Digital is here to stay, but I believe it can’t be the only way

By Mark A. Taylor

Since the church’s very first days, Christians have assembled in large crowds for worship and in smaller gatherings, too. We can—I believe we must—take guidance from that pattern, found in verses many have quoted:

“Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts” (Acts 2:47).

“… let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another…” (Hebrews 10:24, 25).

But after settling-in to a pattern imposed by Covid stay-at home orders, how many will be eager to get up, get dressed, and go back to a weekly church assembly? After accepting the repeated invitations to tune in to their weekly church worship online, how many will decide “watching church” (this is actually how many describe it) is good enough? How many have agreed with the constant claim that online worship experiences are as legitimate as meeting in person?

Here’s one worshipper who’s not a believer. I just don’t think we can experience all God wants for us solely by trying to consume it from a screen.

Here to stay

Now, before you write me off as an out-of-touch old man, let me hasten to add I know digital is here to stay. And I like it. I rely on my computer and smartphone apps for a constant stream of information every day. I subscribe to digital streaming sites that offer me ten times more entertainment than I can possibly enjoy. I participate in a weekly Zoom-facilitated support group. I wouldn’t give up any of it. Not only do I enjoy the digital environment, I depend on it. Just today, I spent an hour in online research, searching for facts and quotes to help me write this column.

I suspect you’re the same. We find in the internet all the content we we’d ever want. But I’m not so sure it can give us the community we need.

Opportunity, not obstacle

I write this as a member of a church that offers a robust digital presence, and I’m proud of what we’re doing. Not only are worship services streamed live, but they’re available online for viewing anytime and anyplace in the world. A wide range of other digital content is there besides: Bible studies, blog posts, and a round-the-clock invitation to text a prayer request or question. My church has embraced a contemporary reality: Most people today expect and need the digital dimension. And much of the world we’re seeking to reach will find us online long before they’re willing to join us in a church building.

Much of the world we’re seeking to reach will find us online
long before they’re willing to join us in a church building.

We’re following the advice of Carey Nieuwhof, who says the possibilities offered by today’s technology are an opportunity, not an obstacle. “Online is not a threat to the local church,” he writes. “It’s fuel.”

This is true because, as he observes, life today “slips seamlessly between the digital and the analog.” You’re having coffee with a friend and you go to a website via your phone for the answer to a question. You do your banking online, but sometimes you need to deal with a teller in person. You research symptoms at websites, but your doctor must see and touch your body to confirm a diagnosis.

The power of gathering

We’re misguided if we don’t seize today’s digital possibilities. But we’re also wrong if we dismiss or discount the real need for large-group, in-person experiences. The fact is that something can happen in a room full of Christians engaged with each other that will not happen in your living room alone or with only a few others.

Michelle Obama conducted an unprecedented tour connected to the release of her best-selling memoir, Becoming. From coast to coast, she appeared in arenas “with seating capacities hovering around 20 thousand.” These huge venues were filled with expectant fans applauding, laughing, sometimes even crying, together. “What I experienced in these arenas was the power of gathering,” she said in a film documenting the tour. “We’re sharing these experiences together.”

We need powerful shared experiences, and we can get them when the church gathers: The electrifying thrill from a soloist who holds the whole room’s attention with her rendition of a familiar chorus. The shared laughter after the preacher’s illustration that drives home his point, or the hush settling on the crowd when he touches our hearts with his insight. The swell of song rising from our lips, a whole crowd singing and affirming a truth that has changed our lives and can propel us forward. The presence of the Holy Spirit, moving, touching, convicting.

We need powerful shared experiences, and we can get them when the church gathers.

I experienced very little of that while lounging on my sofa with a cup of coffee during pandemic Sundays in front of my computer at home.

One caveat: Online “house churches” can be another situation. When a group, even a small group, of worshippers gathers for online worship followed by a fellowship meal, they’re creating the opportunity to “spur one another on toward love and good works.” When a church attracts a crowd to a school or restaurant with its online stream, they’re pursuing a 21st-century possibility for evangelism. They’re creating community, and community is a bedrock foundation of Christianity. But there’s little community with me at home with my wife, observing the church service from a distance.

Worship is not the only place for community, of course. Face-to-face connections promoted by every small groups minister offer the hope of community. But not the soul-stirring encouragement of a larger group united in worship to the same God.

Fooling themselves

I don’t see any signs of churches willing to give up the weekly worship experience. But too many Christians with their absence seem to be saying they don’t need it. I think they’re fooling themselves, cheating themselves, harming themselves. I plan to be at my church this Sunday morning, with expectation for what I and others can experience only when we gather in our large group there.

Photos by by Vlada Karpovich from Pexels and by Sincerely Media on Unsplash

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