Are you looking for the best church presentation software 2021? Or maybe you’re interested in free church presentation software 2020? If you are, there are a few things you should consider before making your decision. In this article, I give a number of tips on how to choose the right software for your church, as well as what features it may offer.
Growing church attendance isn’t easy for anyone, but it is something many churches strive to do every year. Regardless of your church size, there are always ways to improve or add new features for your church announcements or sermons. In the world of church presentation software, here are a few of the most popular areas churches have been implementing in their worship services.
SlideDog
While not specifically tailored for it, SlideDog is used by more than a hundred Pastors and Church AV technicians for handling sermons and church services in the USA today. It offers great PowerPoint and media files compatibility, has an iOS/Android and web based remote, includes audience interaction features and is apparently a good enough church presentation software alternative for many people. SlideDog does not come with Bible or SongSelect integration, so content creators would have to add that to PowerPoint slides, videos or images themselves.Download SlideDog for free and give it a try!
Price: $99 USD/year, free to try
Supported OS: Windows
Download: Windows Installer
Webpage: slidedog.com
OpenLP
One of the most popular open source worship presentation program out there, OpenLP packs a ton of features for managing and displaying songs, Bible verses, images, videos (not video backgrounds though) and more.
It facilitates custom alerts, Bible import through CSV files, CCLI/SongSelect integration, PowerPoint file import etc.
Managing worship songs
- OpenLP can import songs from a wide variety of sources like Easyslides, Opensong, Videopsalm, Zionworx, DreamBeam, MediaShout etc.
- You can tag verse types, preset verse sequence, add formatting and manage songwriter information
- A quick song search is also available
Managing Bible verses
- Bibles can be imported from OSIS by the CrossWire Bible Society, any CSV file, OpenSong, Zefania etc.
- You can even download a few selected verses from a Bible site, display verses in many custom formats, easily search verses by scripture reference (e.g. John 3:16-17) or by a search phrase to add into your set list
Media
- OpenLP integrates with one of the most popular open source media player of our times: VLC!
- This means you can use almost any video / audio file format in OpenLP that is compatible with VLC
- Slides and templates
- OpenLP can be used to set up custom liturgies/set lists as per your church’s needs
- Announcements, alerts or custom slides are also possible—custom slides can also be looped if required
- OpenLP also integrates with PowerPoint, PowerPoint Viewer, LibreOffice Impress on Windows and LibreOffice Impress on Linux/FreeBSD. Imported presentations (sermon slides for example) can be controlled from inside OpenLP
- Support for video background is under development. However, you can use a transparent theme as a workaround for now until this feature rolls out
Extra cool features
- OpenLP also has a FREE Android remote app to control the presentation from anywhere inside your church using an Android device—as far as I know, this is a first of its kind app!
- Built-in stage view accessible from any device with a web browser. Use any device on the local network as your stage monitor, meaning unlimited stage monitors without any extra hardware constraints.
- Ability to add backing tracks to songs
Platforms
- OpenLP is available for Windows, Linux, Mac or FreeBSD
OpenLP is a fantastic option for anyone looking for a free and feature-packed church presentation software.
Quela
Free and well maintained open source projection software for churches with a variety of import options, meaning you can easily migrate your existing content to Quela from other software such as EasyWorship, OpenLP and OpenSong. Multilingual user interface offering out of the box support for a separate stage/presenter view. Offers video background support in addition to static colors and images. Comprehensive manual and good support for setting up projectors. Available for Mac, Windows and Linux.Price: Free and Open Source
Supported OS: Windows, Mac, Linux
Screenshot: application window
Webpage: quelea.orgCapabilites:
– Presentations (PPT, PDF, Impress)
– Video & Audio (VLC Integration)
– Song, Bible & Pictures import
– YouTube & DVD
– Stage View (Android app)
– Video Background support
– Confidence Monitor
– Multilingual user interface
– Live quick edit of text/songs
– Recording of sermons/services.
OpenSong
If you need a super simple, free and easy worship presentation software, then look no further than OpenSong.
It may not have all kinds of bells and whistles when it comes to features, but it does just enough to meet the most important church projection software requirements.
