“Online Church” Is Not Real Church

Covid-19 has created all sorts of new challenges for churches. Not the least of which is, “How do we have church services without meeting at our church buildings?” Easy! Thanks to modern-day technology the answer is “online church.” Of course, this was not new to everyone. Plenty of churches have had their services available online as a back-up and outreach for years. However, suddenly, church became primarily an online event. Many are questioning if in-person services are necessary.

I’m here to say that “online church” is not real church.

What Is Church, Anyway?

Church is a simple and rather small word, but, man alive, is it loaded with meaning! Let’s go over the meanings quickly so that we don’t have any confusion later on.

The word church is most often thought of as the place people meet to worship. If someone asks where you are going and you tell them “church,” then they instantly think of a building. Maybe they envision a tall steeple and stained-glass windows. If they are Baptist, they probably think of place with a decent kitchen… For my purposes, I am not using church this way. You can meet at a house, a field, a barn, or wherever else you like. Convening as a church can happen anywhere.

Church can mean all believers. Some call this the Universal Church. I often just say “Church with a capital C.” However you say it, though, this is the one that refers to all the Christian people.

The last way to use the word church is to refer to the local fellowship of believers. This is your church family. These people meet weekly-ish to sing songs, pray, edify, and to hear and study God’s Word together. Your local church is who you worship with and invest in spiritually. I’ve often heard people say they are closer to their church family than their blood family. When I say “online church” isn’t church, I’m referring to this definition.

What Is “Online Church?”

“Online church” has been an amazing blessing through this pandemic whirlwind we have all been through. As a pastor’s wife, I watched my pastor up-close and personal as he dealt with temporary church closure. How long was this going to last? What about people with no internet in their homes? How will we continue to minister in practical ways if we are locked down in our houses? So many questions and fears bubbled under the surface, but God had provided a way to reach our church family.

As much as a blessing as it has been, it’s also lacking. As a general rule, “online church” is a passive experience. That’s not to say you cannot pray, sing, and engage with your Bible as you watch, but you’re still in front of a screen watching. If you have ever been to a ladies conference but also watched one online, you’ll know what I’m talking about. Or maybe you’ve been to a concert and when you watched it later on a screen, it just wasn’t the same.

“Online church” removes a bit of the reverence, as well. I dress nicely for church. I don’t have a gorgeous dress with matching hat, shoes, and purse, but I dress better than I do for home most of the time. Did anyone do that for “online church?” I think many of us were in pajamas or yoga pants while sprawled out on the couch eating Doritos. (The breakfast of champions?)

Overall, “online church” is an isolated and non-participatory event that lacks the fellowship, accountability, and edification available when we engage with people in real life.

“Online Church” Has Its Place

I want to go on the record. Streaming and posting recorded services can be a wonderful addition to a church’s ministry. Members get sick (or their kids) and can’t come. With five children, illness can stick around for quite awhile in my house. One bad bug can keep me out of church for weeks. I’d ask my husband to stay home with them, but then we’d have an empty pulpit. So…

Unfortunately, as we age many of us will be more homebound than we would like. Elderly church members often get to a point where leaving home can be difficult, dangerous, or even impossible. In these instances, online services (along with frequent visits and calls from the church, I hope) will have to do.

Vacation can add a lot of challenges to your regular church attendance. Despite the teaching of some, it isn’t a sin to miss church for travel and recreation on occasion. I would encourage church attendance on vacation, if possible, but it isn’t always an available option. You might choose to watch what you missed on a different day. Maybe you won’t be able to find a Bible preaching church nearby, so you tune in to your home church while you are away.

As you can see, “online church” exists for many valid reasons. I didn’t even touch on the outreach potential for time’s sake. Can we all agree, though, the internet has helped disseminate the message of Jesus Christ? But is it enough?

My Church’s Covid-19 Experience

My family and I moved from Central Illinois to Northwestern Wisconsin for my husband to take on a pastorate at a small, rural church. We had been there six months, and the transition had been easy and people were open to us as friends and as the “pastor and family.” Then, President Trump came on television and told America that we all needed to take steps to protect ourselves against this new illness. Two weeks to flatten the curve. At least, that was what we were told. And just like that in-person services were at a startling halt, not to mention the momentum of our ministry.

Our church has no internet, so streaming was out of the question. My husband and music ministry folk recorded mid-week, and he posted the service Sunday morning on YouTube. Wednesday nights my husband held a prayer meeting and Bible study on Facebook live. Members with no internet at home (yes, that’s a thing) gathered to watch with those who had it.

Never in my life have I had so many visitors and calls as I did in the two and half months we were closed. People would pop over with homemade bread, beef from the cattle they raise, or treats for our children. Then they would all ask, “So, Pastor, when d’ya think it might be safe to open back up?”

God bless them! Our church family missed meeting. Even though many of them saw each other frequently during lockdown for other reasons, they still yearned to worship the Lord together. When we finally reopened the doors, the reunion was sweet and long overdue in many minds.

My church family knew something a lot of people are ignoring or have forgotten. True fellowship is personal, vulnerable, and participatory. “Online church” can’t fully offer that.

The Prevalence Of “Online Church”

As I stated earlier, many churches were already streaming or recording their services in conjunction with in-person services. However, some churches were already exclusively online (i.e., VR Church and The Robloxian Christians). Celebrity pastors like John MacArthur and Joel Osteen (never thought I’d put them in a sentence together) have impactful online presences. However, most local online services have gone unnoticed over the years.

