The new reality due to COVID-19 has presented difficult challenges for churches who are trying to preserve a sense of community but are also trying not to endanger people. How can we have biblical community while our churches remain closed, small groups are canceled, and sermons preached to empty rooms are streamed?
Hebrews 10:24-25 states this:
23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; 24 and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, 25 not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.
It should go without saying that contextually, the author of Hebrews meant physical meetings because he didn’t even have a phone, much less the internet. Still, that consideration alone doesn’t discount virtual communities per se. However, I think a bit of common sense as well as a little research shows that communities that are located in the same area and involve direct, physical interaction are usually better for building the kind of intimate relationships that Hebrews is talking about. Virtual communities can be robust and quite large, but they’re usually centered around a narrow topic of interest, lack the nonverbal and environmental cues of social interaction, and have “limited liability,” meaning that they usually do not require much emotional investment and are easily cut out of one’s life. This can be mitigated by the use of webcams, so people can actually see each other’s faces, but it won’t completely go away. It seems hard to deny that meeting up over lunch is more conducive to building relationships than chatting online. It might be messier sometimes because you actually have to deal with people that otherwise can be easily blocked online, but church is also supposed to deal with the messy parts of community. This is why most Christians I’ve talked to are longing for going to church and small group again. So yes, it is true that church is ultimately not a building, but a biblical church should emphasize that streaming things can’t replace the importance of meeting up physically.
This, of course, doesn’t mean that virtual interaction is bad, only that it is lacking in certain important respects. There are many advantages to it, and we should be thankful that we live in a day and age where we can still conduct some semblance of ministry despite being largely confined to our homes. We can acknowledge that streaming is less than ideal but still utilize it for ministry. Not only are we supposed to look after our own and build community, many outsiders are looking for purpose and answers, so we cannot just retreat from the world. Our job is to reach people for God’s kingdom, and during this temporary suspension of meeting up, it is important to still find ways to do so. -Pastor Isak Lee
One Light Church 