In a pre-pandemic world, when people mentioned attending worship, I assumed they were speaking of an in-person experience. This assumption in no way minimizes the many ways in my lifetime people have heard and/or seen services of worship without being physically present - from the days of audio cassette tapes to the more recent options of livestreaming. I was taught that these supplemental approaches worked well for niche audiences, such as those who were homebound, ill, or traveling. Since Read More …
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Should Churches Offer in Person Worship? (#1883)
Perhaps no issue is as controversial in church life right now as the question of whether or not to offer in person worship. Yesterday, Pew Research published the findings of their survey of 10,211 U.S. adults conducted July 13 to 19, 2020. Notably 7 of 10 (70%) respondents who regularly attend worship believe the operating status of their congregation should be open. Readiness Varies by Group Opinions on whether churches should be open (like normal or with modifications) or closed Read More …
Ministry in the Time of the COVID-19 Pandemic (#1858)
Over the last 10 days, COVID-19 has increasingly impacted all areas of life for many Americans. A week ago today I wrote "Worship in the Time of the COVID-19 Pandemic" to share my experience of virtual worship on the first Sunday most congregations transitioned from worshiping on their campuses in sanctuaries and other sacred spaces to providing virtual worship. Today, I'm reflecting on just how quickly ministry has changed, is changing, and likely will continue to change as efforts to Read More …
No Longer Divided: Virtual & F2F (#0605)
Earlier this week Arnab Sen, head of strategic planning at MRM (a global, top-five digital and direct agency in India), wrote a post for Mashable.com arguing that the virtual world or online world and the offline or face-to-face world are melting into one. More specifically, he writes: Social science studies increasingly suggest that the divide between the virtual and real worlds is narrowing. Our experiences of reality may no longer constitute a duality. So What? The melting Read More …
Imagine an Institution (#0386)
A short illustration, posted on April 20 by Jerry Bowyer on the forbes.com blog, was printed in the May 31, 2011 edition of the Christian Century: Imagine an institution that requires its leaders to attend not only college, but graduate school. Imagine that the graduate school in question is constitutionally forbidden from receiving any form of government aid, that it typically requires three years of full-time schooling for the diploma, that the nature of the schooling bears almost no Read More …
Face-to-Face vs. Digital/Virtual Worship (#0306)
Chuck Fromm has spent his life in the worship music business. Currently he is the publisher and founder of Worship Leader Magazine. Previously he served for twenty-five years as president of Marantha! Music, which he bought from his uncle Chuck Smith. His doctoral dissertation is titled Textual Communities and New Song in the Multi Media Age: The Routinization of Charisma in the Jesus Movement. In the March/April 2011 edition of Worship Leader Magazine, Fromm Read More …