Easy Video Editing Tool For Churches

Have you been seeking ways to make more people hear the life-changing messages coming from your church? Have you been longing to gain more members, followers, converts or disciples through the ever-widening window of digital platforms? Is your music team inspired by international music ministries like Hillsong and Bethel and would also love to share soul-lifting songs to a teeming number of young folks all over the world? Do you run an exclusive ministry or, faith-based organization that carries the potential of impacting thousands of people if only they knew about you or the ministry?

If the answer to any of these questions is ‘yes’, then this piece is a much-needed eye-opener specifically designed to help you achieve the remarkable feats above through the power of video editing tools.

Video editing tools broadly refers to sofwares, apps or any other tool employed in post-production, capable of editing, multiplying, generating or manipulating a video file.  Give or take, there are hundreds of Video Editing tools out there that can increase the quality, audio output, viewer interest and overall reach of the content (music, sermons, prayers) we deliver in our churches.

These tools loosely range from free(libre) or open-source Video Softwares such as Cinelerra (Linux, FreeBSD), OpenShot (Linux, macOS, Windows), Shotcut (Linux, FreeBSD,macOS, Windows) etc. to Proprietary (non-commercial, freeware or freemium) Video tools such as Davince Resolve (macOS. Windows, Linux), iMovie (iOS, macOS), Lightworks (Windows. Linux, macOS) etc. to Proprietary (commercial ) editing tools such as Adobe Premiere Pro (macOS, Windows), Camtasia (Windows, macOS), Davinci Resolve Studio (macOS, Windows,Linux), Final Cut Pro X (macOS), Magix Movie Edit Pro (Windows) and so many more.

Considering a variety of pros and cons, perks and problems unique to each of these tools, we shall within the scope of this content consider four (4) video editing tools that are sure to help propagate the different expressions of what we know as church- be it a  message, a mission or a ministry.

ADOBE PREMIERE PRO

Adobe Premiere Pro is usually the first love (and perhaps the only love) of many professional Video Editors. Combining many professional tools and features that range from Sound Editing, Colour Correction, beautiful titling options etc, Adobe Premiere Pro ranks as one of the most popular and highly recommended non-linear video editing software packages in the audiovisual production block.

Adobe Premiere Pro has a relatively simple interface that’d be fairly easy to understand and navigate by your church’s media team (if they are not ‘pros’ at it already).  With or without a robust professional experience, a dedicated media production personnel begins to enjoy the intuitive use of Premiere pro because of how familiar it begins to feel after repeated use.

Another really good thing about Adobe Premiere Pro is that it comes with a mouth-watering variety of excellent and professional tools for Video Editing; with about 47 beautiful transition effects (with installable plug-ins) that can be used to create seamless montages of your various services, catchy titling options to distinctly capture the themes of your programs (and other necessary information), ear-pleasing audio effects for heightening viewer experiences and many more.

However, Adobe Premiere Pro has a few ‘cons’; one is that it requires a PC with relatively high specifications because of video resolutions and requirements while another is the intermittent freezing and other glitches one experiences with Premiere Pro which may really become pesky especially when there are timelines to be met for post-production.

DAVINCI RESOLVE

A favourite pick by churches, Davinci Resolve comes highly recommended as it delivers advanced 8k editing, professional visual effects, standard colour correction and excellent audio production which makes it not only a favourite for churches but also a go-to tool for professionals who edit movies, TV shows and commercials.

With online and offline editing, the Davinci Resolve Tool really helps to save time while editing and trimming videos because of its high-performance playback engine which works excellently even for file formats such as H.264 and RAW(processor-intensive file formats).

The only drawback is that some users and church media personnel might find some of the features of Davinci Resolve as being too complex and hard to navigate, while it must also be noted that its free version is ideal for more advanced video projects.

LIGHTWORKS

One thing that’d really come helpful for your church’s video editing with Lightworks is the simple and straightforward GUI (Graphical User Experience) which makes the tool easy to use. With a catalogue of original stock videos and sound clips and comprehensive video tutorials, Lightworks shines as a super-lightweight go-to application with fast start-up and playback interface that makes video editing go as smooth as possible. It goes on, Lightworks also has some excellent features for audio controls, colour correction, 3D Video Processing, masking and many more.

One downside however with Lightworks is the huge amount of time it takes to download the software.

 CANVA VIDEO

The first mobile application (and web tool) on the list, Canva is a free (with pro version available) video editing tool that combines professional template-based. transitions, sound effects and voice overs. With magic resize, video background removal and brand kit & colour features, Canva can really help to create beautiful videos for your church or ministry.

One notable con or limitation to Canva is the lack of a storage file which means that a user will experience certain issues with saving or accessing a file if the website is down.

 TIME TO START EDITING THOSE VIDEOS

In recent times, so many churches and ministries have literally become household names as millions of people all over the world kept ‘bumping’ into their video content on social media platforms which has gone a long way to show that ‘the video way is a viable way’. Never undermine the power of a well-edited video in advancing and amplifying your church’s mission and message; it’s time to invest in video editing tools and harvest more listeners, disciples, partners etc. on different delivery platforms.

With these editing tools shared above and more, you can impact more lives with short excerpts from your sermons, worship session, prayer session, full sermon videos, jingles etc. even as you experience unprecedented church growth through the power, skill and tools of video editing.