The Future of the Church is Online
This is a guest post by Nick Charalambous, the Web Campus Pastor for Newspring Church.
I think the future of the whole church is online.
And I think our current hang-up over whether you can have true community without physical presence is a colossal distraction from the reasons why.
We’ve got to be where everyone is, use the communication tools everyone else uses, and share what Jesus has to offer wherever people expect to find “knowledge for life.” And in our foreseeable future that will be defined by the web.
No. 1 The gospel of Jesus is good news, and like all news and information, the way we share what is going on in our lives has forever moved online. Ubiquitous wireless and ubiquitous connectedness will mean that practically everything we do, buy and discuss will speak to a large audience about us and about what we value. Everyone will have the communications permission of close relational ties and we’ll have the reach of traditional “broadcast” media.
No. 2 Jesus’ grace is human-shaped, carried by individuals not institutions. In a networked world where relationships, our “work” and resources are all leveraged by the web. The church (that means you and me) will have the means again for the first time since the dawn of the industrial age to create and foster communities of grace that can care for one another, disciple one another, meet needs in the name of Jesus and evangelize his name in a radically personal way.
No. 3. The church is meant to be kingdom-minded, and the power of the “network effect” will force all churches and ministries to work in a de-centered, collaborative, crowd-sourced fashion that will create more practical and theological unity and, along with it, more scale, more social influence and more dramatic witness.
That’s the big picture. And so I think the Church, every church, should do as much as it can to develop expertise in trying to be the church in this environment.
And the inevitable next question is what are some practical things we can do, individually and as the church, to harness those dynamics?
The possibilities will depend on your personal comfort with the web’s proliferating social tools, and the limits of your imagination and vision. Also critical will be your church’s willingness to adapt its methods to this new world, and how much it encourages its attenders to embrace these methods.
As the Web Campus pastor at NewSpring, I can tell you that it is very challenging to find the right people, the right ideas and the right tools to make it happen.
Here are three “doable” ideas to get your feet wet:
- Use Twitter or a lifestreaming application to intentionally draw spiritual “life lessons” out of everyday experience; share spiritually encouraging words, and offer recommendations for books, blog posts and article recommendations that can build someone up. As anyone who’s followed a blog religiously knows, social media is a tremendously powerful modeling tool if used on purpose.
- Commit yourself to “network weaving,” which is where you try and intentionally connect people and resources with each other in your network, or explore ways to organize communities around your various skills, interests or hobbies or add value to your communities so that you can create opportunities to share the gospel.
- Encourage, educate, or empower your local church to capture stories of life individual life change or how God is using people to do his work, and lead with them. Either post them on the front-page of the web site, on a special blog, or in the worship service. Encourage people to share those stories across social media, and make it easy for people to participate — online-offline, large and small — if they want to.
What ideas have you tried that work?
Hi
Even though I am from Islamic faith. I think your ideas, concept will work, great stuff!
Internet will overtake TV soon.
All the best!
Thank you for coming by Khalil, appreciate your comment!
And I agree, the internet, or at least our expectation of interacting with media will change what we know experience as television.
Thank you for coming by Khalil, appreciate your comment!
And I agree, the internet, or at least our expectation of interacting with media will change what we now experience as television.
Khalil, how have you seen the Islamic faith engage better online?
great stuff nic
Hi
Similarly through blogs, social networking (FB,twitter), Youtube etc etc.
Try every way to reach to God, anyway possible is good way!
All the best!
Nick, this is a great post! Love it! I feel that many times the church can focus so much on the tools (both the positive and negative side), that we spend too much time talking about the tools. This is the world we live in. We just need to use these tools well and to their fullest potential to accomplish our main passions of sharing the Gospel and being the Church. I know the tools can really create some question and fears. I think we will be fine if we are driven by our passion for the things of God, the Church, and the Gospel and not our fears.
But there is no accountability and no way to do church discipline. It sounds like a good intentioned idea, but one that is designed to accommodate our laziness. I know, I know… there are those in closed countries that have benefited greatly (if not only) from "church online", but to make a generality out of an exception is stretching it.
Well I have to disagree with your assumptions about Church Online on multiple levels, especially in regards laziness, etc. Appreciate you coming by to join the conversation and for many this may still just be an idea, but there are many more that are finding significant value in leveraging technology for ministry online as they have experienced it for themselves.
Chris, have you ever joined us for church online at http://live.lifechurch.tv or http://www.newspring.cc/webcampus?
Could you explain what you mean by "do church discipline"?
I disagree that there "is no accountability" in church online. Every person – whether a Christian or not – is invited and welcome to take part in small groups that meet via webcam or in chat rooms. Just like localized, in-house small groups (which I admit can be as effective as online life groups) we discuss passages of Scripture and pastors' messages. The Holy Spirit is not bound in this environment and works in the same way by using us to speak to each other in love, to share wisdom and insight from passages, and to hold each other accountable as we share private issues or needs and pray for each other. You are entitled to your opinion, but I encourage you to give it a fair attempt before assuming accountability's not possible online.
My husband, children, and I live thousands of miles away and in a different country than our families. Each week we use a combination of Skype, mobile phone pics, and email to pray, cry, laugh, and share stories with each other. Just this morning I received an email from a family member that lovingly challenges something I've done and encourages me to consider a different approach. If your statement about there being no accountability online were true, that would mean our family does not operate as God intends.
It's curious you mentioned those in "closed countries" benefitting from church online. I volunteer several hours each week for LifeChurch.tv's church online experiences and cannot speak to others' opinions, but when I serve I'm honestly not thinking as much about reaching the people you referred to (though it does happen from time to time and we love that!). My intent in serving is to help reach people whose hearts and minds are "closed" to the whole idea of church as they've known it to be.
Just because something is not typical does not mean it's not biblical.