Managing worship songs
- OpenSong can easily double up as a worship song management tool—you can type in songs yourself or import them from CCLI’s SongSelect
- Or you can always go to any site providing lyrics and chords for worship songs and just copy paste from there
- Songs can be stored with chords, which of course won’t appear in presented slides. There’s a quick song transpose option also if you want to practice a song in a different key—it’s extremely convenient for musicians
- OpenSong also provides many free song packs in various languages to help get you started
Managing Bible verses
- OpenSong’s website hosts a wide variety of Bibles that you can download for free and import into your system.
- Zefania XML Bibles, NRSV, NIV, KJV and more are available and supported for import apart from Bibles in other languages (French, Filipino, Portuguese, German etc.)
Media
- Any image file can be set as a background for songs and Bible verses
- Fonts, colors etc. can be custom formatted separately for song slides, scripture slides and alerts
- While video backgrounds are not natively supported, it’s not completely impossible either if you can learn this workaround
Slides and templates
- With OpenSong, you can present songs, Bible verses and alerts specifying the order of slides, such as verse 1, then chorus, then verse 2, then bridge, then chorus again and so on
- You can also present a preset timed loop of defined slides, create custom set lists in just a few minutes, search and find any Bible verse or song in seconds.
Platforms
- OpenSong can be installed on Windows, Mac and Linux machines.
OpenSong is great for anyone switching from PowerPoint—its simplicity and ease-of-use (I’ve taught people to use it in like 10-15 minutes flat!) make it a standout option!
Song of Songs
Free church presentation software with a seemingly focus on song lyrics, but with lots more to offer once you look under the hood. It has Bible, PowerPoint and video support. It includes a browser based remote control, integration with OBS Studio for live streaming and offers the possibility to store your service in the cloud via DropBox, Google Drive or similar cloud storage provider. It’s available for Windows 7 and up and has an active community forum. They offer video tutorials on their website.Price: Free (accepts donations)
Supported OS: Windows
Screenshot: application window
Webpage: www.songofsongs.co.ukCapabilites:
– Presentations (PowerPoint import)
– Video & Audio (VLC Integration)
– Song, Bible & Pictures import
– YouTube Downlader
– Stage Monitor
– Confidence Monitor
– Remote Control
– Multilingual user interface
– Support for DropBox, Google Drive ++
– Show Twitter feeds
Holyrics
Holyrics is a free Church presentation software developed with the objective of facilitating the presentation of lyrics and verses in worship and other events.
Managing worship songs
- Save song lyrics and use custom themes to display.
- Search and add a song quickly using the available search options.
- Holyrics has an offline database with more than 15 thousand songs!
- We can separate the song lyrics of different groups or singers using groups
- Allows to save the time and date of each song played
Managing Bible verses
- Supports display of Bible verses and transmission to other devices
- Facilitates access to any Bible verse with just 3 clicks
- Can save lists of favorite verses to bring them up quickly
- Visualize the Bible in different versions simultaneously
- Change the version of the verse on the fly in real time
Media
- Has stage view support—we can use return monitors with unique settings. Slides can also be customized for the Holyrics app
- Show messages and alerts only on return monitors
- Colors, images or videos as background with opacity control
- Can show alert messages at any time, even during a presentation
Slides and templates
- Create various themes and use in any song lyrics and verse
- Schedule the songs that will be played and the media that will be performed in each service
Extra cool features
- Access program data and control presentations by mobile through the Holyrics mobile app
- We can register our worship team members in the system and create schedules for the services
- Play audio and video through the program without dragging windows (needs VLC media player to work)
- Use videos to create Themes with animated background
- Mobile app can be used to remote control presentations of songs and verses
- Clock
- Countdown
Platforms
- Windows, Mac and Linux machines
- The mobile app is available for Android and iOS
Holyrics is a well-designed free church presentation software with excellent features and functionalities—highly recommend you to try it out!
Conclusion:
Churches often need presentation software for their membership and leadership conferences. However, lots of church administration software typically come with hefty price tags. Of the many church presentation software that’s currently available in the market, you can use, there are few free ones. The problem with these free church presentation software is that they might be too simple and rudimentary for your needs, but what if there’s something better than freeware? With the possibility of finding an invaluable tool for your church’s administration software in such a free download, you should at least do a quick research to see if any of them could fit your needs.