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Are Online Worship Services Considered to Be Church?
Is online worship the same as an in-person church experience? No, say some church leaders. Yes, I say. Here is a look at why I feel the belief that church is like “watching TV” is not true.
When I first saw articles claiming that online services were like watching TV and not a genuine church experience, I saw red. I have been watching church online for years now — was that experience meaningless? I did not have much choice. I was in one of the areas hardest hit by COVID-19, so most churches were closed and only recently started in-person services with limited capacity.
So, all I was doing was watching TV all this time and was not having a congregational experience? What about people with disabilities, seniors, and shut-ins watching online who had legitimate reasons not to be in church? What about me, who sometimes likes to sing worship songs to YouTube as praise?
Ironically, I recently watched one online service where the pastor claimed that being online had many benefits such as bringing in new people. So who is right?
In the last few years, there have been several articles in the New York Times and other media that question whether online services can be defined as church. One pastor said that online services do not fulfill “the biblical definition of coming together…