Appreciate your perspective. My question to you is whether you think that accountability and church discipline works very well in physical churches right now. My contention would be that any form of accountability is very tricky in any situation. However, potentially, the amount of accountability actually possible is enormous online, since the era of lifestreaming makes transparent and public what most of us in the past would have considered our private life. The question, as ever, will be how receptive the church structure and the church members themselves are to restoration.
Thanks for the follow ups. I can see some are very passionate about this.
Anyway, as far as "doing" church discipline, I just don't see how patterns like Matthew 18 can be carried out. Maybe I am missing the boat on this one.
I am so thankful that I live in a day when I can have a video conference with my family 3,500 miles away (Portland – Miami). But that is my family. If we lived in the same city, we'd meet face to face. I guess I don't understand why someone would not want to fellowship face to face with other believers in their own city.
Out of curiosity, how is communion done?
Hi, Chris. When we have communion at church online, we're encouraged to get our own elements/provisions out at the beginning of the worship experience. Then when the time during the message comes for communion, we all stop and take it together as a community.
Great post with great theory and also great practical action which is awesome! I think it is amazing to see where Church Online is now and can't wait to see where it will be in the future!
[...] the Web Campus Pastor for Newspring Church explains why the church must engage online in a guest blog post on the Lifechurch.tv Internet Campus blog……… We’ve got to be where everyone [...]
Good post and def simple enough for newbies to catch a little church online fever. I hear you're doing a great job at NewSpring. Keep it up.
I have a big idea for church online, but it's not conventional, so I'll save it for another time.
I'd love to hear it when you're ready! (And we're always open to experimentation at NewSpring.)
An individual (or group) leads through the elements by video and people partake in their own context.
[...] If you missed it, you can read the post here. [...]
Awesome post Nick!
I really enjoyed this post! One of the best statements I've seen in a while on Church and technology. The idea is to reach people. Simple.
Chris, maybe you don't understand this because God wants you in church reaching people. I am a church goer myself, and I look forward to going, to being with other christians and having a relationship with them, so I understand what you are saying. But we can't judge the way someone else reaches people. God wants us all to reach people, but unfortunatly not everyone goes to church. This is a way to reach out to those that are unsaved or are new christians that haven't found a church home yet. God has called THEM to do this. He has not called you. That is why you don't understand it. I am positive that you are a good christian, but God must think you are better at reaching people face to face. The point is, God needs to be available everywhere. I know there are times He uses us to reach people without us even knowing it, so we can't question His ways.
Dana… beautifully stated! I could not agree with you more! My original impression of this concept was challenged by Hebrews 10:25 and the concept of Fellowship (in the traditional sense). My opinion of "Church Online" now is completely different! Having been involved with this ministry and seeing the outreach potential, I am utterly blown away at the possibilities. We are severly limiting ourselves if we don't allow the internet to change the way we spread the gospel. If we are not careful, we tend to have tunnel vision looking forward, but God is so much bigger than we give Him credit for and, like Ephesians 3:20-21 tell us, He is able to do so much more than we can ever imagine! He can work through us face-to-face and He can work through us across continents via the web. It is so awesome to think about how small the world becomes through this medium. When we let ourselves embrace new ideas (ideas that do not compromise the gospel in any way), we find new ways to share God's love to the whole world, not just the one that is within our physical reach.
When you boil it down the real power of the internet is two things; content and connection. I think churches with an online focus are really honing in on the connection aspect of the equation- using social networking, tweeting, online chat rooms, etc. But where the church in general strongly lacks is on the content side. An hour long service centered around a speaker may work great if you have people in the building who are committing their time to your organization but it simply doesn't work in an internet community. There are about a million other things your audience could be doing, checking their email, facebook, message boards, youtube videos, online games, projects, porn, and more. And the truth is the online church is competing against all those other internet activities. My point is that in order to stay relevant in the internet generation the content must be tailored to it's outlet. The engagement level of an online service has to be about twice as high as a normal service because all it takes to loose that visitor is a click instead of a drive and hours of their day. What does a church service built for the internet look like? I don't know for sure but I am sure that a service built completely for an internet audience simply doesn't exist today.
I think it's important never to think that we have it 'sorted'. There is no one right way to do church, or for the future of the church. Just as no two fingerprints are the same! God is a God of infinate variety and creativity, and I love the creativity of church online. I also love the creativity and community of the church I'm part of, which is not an online church. The fundamental question it boils down to is that of the current church online series- 'Can you see him?'. However we do church, our aim is always to 'see 'Jesus more clearly, and to help others to do the same.
I attend Church Online and I serve on Church Online. I have found so many wonderful Blessings there. I feel the Word of God is just as real on Church Online as it is when I go to the physical church/campus. I sometimes feel more comfortable with Church Online for several reasons. Church online allows me to worship and hear a sermon several times a week. I am not locked in to only the weekend. I can attend just as I am, with my hair all messed up or right out of the shower if I so desire. I don't have to worry about packing my kids in the car because I am able to keep an eye on them and it also fills my house with worship and preaching that is good for them to hear. I get the enjoyment of serving and feeling part of an International Community and talking to people from all over the world. I am part of online lifegroups as well as a face to face lifegroup and I have just as much accountability in the online lifegroup as in my face to face lifegroup ( Lifegroup being small group ) I thank God everyday for Church online.
I see internet church as a fulfillment of Matthew 24:14a: And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
I'm totally blown away at the countries that are represented at the online services. Countries where they could be executed/imprisoned for participating in Christianity. This is amazing that a way has been provided for reaching these countries/people without putting people in harm's way. Iran is totally closed to any other form of worship other than Islam – but there was somebody from Iran that participated in church online. This can be nothing other than the power of God working to accomplish His goals.
Time will tell when the last of that verse will be fulfilled.