastored by Russell Evans) - 1.55M YouTube Subscribers: Best known for their worship, Planetshakers offers around-the-clock Livestream worship. They livestream their services every Sunday through YouTube.
16. Kingdom City (pastored by Mark Varughese) - 47K YouTube Subscribers: Kingdom City has a global reach with an online campus that offers great content and the ability to connect online with a small group.
17. Life Church Bradford (pastored by Jock & Shirley James) - 22.7K YouTube Subscribers: Their focus on producing professional, heartfelt worship and connecting with a broad audience through engaging and accessible formats makes Life Church Bradford a leader in online ministry.
18. New Creation Church Singapore (pastored by Joseph Prince) - 244K YouTube Subscribers: This church is known for its polished broadcasts and global reach through streaming and an app featuring sermons, devotionals, and worship music.
19. Christ’s Commission Fellowship (pastored by Peter Tan-Chi) - 1.46M YouTube Subscribers: Known for its dynamic online church services that include live streaming and interactive sessions, CCF emphasizes community engagement and spiritual growth through its digital resources.
20. GMS Church (pastored by Philip Mantofa) - 262K YouTube Subscribers: GMS Church in Indonesia has maximized their reach by offering live streaming in multiple languages (including English), and services for different age groups.

Thoughts from Andy Reider, Crossroads Anywhere

At Crossroads Anywhere, we firmly believe the church isn’t a building or a religious institution. It’s not bound by a place on the map or time on the calendar. It’s PEOPLE who are living out the movement Jesus started. Experience God on your schedule, starting wherever you need it most.

Strategies To Improve: 5 Things The Best Online Churches Do Well

All the above churches have thousands of subscribers on YouTube, which can seem a little daunting. But remember, they had to start somewhere. Don’t be discouraged by low engagement, start small and incorporate some of these best practices and you will see your online engagement begin to grow. 

Strategy #1: Build Around YouTube.

Live-streaming services on YouTube are a critical part of your online presence. It provides your church with a wider reach and is available anywhere that someone has internet access. YouTube is free to use and is customizable to your specific church brand. 

It has powerful search options and improves your SEO with descriptions and keywords. It integrates with other platforms like Facebook and Instagram. These churches have capitalized on YouTube’s many features to broaden their reach and build their online community:

1. Elevation Church
2. Kingdom City
3. Planetshakers Church

Strategy #2: Make it Easy for Viewers/Members to Engage.

Interactive features help bridge the physical gap between the church and its online congregation. Build your church website around engagement. Get your online viewers involved with the service through chat features and live Q&A. It changes your audience from consumers to community members participating in worship. These churches use online features well in their live streams:

1. Crossroads Church
2. Life.Church
3. Church of the Highlands

Here are 3  interactive tools to increase the sense of community and foster spiritual growth online:

• Chat features: This fosters a sense of belonging for the participants who can share their thoughts on the sermon and ask questions. This works best when a moderator guides the discussion and responds to comments.
• Polls: Adding a poll during the service gives participants an active role in shaping the service or future church activities by sharing their opinions on the service.
• Live Q&A: Create a dedicated segment where viewers submit questions on faith, Scripture, or church life during the service to encourage deeper engagement.

Strategy #3: Use Social Tools to Deepen Your Church Community.

Social tools foster genuine connections and meaningful engagement. They can powerfully deepen your church community and advance its mission of discipleship, care, and outreach. Social media marketing for churches helps to extend community beyond Sunday morning and facilitates connection throughout the week. 

Here are some churches that are leveraging their social media well:

1. Saddleback Church
2. Hillsong Church
3. Holy Trinity Brompton

Try these community-oriented tools at your church:

• Salt + Light: Use this platform to create a digital meeting place (or hub) where your online community can share thoughts, ask questions, and pray for one another.
• Zoom: Host small groups or prayer meetings using virtual meeting spaces. Members are no longer limited by geography or the inconvenience of changing out of their sweatpants.
• Facebook and Instagram: Share updates, devotionals, or behind-the-scenes glimpses of church life. Post discussion prompts, Bible verses, or prayer challenges to encourage reflection and interaction.

Strategy #4: Offer On-Demand Bible Studies and Devotional Content.

A church website is crucial to the operation of your ministry. Providing online devotional content and bible studies extends your reach beyond what you can offer to your congregants in person. It makes spiritual growth more accessible anytime and anywhere; for those who live far away or are unable to attend in person. Here are some other advantages of providing digital content:

• Encourages consistent spiritual practices by making the tools available on-demand in manageable sizes for busy schedules.
• Effective platform for individual or small group study.
• Cost-effective and scalable ministry resources that have a nominal cost to maintain once they are developed.

Thoughts from Craig Groeschel (Life.Church)

As our vision for Life.Church started to expand, we simply tried to do the next right thing. Instead of trying to hit some random goal that was important to us, we tried to keep the mission pure. Above all else, we want to give the Bible to as many people as possible and get them engaged in God’s Word.

Each step of the way, we’ve tried to add the right people, create the right systems, continue to innovate, and always make faith-filled decisions that stretched our team beyond what we could accomplish on our own.

Strategy #5: Enhance Visual and Audio Quality

Online viewers have a shorter attention span than in person. Since they can watch any church worldwide, your videos need to keep their focus. Clear visuals and crisp audio create a professional and engaging experience that keeps viewers focused on the message.

Here are some churches that have focused on quality for their Sunday Morning Service.

1. Passion City Church
2. Harvest.Church
3. Elevation Church

Here’s how to improve your livestream on a Sunday morning:

• Invest in quality equipment: A beautiful worship gets lost in transmission when the sound quality isn’t there. You need good cameras and a sound system to enhance your production value.
• Test your setup before going live: Put your best professional foot forward by working out the kinks before the service starts.
• Incorporate text overlays on your video: Enhance your videos and live streams with free presentation software to showcase worship lyrics and sermon notes seamlessly.

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