Earlier this week, Anne Hammock wrote an article for CNN about online churches. Online Churches Draw Believers, Critics explores a topic that is drawing increased attention from both sacred and secular media as more and more people participate in online worship and discipleship experiences.
She writes, “Internet pastors and parishioners cite their 24-hour access to interactive tools and social-networking platforms to show their online experiences are as meaningful as those that take place with face-to-face congregations.”
Hammock quotes Dough Estes (lead pastor of Berryessa Valley Church in San Jose, California, and author of SimChurch, and advocate of virtual church), “The Bible sees church not as a man-made building but as a people gathered to glorify God with their lives . . . There is only one substantive difference between an online church and a brick-and-mortar church: The place where they meet.”
So What?
A few years ago, it was easy to dismiss the questions of whether virtual church was real or could be real. Today this question is increasingly relevant as online faith communities grow in number and in offerings. Have you struggled with this topic and sought to provide an answer based on good theology rather than personal assumptions?
What should the role of online faith communities be today? In a year? In three years? Why?
For more on this topic, read my review of SimChurch.