Tell us what you think: from John LaGrou

To the extent that a sermon is an information download, you may be making a point.

But I go to a worship service for more than just the sermon. Physical proximity and face to face communion with my friends and fellow believers cannot be replicated on line. If those who get teaching from a podcast are not hearing that, shame on our teachers.

Is the on line community of believers important? Absolutely. This blog is a testimony to exactly that point. But this is a both/and situation, not an either/or.

Blessings,
JKG

Fellowship is not the same virtually or remotely. I think that is a feature the Sunday Morning Worship Service needs to recapture in some churches. I don't see a feasible way to replace that personal Fellowship with technology at this point. I only see the threat of a technological overhaul for places where one does exactly what is quoted: "stare at a stage, listening to a religious lecture". That right there is what keeps me from wanting to go to a mega-church. I want fellowship. I want to know the pastor/minister/reverend/etc. I want that real community that the real, non-technological world has.

Sunday worship? SO, So old hat. We've started a Pyramid Church Worship Plan. Each member brings in two prospects, they bring in two, just like health suppliments. After four levels? We don't even NEED to show up any more.
I'm actually splitting off to form a Prayer Pyramid. Pretty soon, I'll have so many praying for me I won't even need to petition God myself.
It's win-win. Sign up now.

Online interaction will never replace face-to-face interaction. Also, more fundamentally, a good pastor will have relationships with his congregation and they with him such that his sermons will be suited to the understanding and needs of the congregation. The truth of Scripture may be the same but the application needs to be local - i.e. suited to the people and their situation in life. A pastor who knows his people can speak to where they are. Most people do not have the time or ability to search for a sermon online that is precisely suited to them. A sermon is not one size fits all and to think that online church or sermons will replace the fellowship of the saints is to be too individualistic and consumer oriented. The church is the body of Christ that fellowships together and bears one another's burdens, not merely all showing up in a physical location for a religious lecture.

Thanks, all, for the excellent comments. I purposefully exaggerated my point (a bit) to elicit a response - to get people thinking about our Western religious-consumeristic status quo – to take a fresh look at things we often take for granted. I do think future generations are going to change the nature of religious gathering – perhaps radically - and virtuality will be a central catalyst driving many of these changes.

Karl, I'm not inferring that on-line activity should replace F2F interaction. Not at all. I'm considering the ways in which virtuality might enhance our expectations of F2F experience, just as printed books radically changed our glocal culture, including religious culture.

"a good pastor will have relationships with his congregation and they with him such that his sermons will be suited to the understanding and needs of the congregation."

Let's not overly romanticize. Unless there are specific issues common to a single community (which at times there are, of course), the "needs" of any particular community are fairly universal. Speaking from personal experience (25+ years of sitting and listening to local sermons), it's rare to hear anything deeply tailored for locality, save for the occasional rhetorical use of some shared local experience (local news event, a road everyone drives, etc.)

Someone shared privately “…but I really like the live sermon. It is part of my heritage.” I can’t argue with that. But I do think, for those interested in such things, we can find a far more organic balance to our gatherings. Moving away from the stage, towards a common floor we all share, might be a positive beginning.

We can now encounter the greatest religious monologues anywhere, anytime. So let’s use our rare F2F gathering time to really connect as community, rather than as individual spectators. As givers rather than consumers.

I think the message will no longer be controlled or shaped by those in power. That is good news. I think that any who are savey enough to look things up will and a variety of view points will abound. I think dialogue will be an imperative as folks come to the community and want to talk about what they have learned in virtual community.