Beyond virtual church in a Covid-19 world

 

Beyond virtual church

 

Circumstances recently forced my wife and I to attend virtual church after many weeks back in physical church.

 

Our local church does a good job of presenting virtual church through the live stream of a physical service with the usual mix of songs, prayers, announcements, along with the centerpiece of the reading and preaching of Scripture. These are done well.

 

That being said, to sit in front of a screen and watch church was a big letdown. We can’t wait to be back in person next week. When virtual church was the only choice we learned to make the most of it - and I appreciate that it remains the only choice for many and that others don’t even have that luxury. However, the contrast with physical church is about the same as being fed through a gastro tube as compared with sitting with friends for a decent meal.

 

All of that led to thoughts of the possibilities when physical church is impossible.

 

Here’s a few starters.

 

1. Enhancing a virtual service by:

·       Tuning in to your local church to participate with the people you know and the leaders who know you;

·       Participating at the same time as the physical church, so as to have a shared sense of time, if not place;

·       Removing all devices other than the one used for the service and not flipping between functions on that device;

·       Accessing the virtual service on a large screen (rather than a phone);

·       Accessing the service with others from your household (rather than going solo);

·       Dressing in normal clothes and sitting in an undistracted place (as compared with couch slouching in pjs with brekkie in hand – letting alone imitating a friend who has a coffee and croissant to hand!);

·       Engaging with the prayers from our heart;

·       Opening our Bible and following the Scripture reading and sermon;

·       Singing aloud to the songs (an advantage of virtual over physical church in these restricted times);

·       Talking about the gathering afterwards with someone who also attended.

 

2. Constructing a blended mode service - either with family or church friends

·       In this mode, you do your own prayers, Bible reading and songs, but access the sermon through virtual means, thus giving a combination of face to face fellowship and skilled word ministry;

·       Different people among those present can serve the group by doing different parts of this;

·       I know a church that does this through its small groups where group leaders are given liturgical resources. They even practice the Lord’s Supper in these home-based settings.

 

3. Full-on home worship

·       Many Christians globally and historically, have this as their only option – it’s an old habit that may be in for a revival;

·       Construct a service with the usual elements of prayer, song and word ministry, according to the resources within you or available from outside sources. (Producing resources for home and family worship could be a great activity for wider church agencies);

·       Try and do this in a corporate setting, whether that is family, or even one other Christian friend;

·       The quality of this may be less than a virtual service (or a word ministry delivered by a trained person), but it has the advantage of reality to persons and context.

 

Whatever the option, the local church can give support by:

·       - Providing resources to help with blended or full-on home worship

·      -  Some leaders periodically watching the virtual service from a home base, to see how it comes over and can be improved;

·       - Keeping in touch with people not at physical church through regular contact. One church I know rang its members every fortnight when they could not physically attend, and the pastor of a small church rings every member every week.

 

One way or another, the effort to maintain the habit of a Sunday meeting with the Lord and his people is vital (Heb 10:25). This is where the means of grace (word, prayer, sacraments and fellowship) are found. This is where we are taught, trained, corrected and challenged as we grow in discipleship and service to be the people that the Lord calls us to be (2 Tim 3:15-17). This meeting with the Lord and his people is to our soul as food is to the body.