Online church
My friend and mentor Mark Roberts (and fellow introvert) is beginning a series on online church, a growing movement that holds interactive church services on the internet. Mark is always thoughtful, balanced, and biblical, and I'm eager to read what he has to say about this phenomenon. It occurs to me that many introverts will be attracted to online church, and I'm curious to hear your thoughts. He approaches it from the perspective of one who is just learning about it, so if it's new to you, you'll resonate with his viewpoint.
Is Online Church Really Church? Introduction
2 comments:
The idea of doing church online has been in use for awhile among other groups who feel uncomfortable or outcast in traditional church settings - or who just can't get to church because they're home-bound. One of my favorite websites, http://straightnotnarrow.blogspot.com/, makes a point of posting worship songs and links to sermons from lgbt-welcoming congregations so that people who can't get to a church where they feel comfortable have a means of worshiping from home. It's not ideal, certainly, but definitely an interesting model.
Even as an introvert I'm not sure that I like the idea of an online church setting. It seems shallow and meaningless on certain levels. In Christian community, we are to connect with one another as members of one Body of Christ. Although we as introverts connect with fewer people, our connections are deeper, which is why I never liked megachurches. But when reading a post by a faceless blogger or watching a video on a computer screen it is difficult to connect on that deeper level with the person behind the image on screen or the blog post.
If I was to go outside the traditional church building to worship God, I'd more likely participate in the house church movement.
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