In a world of multi-site churches and video venues, Church Online is a logical extension of church into the brave new world. While some are excited about the benefits of this new form of "church" others are claim that Church Online is not a valid alternative to church IRL (In Real Life). We sat down with Tony Steward, the Pastor of Online Community at LifeChurch.tv, and shared some of these concerns. Here are his responses:
When watching church online, isn't it much easier to get distracted? Do you think people are generally very focused on church while it's happening online?
I can remember gorwing up in church and my friend Justin and I would play that game where you drew the dot grids on a piece of paper and then line by line worked to have the most completed squares. Distraction or the ability to focus is present during any experience that we have for both church online or church on the corner. We see evidence of many people having the ability to focus during our online experiences.
And I personally believe that online experiences have the extra potential of having greater connection between the attendee and the message being taught. Learning patterns in education show us that once we can move from just hearing and seeing something, to actually having a conversation around it our retention of it greatly increases. Church Online allows us the opportunity to both view and have conversation around the topic of the message during the experience.
It of course also allows the conversation to go in different directions from the message, but that is where we train our volunteers in chat to be proactive. Not proactive to control or force people to pay attention (because you can’t control or force people to do anything online) but to help guide the conversation into healthy areas about God, life, faith, etc. Out of this church online is better prepared to meet some of the specific needs of the people who attend in ways that would be challenging at physical locations.
In general, I do believe people are engaged during the online experiences, and at times to a great benefit in their understanding and retention of the teaching.
Are you concerned about people’s ability to interact and connect with others during Church Online services?
We are always concerned with people’s ability to interact and connect – it is one of our consistent priorities. I do boldly disagree with the assertion that “…over chat, it’s difficult to have a meaningful conversation.” During church online we facilitate Live Prayer which is available for people who need or desire prayer one-on-one. Often these chats end with expressions of emotion, tears, and the very tangible presence of the Holy Spirit. Even though we offer Live Prayer, often those same conversations take place in our main chat, and the same responses are very common. Meaningful conversations can and do happen in chat, and real relationships are formed to the point that when people meet face to face, it’s as if they are old friends – because they are.
Those assertions aside, we do recognize the challenges of helping people to connect at Church Online, especially as it is a “permission” environment. For us to be able to connect and reach out to people – and for them to connect with others – they have to give that permission, we can’t control it. This is very much the “permission environment" that Seth Godin talks about in his book Permission Marketing, where people are in the position of control, not the organization.
But, in all honesty, over the past couple of months we’ve recognized we need to up our game and do a better job helping people to connect. It isn’t as much an issue with the virtual environment as it is with us continuing to make relationship and those connections a top priority.
Does Church Online reinforce the idea that “church” is primarily going to a worship service with preaching?
The simple answer is no. As a community we do gather during our online experiences, but we continue to have conversations and live life together throughout the week. Our online experiences are the “engine” that both attracts people into conversations about God and sends followers of Jesus to grow-in and live-out their faith. It is that energy that we constantly seek to follow up on and leverage throughout the remainder of the week.
We have LifeGroups (small groups) that meet throughout the week where people gather to walk through their faith in community. These groups are facilitated both online or in physical community in locations around the world.
We also reinforce the messages that are started during our online experiences with content and conversation on our Facebook page and blog. In these interactions we seek to take the understanding of the recent teaching deeper in a community environment.
Finally, we have an amazing group of volunteers who literally lead and run the online experiences all throughout the week. The culture and community in these teams are close knit relationship and often our volunteer chat is peppered with prayers, praises and biblical discussion.
Is Church Online just the “new” or “cool” trend but lacking in its ability to help those that attend to experience true spiritual transformation and discipleship?
Yes, Church Online or internet campuses are one of the new and cool trends. We get questions all the time about the details of starting an internet campus and it is usually all about the technology and video. Rarely do I get questions about the ministry opportunity, processes or discipleship environments. And I am quick to caution anyone considering it that it is so easy for technology to become the purpose instead of reaching people with the gospel of Jesus AND knowing how to build discipleship community.
To be clear, the “coolness” of Church Online isn’t why our ministry exists. LifeChurch.tv has a saying: “we’ll do anything short of sin to reach people with the gospel of Jesus Christ.” Church Online is one part of how we express that passion.
I do believe that Church Online is capable of providing an environment for people to experience spiritual transformation and discipleship in their faith. The web is extremely relational. And through those relationships we see people’s lives being transformed and growing in their faith all the time.
No we do not have it figured out. We regularly recognize things we’re doing that have failed, are broken or ineffective. But even though our primary gathering point is online, this online community is physically expressing their faith all over the world.
Thanks, Tony!