A techno-Reformation

By John Meunier on

Adam Hamilton wrote this observation on Facebook today:

I am convinced that we’re in the midst of a new reformation in the church – a reformation that is being driven by technology. How new generations engage with the church, and meet Christ, will be changing. Last Sunday 35% of our worship attendance was on our live webstream. We have people who want to join our church who live in others states. What are your thoughts?

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Posted in: Church, Evangelism, Internet

4 Responses

  1. Charles Rivera

    I may just be cranky, but I have to question if someone is really ‘attending’ a service that they see via webstream. The congregation ought not to be a passive participant, like a movie theater audience: they sing hymns, say prayers together, pass the offering plate to one another, any number of things that the person viewing from home cannot do.

    On the other hand, if people from other states are watching and wanting to join Church of the Resurrection, that seems like the place where, ideally, you could tell them “you know, there’s probably a United Methodist church near where you live where you could join and really be fully involved with the work of the church.” I say ideally because there is nowhere near the degree of doctrinal and liturgical uniformity in our church which would be necessary for something like that to really work. But it should at least be an idea out there if we aren’t just joking about our being, as they say, ‘connectional.’

  2. JB

    I think this also raises an even thornier question for United Methodists. We have an itinerant system for our pastors for a reason because the church does not belong to the pastor. When people follow a particular pastor online, it runs the risk of becoming a cult of personality. No matter where the pastor goes, they can always be “your pastor.”

  3. Jim

    Hamilton’s FB post caught my attention as well and I may post about it in the future. What I think is missing is connection. Sure you can grow an emotional and mental connection with someone via online (and I cherish that). John, we have been connecting via our blogs for years now but the truth is I couldn’t recognize you in person. I listen to Rob Bell and Adam Hamilton’s podcasts and read their books but are we connected? Or am I merely connected to them but they have no connection to me.

    Christ calls us to live in community and community is connected. Will I always be connected to the people in my congregation, no. Even with a small congregation I cannot connect at the same level with everyone. But what I can do is provide physical reminders of the love of God through the sacraments (like Charles suggests). I will shake their hand after worship, visit them when they are sick, cry with them when their loved ones die. Can that type of community happen online? Not yet.

  4. John Meunier

    All three of your posts touch on reactions I have as well.

    Connection is the issue. On the one hand, I do not see sitting together and watching a movie as a community forming event. The pastor and congregation connect in important ways during a face-to-face encounter. In these video feeds, the satellite campus is watching not participating in that.

    Of course, the success of these kinds of “worship experiences” – that phrase bugs me for reasons I can’t explain – argues against my doubts.

    If within the worship communities connection form among the congregation, then perhaps a personal connection with the pastor is not so important. If the Holy Spirit works, the Holy Spirit works.

    It is not a kind of worship I would ever want to be part of, but I’m the old and out-of-touch.