Internet Church
Today I spent the better part of an hour on a webinar hosted by Leadership Network. The topic was “A Closer Look at Internet Campuses”, which focused attention toward churches who are “doing church” online. Two churches were highlighted: 1) Flamingo Road Church and 2) Lifechurch.TV. These churches offer worship services, small groups and online classes. There is the latst technologies used including opportunities to give immediate feedback to the service. I heard about this through BeDeviant.com, hosted by Justin Wise. He recently wrote a post that I made a lengthy comment on. The crux of the issue is “can Christian community take place in an electrical manner?” Facebook, Myspace, Twitter and the like are pointing to a positive response to this question. However, I think definitions are necessary in order to make sure we are actually getting what we call “community”. I would hate to climb this ladder only to find that it was leaning against the wrong building.
Arguments for cyber-networking say that people want to know others and be known on-line, while those against suggest that these online efforts are driving people to more “personal” physical relationships. Both are true in my sphere of influence. But I cringe at the thought of what church could become through electronic means.
Take for instance baptisms. Flamingo Road Church still has people go to the house of someone desiring baptism and physically places them under water? Why? Baptism is a symbol, right? Why not just have a cyber-baptism, in which the person writes out their testimony and emails (tweat, blog, text, videocast) it to everyone of their contacts? Isn’t it the same thing? Or is it? That is where I feel every bit of 38 and not 23. I believe communion can be done with Coke and crackers, but I don’t (and wouldn’t). Is that oppression or enlightenment?
I am so glad that an old church leader like me doesn’t have to make the decision. However, as the ghost of churches past, let me just suggest that you be careful, Ebeneezer, for the decisions made today do affect those in the future.
It is that friction that must be felt and embraced. The tool as powerful as it is is just a tool. We must use these tools to push the vision of what Christ says the church is. We must continually evaluate if we are doing more with a tool than we should. These are good points of friction to wrestle with. I think in the end wrestling with these questions re-awakens the pure essence of what the church was intended to be. I have noticed that during the journey.
Leading an Internet Campus has led to many questions in my own mind similar to many you wrote here. I wrestled a long time with the validity of an online baptism and truly believe that what we did in the case of Alyssa was scriptural. As a Baptist church, we knew that it had to be by immersion only (and done by another Christ-follower). We were able to accomplish both of these and still allow the other members of the Internet Campus to view it via our video stream.
I think one of the greatest side-effects of the Internet Campus is that it is causing people to rethink the definition of community. Many people today have such a blurry line between online and offline friends that it makes you wonder if they even see the distinction. I know that many people that attend FRC Internet Campus look forward to hanging out in the chat/forum together. Plus, with the addition of online small group, our discipleship classes, the community forum, and the weekend services…I would even go as far as to say there is more connection happening than in our other 5 campuses during the week.
The coolest thing is watching them pray for each other in a forum thread, get to know each other in the weekend chat room, or hold each other accountable in our small groups… In my heart, I see this as real connection. I pray daily that more people would find what they are looking for on our campus…and if that means attending each week and making online relationships…or attending for awhile and moving to a brick-and-mortar church in their own neighborhoods…it’s all good. They are taking direct steps towards Christ…and that’s the whole point.
Thanks for your great post…