Online Church Part 1 "Slippery Slope Fears"
If you are like me, you likely participated in (or tried to anyway) an online worship service yesterday. You may have even done a few things you would never dream of in “normal” circumstances. (Attended in you pjs, listened from bed, had a snack during, or maybe checked out another, more famous or popular church.) We know that this is an extraordinary time, but there is probably a lot of angst about how this will permanently change us. I have a few thoughts about that. So, for all my pastor, church-planter, and church going friends out there:
Slippery Slope Fears
There is already a broadly acknowledged concern that “online life” is overtaking real life. If it doesn’t happen online (with a video or a photo) it is as if it doesn’t count. If we can’t Instagram a meal, a trip, or a workout, it feels like it was a waste of time. We have forgotten about enjoying life itself, in our mad rush to broadcast everything we do. The flipside of that, of course, is that many people are eshewing real interactions for digital ones. Young people today increasingly prefer text interactions to phone ones, and THAT to face-to-face.
So, does that mean that church is going to be the latest victim of the internet? No. I mean, in the same way that all other aspects of life have, it is already. However, we are not on the verge of a new age where church will always happen online because people can’t be bothered to gather together. The truth is that the internet is a tool that more churches should be using, and now they will be forced to. The hope is that on the other side of this, churches will be stronger with a new tool to use in their mission.
And, if your church gets a taste of “church from home in my pjs” and never wants to come back… well, coronavirus just exposed a theological problem that was already there. You need to reexamine how you do church independent of the online issue!
Slippery Slope Fears
There is already a broadly acknowledged concern that “online life” is overtaking real life. If it doesn’t happen online (with a video or a photo) it is as if it doesn’t count. If we can’t Instagram a meal, a trip, or a workout, it feels like it was a waste of time. We have forgotten about enjoying life itself, in our mad rush to broadcast everything we do. The flipside of that, of course, is that many people are eshewing real interactions for digital ones. Young people today increasingly prefer text interactions to phone ones, and THAT to face-to-face.
So, does that mean that church is going to be the latest victim of the internet? No. I mean, in the same way that all other aspects of life have, it is already. However, we are not on the verge of a new age where church will always happen online because people can’t be bothered to gather together. The truth is that the internet is a tool that more churches should be using, and now they will be forced to. The hope is that on the other side of this, churches will be stronger with a new tool to use in their mission.
And, if your church gets a taste of “church from home in my pjs” and never wants to come back… well, coronavirus just exposed a theological problem that was already there. You need to reexamine how you do church independent of the online issue!
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