In-Person Attendance Decline

Covid-19 has given Christians a scapegoat for declining in-person services. If we look at the statistics, though, church attendance has been in a freefall for nearly a decade. The Barna study looking at church attendance from 1993 to 2020 as reported by “all U.S. adults” paints a bleak picture for in-person service attendance. In the timespan studied, church attendance peaked at 48% in 2009. A steady decline began in 2010 and bottomed out at 27% in 2017.

The Barna study is mostly unaffected by Covid-19 given researchers collected data for twenty-seven years. The lack of interest in church attendance started long before Covid-19 and the inundation of “online church.” On the other hand, Covid-19 has sped up the interest in a virtual church experience. Pew Research reported that 8 out of 10 “U.S. religious attenders” say that their church records or streams services. We were left with no other choice if we closed for the pandemic, and now 80% of churchgoers have the option to stay home if they feel like it. Not just that, but they have spent over a year being encouraged to do so by churches, family, friends, “experts,” and the government.

Why Do People Support “Online Church?”

1. Reach More People

Okay. This is a legitimate reason to makes services available online. Also, a lot of folks prefer to see the church and sermon before actually visiting the church.

The reach, however, can be a little shallow if it stays online. Jesus told us to make disciples (Matthew 28:16-20). Discipling must step outside of the virtual world. It involves investment on the part of the person discipling and the one being discipled. Some songs and a sermon on your computer are not discipling you. I’m not saying they are worthless. Simply, they are not sufficient.

2. Life Gets Busy

And? We are so busy that we cannot commit Sunday morning, at the least, to God and our brothers and sisters in Christ? If true, then shame on us!

Jesus said that people would know we were His disciples by our love for one another (John 13:35). To stay home because it is inconvenient to our temporary preferences is loving self, not one another. Go to church and pour into the people there. Love them, admonish them, encourage them. Be there. Sometimes loving someone is as simple as showing up.

3. Church Is Too Far

I partly agree with this idea. A church can be too far. We should be part of a local church. I have two suggestions. 1.) Find a new church. Look for a solid, Bible preaching church near you. It might not have the bells and whistles you have grown accustomed to, but give it a chance. 2.) Move. I know! I’m crazy. Seriously, though. Move. Belonging to and being actively involved in a healthy, Bible-preaching church is one of the most important things you can do for yourself and your family.

Life Hack: Scout out local churches when you are moving to a new area. The house you want may be great, but it isn’t great enough if the closest suitable church is over an hour away.

4. People Prefer Digital Engagement These Days

Preach it! I prefer text and email to phone calls. I like the slightly anonymous and uncommitted feel of writing versus having to engage in more personal contact. And I’m not alone. I feel like my whole generation is like this. You can make connections this way, but I would argue it is not ideal. The Bible appears to make the same argument.

Hebrews 10:25 says not to forsake the assembly of ourselves. We also see throughout the New Testament various letters written to churches. Within these letters we find instructions on various parts of Christian living, some of which relate to how a body of believers ought to interact. Acts 2:42, 2:46, and 20:7 all discuss the early church gathering together to break bread, pray, fellowship, and learn doctrine. Scripture gives us a picture of the importance of gathering as believers and what it looks like.

5. People Enjoy The Anonymity

I love anonymity. Everything is less scary when people don’t really know me. That’s just not church, ya know?

Believers are called to fellowship with one another (1 John 1:7), and Proverbs 11:14 teaches “Where no counsel is, the people fall: but in the multitude of counselors there is safety.” “Online church” offers no counsel but your own. On the other hand, your local church has plenty of people to offer Biblical counsel, support, and accountability.

Proverbs 18:1 says, “Whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire; he breaks out against all sound judgment” (ESV). If we separate from belonging to a church body, we need to ask ourselves why. Without fellowship with other believers, how will you be encouraged to stay on God’s narrow path when you are tempted to stray?

6. Church Growth

Yes, I’ve actually seen church “experts” tout the benefits of “online church” to include increased membership. I have one word for this argument. Bogus. Frankly, people clicking your posted online service are not necessarily what we consider a member. Membership requires significantly more than just receiving a message and entertainment from the website. Besides, number growth should never be the end goal. Real church growth is about Christians growing in Christ’s likeness. It’s about reaching the community with the gospel.

Final Thought

We don’t need to get legalistic about church attendance. There are plenty of reasons to miss in-person services, and recently, Christians have been walking through a season that requires “online church” thanks to Covid-19 and some overzealous government leadership.

Churches in our current culture need an online presence. Stream and/record your services. Have active and engaging social media accounts. In addition, find ways to connect out of the church building and in the community. Let’s get real, this is old news. We should have already been doing these things.

BUT… You saw that coming, right? We must bear each other’s burdens (Galatians 6:2), encourage each other (1 Thessalonians 5:11), and serve one another through the gifts God has given each of us (Romans 12:4-6a). To completely serve and love one another in Christ’s name, we need to literally get off the couch and come together. If Covid-19 taught us anything, it showed us just how much people need other people. We need physical contact. We long for closeness, and we desire authentic relationships. “Online church” doesn’t accomplish any of that well.

Before you settle in for a Sunday morning sermon in your living room with a bowl of Fruit Loops, read the verses below and consider if you are truly a member of “one body in Christ.” If you are, how are you working with the rest of the body?

“For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us,”

Romans 12:4-6a

What do you think? Is “online church” the real deal?

Image courtesy of Samantha Borges via Unsplash.