What are your thoughts about churches having online campus'?
3 comments:
Aaron Hart
said...
After looking at the "prototype" campus church, icampus.mecklenburg.org, and watching the pastor interview on why they've decided to do this, I think the desire and motivation of what they have done is great commission oriented. However, in attempting to create the whole worship service online with everything from "Lobby chat rooms" to pdf sermon notes it seems they've decided to overlook the spiritual benefit of actually encountering and interacting with people in worship. Initially I was reminded of a lecture R.C. Sproul gave on Hebrews 10:25, and went there to see if the truth in that text came into contrast with the idea of an online campus. Check it out. I believe that from that text we can draw a conclusion that God intends for the gathering of His people to happen, in person. Sure, the church is getting questions from more online members than from those who come to the main campus. But couldn't the same result be achieved by using a blog or pod-casts or a talk show? Or, even, possibly, maybe, by building up and putting people who love Jesus into the community to develop relationships, real relationships, so that the questions the obscure follower/seeker asks come with body language and circumstantial background and a risk.
Having said that, there is no doubt a benefit to the technology that is being explored here. Immediately I thought, "wow, this would be great for the communication of a large church staff". I also think that it could be a great connection between church plants and their home church.
I see the good that could come of this, but it is not the best choice we have. Offering unlimited education, worship music, sermons, outreach and so on through the technology available seems to me an incredible supplement to the gathering of the Body of Christ, but attempting to create the gathering of the Body of Christ where interpersonal interaction is not necessary is a step in the wrong direction.
This week at school we had an assembly about cyberbullying, and one lady made the point that it becomes so aggressive because the aggressor cannot see the reaction of the victim. Interactions are disjointed. Bottom line: online interactions are safe, easy, and somewhat non-realistic for the contributor. Both communicators remain faceless in a sense, so that you can talk and yet still be utterly alone. Therefore, I think such ventures are, as you said, great supplements to meeting together. But they can never overtake face-to-face fellowship, worship, and friendship.
In all honesty, I cannot overstate how bad of an idea I think it is to launch an online campus. Certainly, there are benefits, but the costs are far too high. We are individualistic enough! Christianity is so radically community oriented that we can confidently call an "online church campus" an oxymoron!
3 comments:
After looking at the "prototype" campus church, icampus.mecklenburg.org, and watching the pastor interview on why they've decided to do this, I think the desire and motivation of what they have done is great commission oriented. However, in attempting to create the whole worship service online with everything from "Lobby chat rooms" to pdf sermon notes it seems they've decided to overlook the spiritual benefit of actually encountering and interacting with people in worship. Initially I was reminded of a lecture R.C. Sproul gave on Hebrews 10:25, and went there to see if the truth in that text came into contrast with the idea of an online campus. Check it out. I believe that from that text we can draw a conclusion that God intends for the gathering of His people to happen, in person. Sure, the church is getting questions from more online members than from those who come to the main campus. But couldn't the same result be achieved by using a blog or pod-casts or a talk show? Or, even, possibly, maybe, by building up and putting people who love Jesus into the community to develop relationships, real relationships, so that the questions the obscure follower/seeker asks come with body language and circumstantial background and a risk.
Having said that, there is no doubt a benefit to the technology that is being explored here. Immediately I thought, "wow, this would be great for the communication of a large church staff". I also think that it could be a great connection between church plants and their home church.
I see the good that could come of this, but it is not the best choice we have. Offering unlimited education, worship music, sermons, outreach and so on through the technology available seems to me an incredible supplement to the gathering of the Body of Christ, but attempting to create the gathering of the Body of Christ where interpersonal interaction is not necessary is a step in the wrong direction.
Aaron...nail on the head.
This week at school we had an assembly about cyberbullying, and one lady made the point that it becomes so aggressive because the aggressor cannot see the reaction of the victim. Interactions are disjointed. Bottom line: online interactions are safe, easy, and somewhat non-realistic for the contributor. Both communicators remain faceless in a sense, so that you can talk and yet still be utterly alone. Therefore, I think such ventures are, as you said, great supplements to meeting together. But they can never overtake face-to-face fellowship, worship, and friendship.
In all honesty, I cannot overstate how bad of an idea I think it is to launch an online campus. Certainly, there are benefits, but the costs are far too high. We are individualistic enough! Christianity is so radically community oriented that we can confidently call an "online church campus" an oxymoron!
Just one guys opinion...
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